Date:
TO:
FROM:
RE:
Dean of the Graduate College
1137 Pearson Hall
Name:
ID #:
Request for Over-Age Course Approval
Please accept the following over-age courses as part of my graduate degree program in . My understanding of the material for the courses listed below will be evaluated during my preliminary and/or final oral defense because I will use the information learned in these classes to help with my research and the completion of my final project. My Major Professor received a brief synopsis of the materials covered, the skills/concepts learned, and how I have utilized the knowledge in the years since taking these courses in order to consider my request for use of these over-age credits in my program of study.
Course Number and Title
POS Category=Prereq, Spec Crs, Core,
Adv Study, Specialization, Electives, Lit,
Ling, Outside Env, Tech/Lang, Res Meth,
Seminars, Conc, etc.
.
Course No:
Title:
POS Category:
Institution:
Course No:
Title:
POS Category:
Institution:
Course No:
Title:
POS Category:
Institution:
No.
Credits
Semester
Taken
Justification
(see directions on next page for details about
what type of information to include)
Course No:
Title:
POS Category:
Institution:
Course No:
Title:
POS Category:
Institution:
I support and approve this request for the use of over-age courses as the student’s major professor. I have reviewed the courses and arguments in this petition and request approval for this student to use the courses indicated to meet degree requirements on the Program of Study (POS) form.
Program Adviser/Major Professor (printed name & signature) Date
I support and approve the recommendation of the Major Professor as noted above.
Director of Graduate Education (signature) Date 9-2014

R EQUEST FOR O VER AGE C OURSE A PPROVAL
Department of English, Iowa State University
G
UIDELINES
Students will need to present arguments that apply to each over-age course (more than 7 calendar years old in the semester of graduation). Regarding over-age courses, the Graduate College Handbook says this:
"Over-Age" Courses
: A course is considered over-age if it was taken beyond the time limit for the master's or doctoral program (7 years for both master’s and Ph.D.).
A written request for acceptance of over-age courses should be submitted and uploaded as an attachment to the POSC Form. It should include the following:
 a justification for why the courses are still relevant,
 an assurance that the student has kept current with the information covered in the overage courses, and
 an explanation of how the student will be evaluated on over-age material. Evaluation could include a written examination (a preliminary, qualifying, or comprehensive examination), evidence of satisfactory performance in course(s) for which the over-age courses are prerequisites, or the completion of an audit in one or more current courses in the areas encompassed by the over-age course. The object should be to determine whether the material learned in those courses is still timely and adequate. The evaluation method should be specified by the committee at the time the POSC Form is submitted.
Below is an example of what you might include in the “Justification” field for each course:
 argument(s) for accepting this course, including content currency (do other courses still use this content?)
 your current use of course content for other classes or updating of content through your work experience
 relation of course to the current program of study and its content
 anything that shows the course is still relevant ( e.g
., since the course content was about adding 2 + 2, and adding 2 + 2 hasn't changed measurably over the years, the course content can be considered current; also,
I have had work experience where I've used 2 + 2 repeatedly , etc.). One such argument might also be that the course informs your creative component work.
9-2014