The Language Placement Policy contemplates the possibility of granting a waiver of placement to students in one of these two general situations:
Students who have never been exposed
to the language they wish to study. Typically a waiver of placement allows these students
to enroll in courses for absolute beginners without having gone through the placement process.
In some cases, students who have been exposed to the language exclusively in a non-academic
environment also may obtain a waiver of placement and enroll in the course they choose.
In exceptional cases,
students with special needs or who find themselves
in extraordinary circumstances may be granted a waiver of placement allowing them to
enroll in the course they choose without having gone through the placement process.
When requesting a waiver of placement it is important to consider the following:
For Fall 2006, the submission deadline
is September 11.
Forms may be obtained from the
Department of Languages and Literatures at Founders 134 and Founders 138A
and are also available for downloading.
Waiver of placement requests may be submitted online,
by mail, by fax, by email, or may be delivered in person at Founders Hall 138A.
Requests of waiver of placement and any
inquiries thereof should be addressed to the
Director of Placement.
Students will be notified by email
of the decision on their requests. Also, students who have
been granted a waiver of placement will be listed by their ID number in the
Results
page of the Placement Website.
Waiver of placement requests and
the placement process are not mutually exclusive.
Students who have initiated the placement process may still file a request of waiver of placement
and vice versa, students who have filed a request of waiver of placement
are free to initiate the placement process.
Before making a decision on
waiver of placement requests, the Department of Languages and Literatures will verify
that students' claims are accurate. Since the processing of waiver of placement requests
may take up to two weeks, students who wish to request a waiver of placement should plan in advance
and file their requests as early as possible.
Also, students who have no previous experience in the language and simply want
to secure for themselves a place in a course for absolute beginners should
consider initiating the placement process instead.
This will produce similar results in a much shorter time.
In order to facilitate and accelerate
the processing of waiver of placement requests, students
are strongly encouraged (but are not required) to submit with their requests any
supporting documentation
they might have access to, such as high school and/or college transcripts, work schedules,
letters from teachers or advisors, etc.
The Request of Waiver of Placement form is available for downloading in these formats:
The Request of Waiver of Placement may be submitted
• by mail addressed to
Dr. Santiago Rubio-FernazDirector of Placement
University of San Diego
Department of Languages and Literatures
5998 Alcalá Park
San Diego, CA 92110-2492
• by email addressed to santiago@sandiego.edu
(write "waiver of placement" in the subject field)
• by fax at (619) 260 4190 (Attn: Director of Placement)
• online (click here)
