In reviewing students' academic performance, the Committee on Academic Performance (CAP) holds two sets of end-of term meetings: Institute grades meetings, attended by a representative from each department, and then approximately two weeks later, deferred action meetings, attended by faculty advisors, for consideration of required withdrawals and other cases requiring additional information or communication with the students. Students are not present when their cases are reviewed.

If, at an Institute grades meeting, the CAP feels that final action on a student's case should be deferred until further information is available, the student is informed in a letter from the committee that his or her performance will be reviewed at a deferred action meeting. The letter indicates the type of action being considered: warning or required withdrawal.

In its letter, the CAP advises the student to contact his or her academic advisor, ensuring that the final action taken by the committee is based on all available information. The student's advisor or other departmental representative must attend the deferred action meeting.

A representative from Student Support Services (S³) and the Medical Department are always present at the deferred action meetings. They can provide valuable advice to a student and, with the student's permission, often act as liaisons between the student and the committee. If other members of the MIT community (such as an instructor, housemaster, graduate resident tutor, or MIT administrator) have additional information about a student's situation, then the student should ask him or her to relay this to either the student's academic advisor or counseling dean, depending on the nature of the information to be given.

Other decisions, such as retroactive cancellation of registration, are sometimes recommended; such cases are usually referred to the deans in Student Support Services for review.

In all cases it is the responsibility of the CAP to ensure that the recommended final action on each student is consistent throughout the undergraduate departments in the Institute, based on the individual circumstances of the student.

After the deferred action meeting the student and the advisor will be informed in writing of the action (if any) taken by the CAP.

End-of-Term Procedures for Special Students

Because special students must be readmitted for each semester, the Committee on Academic Performance does not usually take any action with regard to the academic performance of special students. Departments may review special students at the end of the term in order to make recommendations about future admission to their subjects.

Comments and questions to cap-help@mit.edu

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