Grade Review, Petition, and Appeal FAQs

A Grade Review is an in-person or video-conference guided review with the department of deidentified evaluations, exam scores, and any other materials that contributed to a student’s final grade.  

To initiate a Grade Review, contact the course/department administrator or director for the course you wish to review. 

The process for requesting and completing a Grade Review may vary by department. For clerkships, please check the department website for more information about their Grade Review process. For Foundations, please contact the appropriate course administrator or director. 

All students are permitted under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to review educational records upon request. You can request to review your grade at any time after the grade is submitted.  

There is no deadline for submitting a Grade Review. However, you must have correctly completed the grade review and petition processes prior to submitting a Grade Appeal request. Grade Appeal requests must be submitted prior to the end of the academic quarter following the quarter in which the course was taken.  

A Grade Petition is a request that the course/clerkship director formally investigate whether the appropriate process was followed in assigning your grade.  

To submit a Grade Petition, contact the course/department director for the course you wish to review. 

The process for requesting and completing a Grade Petition may vary by department. For clerkships, please check the department website for more information about their Grade Petition process. For Foundations, please contact the appropriate course administrator or director. 

There is no deadline for submitting a Grade Petition. However, you must have correctly completed the Grade Review and Grade Petition processes prior to submitting a Grade Appeal request. Grade Appeal requests must be submitted prior to the end of the academic quarter following the quarter in which the course was taken.  

The course/clerkship director will typically obtain all documentation related to the creation of the grade, solicit names/level of contact of evaluators (if applicable), gather additional data (if appropriate), and do fact-finding to ensure that your questions and/or concerns are addressed. 

In your Grade Petition meeting, the course/clerkship director will review your concerns, address areas of uncertainty, share any additional data gathered prior to the meeting, and communicate their decision. They will also outline next steps in the petition process (e.g., additional faculty review), if indicated. 

After the meeting, the course/clerkship director will also contact you in writing with the result of your Grade Petition (typically via email). 

A Grade Appeal is a request that the Grade Appeal Committee review your case. You must have correctly completed the Grade Review and Petition processes prior to submitting a Grade Appeal request.

For more information about the Grade Appeal process, please click here.

The Grade Appeal Committee is a group comprised of about 10 faculty and student members who have been delegated responsibility for determining whether a petitioning student’s grade and/or evaluation summative comments were awarded arbitrarily* or capriciously** by the instructor/department.

*Arbitrary is defined as “an unreasonable or unpredictable use of one’s authority in accordance with one’s will or desire”.
**Capricious is defined as “implying an instability or irregularity that seems to be the product of whim or erratic impulse”.

To submit a Grade Appeal, complete the Grade Appeal request form here.

Grade Appeal requests must be submitted prior to the end of the academic quarter following the quarter in which the course was taken (e.g., a Grade Appeal request for a course taken in Spring quarter must be submitted by the end of Summer quarter).

If you are having difficulty completing the process within the allowable timeframe due to a department’s lack of responsiveness, please contact somappeal@uw.edu.

To determine whether a petitioning student’s grade and/or evaluation summative comments were awarded arbitrarily* or capriciously** by the instructor/department, the Grade Appeal Committee considers the following:

• Whether the department adhered to its published criteria in assigning a grade
• The adequacy of of the data used to determine the grade and/or comments
• The adequacy of the department’s fact-finding and documentation processes

*Arbitrary is defined as “an unreasonable or unpredictable use of one’s authority in accordance with one’s will or desire”.
**Capricious is defined as “implying an instability or irregularity that seems to be the product of whim or erratic impulse”.

If the Grade Appeal Committee determines that the grade and/or summative comments were awarded arbitrarily or capriciously, the Committee will assign you an appropriate grade for the course in question. Adjustments to the grade and/or summative comments can be additive or subtractive.

You will receive a letter from the Co-Chairs detailing the Committee’s decision within two weeks of the Committee meeting in which your case is discussed. Grade Appeal requests are typically reviewed by the Committee no later than two quarters after the course was taken.

The Grade Appeal Committee’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.