Liberal Studies Program > Students > Exception Policies for LSP

Exception Policies

​​​​​​These are guidelines for submitting an exception request for Liberal Studies Program (LSP) requirements. Exception requests for the Experiential Learning requirement have varying policies noted below. 

 Information Required for LSP exceptions/waivers requests:

  • Student Full name
  • Student ID number
  • @depaul.edu email address
  • Advisor Name
  • Advisor DePaul email address
  • Home college
  • A description of the request*
  • Syllabus for DePaul courses
  • Syllabus & Course description (URL) for non-DePaul courses

To make an exception or waiver request, please fill out the Liberal Studies Program Exception Request Form.

If the exception or waiver request is approved, your advisor will make the change to your Degree Progress Report (DPR). 

* If the request comes from an advisor, they need to state the reason they are submitting the request on behalf of the student. (These requests include one-offs and, for returning students, groups of old LSP or pre-LSP program courses.)

Experiential Learning Exception Policies

For this by-request waiver of the EL requirement, the student is to write a 2000-word essay describing how their military experience (leadership, challenges, etc.) meets the EL learning objectives:

The experiential learning requirement engages students in the first-hand discovery of knowledge through observation and participation in activities in an unpredictable setting, usually (but not exclusively) off-campus. Students are asked to reflect on what they have learned about themselves, others, and a larger social context given the connection between course content and their experience. To do this, they may have contact with a community, an international setting, a workforce environment, or take on a role in the classroom or laboratory that is substantively different than that of student, such as model the professional behavior of a researcher or teacher.

Students who successfully complete the Experiential Learning requirement will be able to:

  • Apply particular concepts from readings, lectures, etc. to an analysis of lived experiences in the settings provided by the course.
  • Use the experiences provided by the course to construct and articulate the impact of their experience on their understanding of course content.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the ethics appropriate to his or her experiential placement.
  • Synthesize and articulate how the ideas and experiences provided by the course might inform their personal, academic, and/or professional pursuits.

The essay can be emailed to LASAssociateDean@depaul.edu with a few sentences of self- introduction (include full name and student ID) and requesting that this count for EL credit.

Students may apply to have their Independent Study considered for Experiential Learning (EL) credit.

To use a Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (LAS) Independent Study for EL credit, students need to complete this form: LAS Independent Study Form

To use an Independent Study outside of LAS for EL credit, students need to complete this form: Non-LAS Independent Study Form