• All GW undergraduates are required to complete UW20 and two WID courses to graduate. This applies to all freshmen entering in AY 2005-06 and all sophomores and juniors who were placed into the new writing program in Fall 2003 or Fall 2004.
  
  
• UW20 is a prerequisite for all WID courses. Students must complete UW20 before enrolling in a WID course for WID credit.
  
  
• Students should take one WID course in their sophomore year and a second one in their junior year. (WID courses may be taken as late as the senior year to satisfy the requirement, but this is not recommended.)
  
  
• Under special circumstances (for example, junior year abroad), students may take two WID courses in the same year to satisfy the WID requirement, but not in the same semester.
  
  
• Students may not use two WID courses from the same semester to satisfy the WID requirement.
  
  
• Students transferring to GW with fewer than 30 credits will be required to take UW 20 without exception. 
  
  
• Transfer students with 30 or more credits who have taken 4 credits of English composition will be exempt from UW 20; however, they will still be required to take two WID courses. 
  
  
• Because the GW WID Program is distinctive, with several well-defined goals (all GW WID courses, for example, must require multiple writing assignments and a good deal of revision, as well as writing for different purposes and a variety of audiences), it is generally not possible to receive WID credit for what might seem to be similar courses taken elsewhere. However, students who believe they have had a comparable writing-intensive course elsewhere may petition to receive WID credit at GW by completing a University Writing Program Exception Request and providing appropriate back-up information. See below.
  
  
• In instances where a WID course has two CRN's (one for WID students and the other for non-WID), non-WID students are not permitted to register for the WID portion of a course, except with the permission of the instructor.
  

Special Situations - Exception Request

Students requesting exemptions from the WID requirement for any reason should complete a University Writing Program Exception Request form and supply appropriate supporting materials as indicated in thecheck list that accompanies the form. The check list and form are available for downloading here. The forms can also be picked up in person at Rome 553.

Please note that requests to count non-WID courses for WID credit on an ad hoc basis, simply because they include papers and other writing assignments, are not likely to be approved. WID courses must meet several goals or criteria and be approved in advance by a faculty committee. Note, too, that your writing sample, and the writing skills on display in your petition, constitute important sources of evidence that will be carefully considered in evaluating your Exception Request.

• Instructions and Form in one downloadable document - CLICK HERE to download