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FTD Concentration Change Procedure

Students may request to change concentrations within the FTD program between April 15 and May 1 of their first year enrolled in the FTD program. Requests to change concentration will only be considered if there is an open seat in the intended concentration in the class year to be joined. The request to change concentration will be considered by the FTD faculty. If accepted into the desired concentration, students who have followed the 8 semester display for the first year of their program will be able to move within the same class and continue without consequence to their progress toward degree. A change of concentration within the FTD program will be considered one time only, i.e. once a student has been accepted into the new concentration, that student must remain in the new concentration. 

Requests to change concentration at a later point in the degree program (after May 1 of the first year) will be reviewed by FTD faculty. In such cases a student must understand that progress toward degree may be impacted and that time to graduation may be extended by 1 year or more. Students are urged to carefully review their progress toward degree and the potential impact of a concentration change with their advisor and/or FTD program faculty before applying to change concentrations. 

A student desiring to change concentrations must fill out and submit the FTD Concentration Change Request Form. The request must include:

  1. Concentration to be entered 
  2. Statement of understanding of impact, if any, on progress toward degree if the 8 semester plan has not been followed or the request is made later than the end of the second semester. Any concerns in this regard should be discussed with your advisor and/or FTD program faculty. An optional plan of courses for the following 2 semesters may be included to support the statement. For requests submitted after the end of the first year deadline or from students not on track with the 8 semester display, a plan of courses for the following 2 semesters is required.

Criteria used in evaluating requests to change concentration:

  1. There must be an open seat in the intended concentration in the class year to be joined (or requested moves will create one). This may vary depending on timing of the request, direction of move and progress along planned degree path. Note requests coming during or after 3rd semester may mean that the student will be set back 1 year or more and the class required to have an open slot would be the following year’s class. 
  2. The GPA at the end of the first year should be 2.7 or higher 
  3. Work completed in FTD course(s). 

 FTD program faculty review each request through discussion and examination of work. Program faculty in each concentration (FD, TD) make the determination of whether a student will be accepted into that concentration. Decisions will be made by May 15 of each year and communicated to students via email.