Medical leave and attendance: what to keep and when to submit
Everyone gets sick at some point in a semester. A few days off won't sink your attendance on its own, but how you handle the paperwork can decide whether those days count against you when it matters.
Colleges handle medical leave differently. This page is general advice. Your college's rules decide what's accepted and how.
How medical leave is usually treated
It's a common assumption that a medical certificate turns absences into "present". In most colleges, it doesn't. The classes still count as missed. What a medical certificate usually does is:
- Support a request to condone (excuse) a shortage at the end of the semester, if you end up below the minimum. See what happens below 75%.
- Show your teachers that the absence was genuine, which matters for things like missed internal tests or assignments.
So plan as if the sick days count as absences, and treat the certificate as your safety net.
What to keep
- A medical certificate from a registered doctor, with your name, the dates you were unfit to attend, and the doctor's registration number and signature. Ask for the dates to be written clearly; "rest advised for a few days" isn't much use.
- A fitness certificate when you go back, if your college asks for one.
- Prescriptions, test reports or hospital papers, especially for longer illnesses or hospital stays.
- Photos of everything before you hand in originals, plus a note of who you gave them to and when.
When to submit
As soon as you're back. Certificates handed in weeks later, or all at once at the end of the semester, are much more likely to be questioned or refused. Many colleges have a deadline. Find out where yours go: usually the class teacher, mentor or department office.
Tell someone while you're away
If you'll be out for more than a day or two, let your class teacher or coordinator know, by message or through a classmate. It costs nothing and makes the paperwork smoother later.
Keep your own record of those days
Mark the days you were ill in your own attendance record, with a note. At the end of the semester you'll want to know exactly which dates and how many classes were affected, per subject. That's what a condonation request will ask for.
In Attendance Tracker, mark the periods as Absent so your percentages stay honest. Your full record can be exported as a CSV file from the dashboard.
After you're back
Use the calculator to see where each subject stands. If one has dipped below the line, check how many classes it needs and give it priority for the next few weeks.