# 'Aegrotat': is/was this term in use at your university? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 23, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258 "2014-08-23T01:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/21 "2014-08-24T10:14:00Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > This thread makes me think of this [Turkish basketball player](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcin_Gortat). Sorry, just found out that Gortat is in fact Polish. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/22 "2014-08-24T18:12:29Z")
Yes, I’ve heard of it. Although to get an ægrotat degree is accounted a great misfortune and is not exactly setting you up for a bright future. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/23 "2014-08-25T08:19:49Z")
It’s one of those terms that I’ve heard of, but didn’t know the exact meaning of. (Have attended 4 different Canadian universities and 1 in the US, so have no idea where I picked it up.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/24 "2014-08-25T08:36:52Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > A The question of pronunciation possibly comes up – tying-in, I suppose, with one’s preferred Latin-pronouncing conventions: “Ee-gro…”, or “Eye-gro…”? “Air-gro” or “Ay-gro”, are the closest to the two variants I know. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/25 "2014-08-25T11:47:34Z")
Yes, we use it at the UK university where I work. Last used in the summer degree ceremonies where an aegrotat degree was given to a student who’d died of testicular cancer earlier that year. He was only four months away from graduation when he passed away. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/26 "2014-08-25T14:05:56Z")
In the US, we had concept called “incomplete” which sounds similar. An instructor could give a grade of “Incomplete” if seriously extenuating circumstances such as hospitalization or being recalled for military service interfered with your ability to complete all of the course requirements. Incompletes were _not_ given just for not getting everything done by the last day of the course. Incomplete grades were for the course only (you couldn’t graduate with an Incomplete degree), and you weren’t exempted from the rest of the requirements, you just got some extra time to complete them. Once you turned in everything or the extended deadline passed, your grade would be updated to a final grade. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/27 "2014-08-25T15:17:23Z")
Canadian, went to University of Toronto in the 90s. Never heard the term before, but it may well have been in use - I just never ran across it. Edit: I looked it up - it is in use. > [@](#): > > Aegrotat standing > > Aegrotat standing (AEG) is granted based on a review of the student’s term work and reason for the petition. On approval of a student’s petition, the Committee on Examinations aegrotat standing, which carries credit for the course, but is not considered for averaging purposes. Aegrotat standing is a substitute for assigning an assessed mark; it is considered when three or more final exams were missed or extraordinarily encumbered and the student was clearly passing the course. [http://www.undergrad.engineering.utoronto.ca/Office\_of\_the\_Registrar/Petitions.htm](http://www.undergrad.engineering.utoronto.ca/Office_of_the_Registrar/Petitions.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/28 "2014-08-26T22:31:17Z")
Thanks everyone for the responses. It appears that it’s a term restricted to the Commonwealth. ---
**Author:** ![MrSBaldrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@MrSBaldrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSBaldrick)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/29 "2014-08-26T23:46:14Z")
Further confirming my New Zealand University used it, but I first encountered it used when one of my friends was sick during exams at High School (13-17 year olds). Had to look up what it meant then. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/30 "2014-08-27T06:21:15Z")
I heard the term when I did my undergrad (University of Toronto, 1970s-80s). I haven’t heard it since. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258/31 "2014-08-27T13:28:08Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Thanks everyone for the responses. It appears that it’s a term restricted to the Commonwealth. Given that it is from Latin, not English, it seems quite possible that it used in some non-English-speaking countries, especially in Europe. All that the thread has established, I think, is that it not used an the United States (and probably not Canada). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aegrotat-is-was-this-term-in-use-at-your-university/696258.md?page=1)