February 19, 2020

Deadline to Drop a Course is Tuesday, Feb. 25

If you haven't yet done so, now is the time to touch base with your advisees and see how they are doing with their courses this semester. Tuesday, Feb. 25 is the deadline for students to drop a course without receiving a “W” on their transcript. As a result, you may be hearing from students who are struggling with whether or not to drop a course.

Students' first thoughts may be to just drop the course, but there are several reasons to consider dropping the last option. Remind them that often the best route is to improve as they progress through the course rather than close the avenues to learning early on.

As you meet with your advisees, here are a few topics to discuss.

• First, check that they will still have at least 12 credits for the semester if they drop the course in question. If not, make sure they have taken steps to find another course to get to 12 credits.  At this point, it is too late in the semester to add a new course that they have not been attending. There may be a “short course” that has not yet begun and may be added. One of the "short course" options is offered by the School for International & Public Affairs (SIPA), although not recommended for First-Year students. Search The SIPA Catalogue or the SIPA page of the CU Directory of Classes for 1-1.5-credit courses. Students will need to contact both the instructor and their academic adviser for approval.  Chair of Political Science, Kimberly Marten, has reviewed the list of SIPA short courses and approved the ones appropriate for Barnard students on this form: Approved Spring 2020 SIPA Short Courses.  The student should forward both approvals to registrar@barnard.edu, and a Registrar’s Office staff member will need to manually register the student for the SIPA class.

• Please note that enrollment in fewer than 12 credits is generally only approved as a disability accommodation. Students who believe they have a compelling reason to drop below 12 credits, should consult with the Center for Accessibility Resources and Disability Accommodations(CARDS).  

• All students who are taking PE or Dance to fulfill their PE requirement this semester should by now have these classes listed on their schedule as 1 credit; if any advisees have 0 credits listed where you/they expect 1 credit, please encourage them to email registrar@barnard.edu to address this. 

• Ask students if they have been accessing appropriate resources. Have they sought out (free) tutoring through the Dean of Studies Office? Have they been going to office hours? Have they been seeing the TA and/or the professor on a regular basis?  If your advisee is interested in securing a peer tutor, ask them to write to peertopeer@barnard.edu. More on peer tutoring below.

• You can also ask students if they are enrolled in the wrong level within a subject. For example, if the student is currently enrolled in Calculus III and needs to drop down to Calculus I, it may still be possible to switch as long as the professors of both courses approve the change. This needs to be done quickly though – so have your students contact the professors as soon as possible, and pick up the Add and Section Change form from the Registrar's Office.  

• Finally, if your students do decide to drop a class, remind them it cannot be done online and that you as their adviser must sign the form. The forms are available from the Registrar's Office. Your advisees may ask if they may drop off a form for your signature. Please discourage this because the purpose of the form is to provide students the opportunity to benefit from your advice before they make their decisions. Your signature is required on the drop form; a dean’s signature is not necessary. Once you approve the dropped class and have signed their form, students must then return the form to the Registrar's Office. Again, make certain that dropping the course does not take them below 12 credits.

• One final deadline to note – Thursday, March 26 is the deadline for students to withdraw from a course, but the course and a "W" will appear on their transcript.  This is also the same deadline for students to elect the P/D/F option for a course this semester.

Advisees needing help with current courses?
Peer-to-peer learning opportunities can help.

As we are in the fifth week of the semester, you may hear from students who are struggling already in their courses. Barnard has two free peer-to-peer tutoring programs for students to choose from depending on their needs. Here’s how to advise students about their options:

• Larger group-based: Barnard’s FREE group-based help sessions are held on a regular weekly schedule - allowing for students to drop-in when they need assistance - and are grouped by subject. Details can be found here: https://barnard.edu/peer-to-peer-learning. 

• Individual/smaller group-based: For students who need more assistance than can be provided in group-based tutoring, Barnard provides FREE small group/one-on-one tutoring through the Dean of Studies Office. This tutoring service pairs students with a specific peer tutor for the semester, and sessions are either one-on-one or small groups of two to three students. More information can be found here: https://barnard.edu/individual-small-group-tutoring

• If you or your advisees or students have questions, contact Evelyn Leong in the Dean of Studies office at 4-2024, peertopeer@barnard.edu.

Key Deadlines for Advisers

Tuesday, Feb. 25
Last day to drop a course. Some students may not remember that this cannot be done online and requires them to pick up the form from the Registrar's Office, meet with you and get your signature, and then return the form to the Registrar's office. Students may not drop below 12 credits.

This deadline is also a good time for your advisees to review their current class    schedule in Student Planning and clean up any schedule inconsistencies. These are some things for students to look for:

• Any classes for which they are not fully registered (classes that are not green in Student Planning), and 
• Any classes they thought they dropped but are still showing up as registered.

Monday, March 2
Deadline for second semester sophomores to declare their majors. Please refer to the February 7 Insights for a few tools you can use to assist your advisees.

Thursday, March 26, 4:30 p.m.
Last day to withdraw from a class with a W.  Adviser signature required. Students may not drop below 12 credits.

Thursday, March 26, 11:30 p.m.
Last day to elect the Pass/D/Fail option. Unlike dropping or withdrawing from a class, P/D/F election is done online and does not require adviser approval, but we encourage students to consult you or their Dean if they are considering P/D/F. Students cannot p/d/f courses that they intend to apply towards their major.

Monday, April 6 
Student Planning opens for students to begin planning their Fall 2020 class schedules. See list of department open houses and meetings for majors and prospective majors: Spring 2020 Program Planning Meetings. Departments often provide students with a preview of their Fall 2020 courses at these meetings.

Monday, April 6
Begin meeting with your Advisees and grant them “Permission to Register” in WebAdvisor. Need a refresher on how the “Permission to Register” process works? Visit:  "How to view your Advisees’ course selections and grant permission for their initial registration."

Monday, April 20 - Friday, April 24
Registration open for Fall Semester 2020

Helpful Advising Resources

Advising Guide 2019-2020

Instruction Manual for Advising and Registration Systems