Math or Foreign Language Requirements: Advice on Course Substitutions for College Students with Disabilities

As soon as you start at college, you should register with DS and request a substitution. Some schools will actually require you to take a class first before they’ll allow you to request a substitution. (If this happens, make sure you seek help and go to office hours to show you’ve made a good faith effort to do well.) Even if your school doesn’t do this, waiting to make your substitution request can delay your graduation. If you wait until your senior year to request a substitution, and your request isn’t approved until midway through the first semester, you may find that the courses you need to graduate aren’t offered in the second semester (and it will be too late to register for the current fall session). This means you’ll have to come back next fall to complete the classes that are only offered then, even if you were due to complete your degree in the spring.

It’s important to know that your college doesn’t have to provide course substitutions if it considers certain classes essential to its program. And even if your school is willing to provide substitutions for its general graduation requirements, certain programs might not. For instance, if you’re an international business major, you may have to take and pass (with a certain minimum grade) a number of foreign language classes, or if you’re a nursing major, you may have to pass Anatomy and Physiology with a certain minimum grade, regardless of your disability. Make sure you discuss this with your disability coordinator and your academic advisor.

It may be a relief if your college approves you for a course substitution. But don’t just jump to take one of these substitute courses, which may be as difficult or more difficult than the one you are hoping to avoid (e.g., a logic course may be more difficult the required math course would be). Make sure you research all of the options.

Ask your DS coordinator (or whoever is the appropriate person) what classes are considered acceptable substitutions, and use this list of courses as a starting point for your research. In his book, Winning at Math, expert Paul Nolting suggests getting copies of the syllabi from different sections of the same math class and speaking to professors who teach them so that you can get a sense of what skills are emphasized in the class and whether it is a good course for you.

Do this for both the substitute classes and the classes you were hoping to avoid, just to make sure you choose the best option. For instance, a substitute symbolic logic course can be just as challenging as the required algebra course, or a French literature class may involve so much reading and writing that it may be more difficult for you than the French class where you get assessed more on conversation skills.

If you are initially turned down for a substitution for math or foreign language requirements, make sure you research your options, as described above. Also read my advice for how to handle challenging classes.

It may be possible to appeal your request, but – again – you may have to start one of these required classes and give it a good try before DS will consider your request again. Make sure to seek help, and keep an eye on the add/drop or withdrawal deadline. After you’ve taken a few tests, you can try asking DS to reconsider your request, on the chance that you will get approved and be able to drop that class before it shows up on your transcript as a withdrawal (and maybe even in time to receive a refund).

Again, don’t wait to request a substitution. No matter what the result of your request is, you’ll need to know what classes you have to take so you can plan out your progress toward your degree. It’s better to have that information as early as possible.