Because of your on-site commitment in field experience, policies and procedures for withdrawal from a field experience course are different from the other courses in your program. If you wish to withdraw from a field experience course, you must first consult with your faculty and site supervisors about discontinuing the field experience with the site and ethically terminating the counseling relationship with your clients. You and your site supervisor will also be asked to complete a Field Experience Discontinuation/Site Termination form to document the circumstances surrounding your withdrawal. Your request to withdraw will then require academic coordinator approval. If you do not follow this policy, you may be subjected to earning an unsatisfactory grade in the course.

Requests to withdraw should be submitted via email to counselingfield@mail.waldenu.edu. Upon approval, operations staff will submit the request to withdraw to the Registrar for processing as of the date of the initial request.

If you are terminated from a field experience site, you should notify your faculty supervisor and the SOC-OFE immediately. If you are terminated because of poor student performance, lack of counseling skills ability, poor professional behavior, or other reasons identified by the site, you will automatically earn a U grade in the course and will be required to participate in a student support plan (development and/or skills, depending on the concerns) prior to reenrolling in field experience. All student support plans will be designed to support your individual needs. The purpose of this policy is to support your academic and professional growth (see Evaluating Student Competency).

Students who do not complete a quarter of field experience satisfactorily (e.g., dropping or withdrawing from the course or earning a U grade) will need to repeat the course. Students who fail a required course twice will be dismissed from the university.

You must apply in Meditrek® for each quarter of enrollment of field experience, including a request to retake a field experience course following a drop, withdrawal, or U grade. You are expected to initiate contact with the SOC-OFE for assistance with retaking or re-enrolling in a field experience course.

Note: If you do not complete a field experience course satisfactorily (i.e., you drop, withdraw, or earn a U grade in the course), the hours accrued during that term will be forfeited. Only hours earned during terms of field experience that are successfully completed will be counted toward the total hourly requirements of the program (except only in cases of a field experience extension).