Work Experience Petition Form

Petition Details

Preparing to Submit Your Petition Form

Before starting your petition, thoroughly read the Petition Detail section above to determine which petition you are eligible for and what business requirements you are petitioning. This petition form will require you to reference information from multiple sources. Before you begin, please have the following materials open and easily accessible:

1. myWSU Academic Requirements Report
2. Suitable
3. LinkedIn profile URL
4. A current résumé that demonstrates the scope and depth of your professional work experience
5. Draft responses to the short-essay questions (we recommend writing your responses in a Word doc and copying/pasting them into the form)

Short essay questions:

The short essays allow you to demonstrate how your professional experiences have helped you develop the knowledge and skills associated with the degree requirements included in this petition. Your responses will be reviewed by the committee to determine how well you meet the associated learning goals.

Essays will be evaluated based on:

• The depth and breadth of your professional work experience
• The clarity and thoroughness of your responses
• The quality of your written communication

Each essay should be approximately half a typed page. Essay fields will have a limit of 1,600 characters (with spaces). As you write, be sure to keep track of your character count (in Word, select the text you want to check, go to the Review tab in the top menu, click Word Count, and a box will appear showing the Characters (with spaces). 

Your goal is to be thoughtful and thorough while remaining concise. Here are the short-essay questions you will need to answer:

1. Your Career Journey (for Work Experience Petition Only)
   Describe your career journey, with particular attention to your experience in people management, employee supervision, or team/military leadership. Tell us about the challenges you encountered and how these helped you develop the knowledge and skills needed to be an effective leader. Explain why this experience warrants an exemption from these degree requirements.
2. Major & Career Decision-Making
   Describe how you explored and researched potential majors and career options. Identify the options you considered and explain the major and career path you selected. In your essay, discuss how you evaluated these options and what considerations or evidence guided your decision-making process.
3. Career Goals
   Describe your short-term and long-term career goals. Explain the key factors and considerations that influenced these goals and how they shaped your career decisions. In your response, discuss how your understanding of your strengths, interests, values, personality, and past work experiences informed or influenced the development of these goals.
4. Career & Self-Development
   Based on your research into your intended career and its professional expectations, identify the strengths, skills, and experiences that position you well for this field. Describe how and when you developed these competencies and explain how they align with the expectations of your chosen profession.
5. Career & Self-Development
   Based on your understanding of success in your chosen field, identify the key knowledge, skills, or abilities you would like to further develop. In your response, describe what you have already done to build these competencies and explain how you plan to continue developing them to support your future professional goals.
6. Leadership Experience
   Describe the depth and breadth of your leadership experience; including job titles and duration of these experiences. What lessons have you learned that influence your leadership style.
7. Networking
   Describe how you have used your professional network to learn more about your field of interest. What steps have you taken to connect with others in the industry, and how have their insights informed your career thinking or decisions? Identify the networking activities you are currently engaged in and explain how you plan to continue using networking as part of your career journey.