Senior Year in Absentia Privilege for Students of Medicine and Dentistry

Students who are candidates for the BA degree and are offered admission to a medical or dental school other than those at Case Western Reserve University at the end of the junior year are eligible for an opportunity to shorten their entire course of studies by one year through the Senior Year in absentia privilege. Application for this privilege should be made during the second semester of the junior year through the Undergraduate Advising Support Office.

A student granted the Senior Year in absentia privilege is permitted to substitute the work of the first year in a professional school for that required during the last year in the undergraduate college. Upon the satisfactory completion of the first year’s work in the professional school, the student will be granted the BA from the College of Arts and Sciences. The privilege is extended to qualified students who attend medical schools in the United States or Canada approved by the Association of American Medical Colleges or dental schools in the United States approved by the American Association of Dental Schools.

To be eligible for the senior year in absentia privilege, a student must:

1. Be accepted for admission to professional studies.
2. Attain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.200 in all courses attempted from the date of admission as an undergraduate.
3. Meet the following degree requirements:
   1. Completion of all Unified General Education Requirements (for students who matriculated Summer/Fall 2023 or later) or General Education Requirements (for students who matriculated Spring 2023 or earlier, including SAGES, breadth, and physical education)
   2. Completion of three-fourths of the courses required for the major, including three-fourths of the courses required in the major department.
   3. Completion of 84 credit-hours of arts and sciences courses. These credits may be drawn from those offered by the College of Arts and Sciences as well as those in economics, biochemistry, nutrition or computer science.
   4. Completion of at least 90 credit-hours of academic credit, of which the final 60 credit-hours must have been in residence. A student may include in that final 60 credit-hours no more than six credit-hours earned in courses completed in other institutions, either by cross-registration in regular sessions or by approved transient registration in summer sessions.

For more information contact Dean Wes Schaub at wws@case.edu.