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Ninth Semester Permission

A student wishing to enroll for a ninth semester of study at Brown must receive permission from a designated academic dean.  A ninth semester may be granted when a student needs it to complete concentration requirements or for some other academically justifiable reason.  For example, a student may need an extra semester to finish an honors thesis or the second half of a year-long language course.  If a student simply needs one course to meet the thirty credit course requirement, the student will usually be placed on ETRP (enrollment terminated, requirements pending), take a four-credit course or the equivalent elsewhere, and transfer the credit(s) back to Brown to meet the thirty course requirement for degree completion.

Ninth semester permissions are not allowed in cases where students wish to complete a second concentration or achieve honors in a concentration.

An alternative to a ninth semester of study is the “split semester,” in which a student splits their eighth semester course and tuition requirement across two semesters.  This is a good option for students who would normally complete degree requirements in December but need to complete a two-semester thesis.  The maximum number of courses in which the student may enroll over the two semesters is five; tuition is reduced in each semester accordingly, so that the student has paid for 32 tuition credits.