Are there certain requirements or rules for which it is absolutely hopeless to petition for an exception?
Yes—several: • Asking to count a non-ALM course toward the degree • Eight required Harvard instructors • Number of required field courses • Number of required elective courses • Removal of WDs from your transcript • Forgiving more than two WDs or noncompletion grades • Removal of nonpassing grades from your transcript • Field seminar • Nonfield seminar or writing-intensive course • Taking a proseminar a third time, after not having passed it with a B or better on two previous attempts • Asking for an exception before one is an admitted degree candidate
