An Incomplete (I) may be reported for a student who has been enrolled in a course with a passing grade until near the end of the semester/term and then, due to illness or some other unusual and substantiated cause beyond the student’s control, has been unable to take or complete the final examination (or to complete some limited amount of term work). An Incomplete is not given to a student who stays away from a final examination unless the student proves to the instructor that he or she was prevented from attending as indicated above. In the absence of such proof the grade reported will be an F. Even when a student can provide verifiable documentation, a student may still earn a grade of F if his/her work convinces the instructor that the student cannot successfully pass the course.
Any subject taken by an L&S undergraduate student marked Incomplete must be completed by the end of the fourth week of classes of the student’s next semester of residence at the University (exclusive of summer sessions) or it will lapse into a Failure. If an instructor grants an extended incomplete, a grade change will need to be filed by the instructor, approved by the chairperson of the department, and forwarded to L&S Undergraduate Academic Deans’ Services in 101 Ingraham Hall. In such cases the grade of I is replaced with the grade of extended incomplete (EI).
Incompletes incurred in the last semester in residence at UW-Madison may not be removed after five years of absence from the University without special advance permission from L&S Undergraduate Academic Deans’ Services. Such Incompletes must remain on the record with grades of permanent incomplete (PI) and do not lapse into failures.
If a student enrolls with an Incomplete grade from a previous semester and is dropped later in the semester because the Incomplete has lapsed to an F or has been changed to a low grade, the student will be withdrawn with an effective date within the refund period closest to the time of the student’s actual withdrawal if the student has not been granted permission to continue by an L&S academic dean.
If a student is graduating and has an incomplete in the term they wish to graduate, they will need to complete the work before their degree can be awarded. Finishing up work for an incomplete after the term/semester means that a student will be awarded their degree at the next official graduation date.
- For example, if a student is planning to graduating in spring 2023 and gets an incomplete, they will need to complete the work by May 15, 2023. If they complete the work in July 2023, they will be awarded an August 2023 degree.
- See “when is my graduation date” under graduation for more information.
For more information about incompletes, please refer to L&S Incomplete Grade Information and deadline for submitting work after an incomplete grade. Also see Incompletes in the undergraduate section of the Guide.