Requesting to Rejoin from a Leave of Absence

Requesting to Rejoin from any type of Leave of Absence

Voluntary Personal (Non-Health) Leave of Absence

To rejoin from a Voluntary Personal (Non-Health) Leave of Absence, students must notify the College of Engineering prior to the rejoin deadlines listed below. If no conditions were imposed at the time of the leave, permission to rejoin will be granted. Students who were given conditions to meet while on leave will be granted permission to rejoin once evidence has been presented that all conditions have been met. Students who are rejoined will receive written confirmation and be reactivated at the university.

For additional advising and guidance, contact:

• Unaffiliated B.S. students: Engineering Advising Office
• Affiliated B.S. students: department major Undergraduate Coordinator.
• M.Eng. students: department Major Coordinator/Graduate Field Assistant.

Health Leave of Absence

Students who wish to rejoin the College after a health leave of absence must first contact the Health Leaves Coordinator at healthleaves@cornell.edu to seek an approval to be rejoined. The College of Engineering cannot approve your rejoin from health leave without the Health Leave Coordinator's approval of your return.

Once the Health Leaves Coordinator approves of a student’s fitness to return from the health leave, the student must then notify the College of Engineering prior to the rejoin deadlines below. If no academic conditions were imposed at the time of the health leave, permission to rejoin will be granted. Students who were given academic conditions to meet while on the health leave will be granted permission to rejoin once evidence has been presented that all conditions have been met. Students who are rejoined will receive written confirmation and be reactivated at the university.

For additional advising and guidance, contact:

• Unaffiliated B.S. students: Engineering Advising Office
• Affiliated B.S. students: department major Undergraduate Coordinator.
• M.Eng. students: department Major Coordinator/Graduate Field Assistant.

Required (Non-Voluntary) Leave of Absence

To rejoin from a Required (Non-Voluntary) Leave of Absence, students must notify the College of Engineering prior to the rejoin deadlines listed below. If no conditions were imposed at the time of the leave, permission to rejoin will be granted. Students who were given conditions to meet while on leave will be granted permission to rejoin once evidence has been presented that all conditions have been met. Students who are rejoined will receive written confirmation and be reactivated at the university.

For additional advising and guidance, contact:

• Unaffiliated B.S. students: Engineering Advising Office
• Affiliated B.S. students: department major Undergraduate Coordinator.
• M.Eng. students: department Major Coordinator/Graduate Field Assistant.

Request to Rejoin Deadlines

The rejoin deadlines below are for the College of Engineering. These may differ from other important office deadlines such as the Health Leaves Coordinator, Housing and Residence Life, Bursar, and the Office of Financial Aid.

If returning from a Health Leave of Absence, documentation of fitness to return must be received first by the Health Leaves Coordinator by their timeline for return in order for us to approve the rejoin.

If students are on an international Visa, please consult with the International Services Leave of Absence website.

What to do While Away on Leave of Absence

Before or after you initiate your leave, you may be wondering what you can, or even what you “should” do while on a Leave of Absence. Because Leaves of Absence can occur for many reasons (i.e. health, family responsibilities, academics, military service, etc.), there are many options for what to do while you are on your leave. This section will cover different ways that students have spent their leaves in the past, including: making academic progress, reprioritizing well-being, community engagement, and employment. Remember: there is no singular, correct way to spend your leave - it all depends on your preferences and your needs.

Making Academic Progress

There can be many reasons to focus on your academics while on a leave. Some students wish to keep making progress toward their degree or catch up on requirements. Others share that they want to maintain their learning momentum by continuing formal academics in some way.

A leave of absence can also be a time to build your academic skills in a way that will support your success when you return to Cornell. Perhaps there were academic skills that contributed to your decision to take a leave, and you’d like to spend some time improving them.

Common areas that students want to improve include: 

• Foundational knowledge: improving foundational math and science skills 
• Learning efficiently: learning new study strategies, improving note-taking, re-learning skills for better focus.
• Managing time: using time efficiently, accurately measuring how long a task will take, working under deadlines
• Test-preparation and test-taking: preparing for exams and demonstrating knowledge in specific conditions

Free Academic Resources

Some students will address these areas by self-studying: they’ll use tools like Khan Academy or programs like MIT Opencourseware as free resources to brush up on basic academic skills on their own time. They may choose to use their time away accessing the several free resources through Cornell’s Learning Strategies Center to enhance their study strategies, note-taking, test preparation, and time management.

Taking Classes at Other Institutions

While on a Leave of Absence, you are not eligible to take courses at Cornell, but undergraduates may be eligible to take courses at another institution. Students who go this direction while on leave often do so with the intent of transferring that credit to Cornell when they return, which requires several approvals.

