What to do when a class just doesn’t fit

This week, as with the first week of every quarter, students are allowed to drop and add classes through the Registrar’s office. Many students find dropping and adding a class a necessary route due to grade replacements, major requirements, or lack of desire to take the registered course.

The process of dropping and adding a course is a simple one, requiring only one small form from the Registrar’s office and the signatures of all parties involved in the change. However, the decision to drop and add a class is a complex one according to Tim Prickel, Rose-Hulman’s Registrar. He suggests that students think the process through and discuss it with their advisor before any decision is reached.

However, students must decide soon if they want to add a class due to the deadline being today. This deadline also signifies the last chance to remove a class without any record of it. After this point, students still have the chance to drop a class without penalty until Friday of sixth week. Doing such would result in “W/S”, or “Withdrawal Satisfactory” on the students transcript. Prickel recommends, as with the Add/Drop considerations in the first week of the term, to discuss any decision of this matter with an academic advisor. This process can be completed similarly to that of the Add/Drop form of the first week, but now also requiring Pete Gustafson’s, the Dean of Students, signature. If a student decides after the 6th week to drop a class he or she is in, they still can, but with a penalty. The penalty for dropping a class after the 6th week is a “W/F”, or “Withdrawal Failing”, equating to an F for the GPA calculations of that student.

In hopes of assisting students to having a better quarter, Prickel offers up some advice on to how to handle this quarter and the concept of dropping a class. He offers the scenario of entering your sixth week. At some point, students enter sixth week with an F and begin to ask themselves questions about what would be beneficial to the rest of their college career in regards to this class. If you know there is little hope of you passing the class, it would most likely be in your best interest to drop the class, otherwise, if you think you can do decently enough that you will be happy with the grade you receive, stay with the class. He offers this advice as many students fear dropping a class because they might fall behind in their major schedule, yet, if one fails the class they are falling behind in, not only will they be behind but they also will carry the weight of the F on their GPA, which goes against his policy of “becoming academically healthy”. He likes to refer to this as a “strategic drop,” in the sense that one looses no more progress than otherwise, and also doesn’t hurt their GPA in the progress. Strategic drops, like all other drops, should be discussed with an academic advisor.