It is not recommended that you take a course at another institution without first speaking with your Professional Staff Advisor in Engineering Advising and receiving the necessary approvals required through the College of Engineering Transfer Credit Application Process. Approval for transfer credit can take several weeks - be sure to plan ahead!

Re-Prioritizing Well-being

For some students, a Leave of Absence is not a time to focus on academics, but rather, to focus on themselves. This can mean receiving care in a specific area that contributed to your leave, but it can also mean simply taking a break to rest and remove yourself from stress you experienced in the academic environment. 

Areas of well-being that students have spent time on during their leaves in the past include:     

• Building supportive routines that can be implemented when returning from leave
• Learning more information about general wellness & wellbeing for students
• Taking well-being classes or attending workshops in their community
• Receiving therapy or counseling
• Engaging in wellness coaching or mentoring
• Improving physical activity and/or sleep patterns                       
• Receiving support or rehabilitation for substance use/abuse                  
• Attending an inpatient program

If any of the areas above are areas that you are interested in pursuing while on leave, we encourage you to do so. The areas above, while not academic in nature, absolutely play a role in your ability to function well in a high-intensity academic environment. Taking care of your whole person will have a positive impact on your academics and your overall university experience when you return.

Community Engagement

Many students come to Cornell from highly-engaged high school experiences. You may have spent years volunteering or engaging with your home community in various ways before arriving here. While coming to college often marks a shift in what this looks like for students, many students maintain a high level of community engagement in their new campus community. Taking a leave can sometimes feel like a loss of that connection. 

We know that connection and engagement can promote overall well-being, and they can also help you keep a routine that can be implemented when you return to Cornell.

Consider pursuing the following areas while you are on your leave:

• Volunteering - is there a location or organization you volunteered at in high school that you could reconnect with? Think about committing to a few months of regular volunteering.
• Shadowing - are you pursuing a career that requires or recommends experience? Connect with people in your community who might be willing to let you shadow them.
• Informational Interviewing - are there people in your community who have careers that you’re interested in? Set up some short, in-person meetings with those folks to ask them questions about their career and their journey to that career.

Employment

Some students find the daily routine of employment to be a supportive experience while away on leave. Employment - even that which is not directly related to your target career - can be a useful tool for your future.

The Engineering Career Center recommends that students have at least two professional experiences by the time they apply to their first full-time role after college. Although it is not permissible to participate in on-campus experiences while on a leave of absence, such as project teams and student clubs, students can secure an internship, a non-Cornell sponsored co-op, and even any other type of employment (directly or indirectly related to your career goals), as well as potentially partake in research at other institutions. For more information, please see career resources.

Staying Connected with Cornell While on Leave:

While on a leave of absence, you still have access to your Cornell email and many campus resources, including Engineering Advising (for undergraduates). You are encouraged to stay in touch with other individuals who you believe will add value to your experience as you transition away from and back to Cornell. To stay connected with and informed about Cornell during your leave, consider maintaining or establishing contact with the following individuals at the University:                     

• Academic Advisor or Major Coordinator/Graduate Field Assistant:
  • For support finding and approving coursework/skills-building opportunities to complete during your leave and determining required courses and appropriate course load upon your return.   
• Health Leaves Coordinator:
  • For help determining the process and requirements for returning.
• Counselor or counseling services:
  • For recommendations for care and resources during your leave and upon your return.
• Peers, teammates, & roommates:
  • For personal support, information about campus, and continued connection
• Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives (OADI) 
  • For academic and professional-development support and resources across campus
• Office of Inclusive Excellence 
  •  Academic support specifically for students in the College of Engineering
• Trusted faculty (including faculty advisor and professors with whom you feel connected)
  • For support and guidance on academic decisions and career interests
• Student Disability Services
  • For exploring and requesting accommodations that will support you when you return to your academics.
• Supervisors from on-campus Jobs
  • For future employment opportunities and letters of recommendation

Our commitment to you during your leave:

• You will hear from Engineering Advising regularly during your leave keeping you informed of the rejoin process and rejoin deadlines.
• For unaffiliated undergraduates, your Professional Staff Academic Advisor in Engineering Advising is available to you while you are on leave to discuss strategic activities, plans for rejoin, and important academic policies. If you reach out or book an appointment with them, they are happy to meet with you.
• For affiliated undergraduates and M.Eng students, your Major Coordinator/Graduate Field Assistant is available to you while you are on leave to discuss strategic activities, plans for rejoin, and important academic policies. If you reach out or book an appointment with them, they are happy to meet with you.