Section 5

Advising Timelines

Advising Period & Registration

The period starting two weeks before Registration is known as the Advising Period.  Before a student can register for Fall or Spring Semesters they must meet with their advisor to receive approval to register.

Registration Advising Meeting

Before the student registers you should meet one-on-one with the student and approve the student to register in GaelXpress. Here are some tips and resources to help you prepare for the Advising Period

Preparing for Advising:

1. Schedule appointments to meet with advisees during the Advising Period [slides].

• You can use Google calendar to create an appointment schedule [instructions].

1. Email your advisees (can be as a bcc-group) 
   • reminding them to Check for Holds, Check for transfer credits and language requirements that need to be updated, think about what courses they want to take
   • Some advisors find it useful to send a brief google form asking students how they are doing in their courses and more generally, and what questions they have for their advising appt so that they can prepare in advance.

During your Advising Appts: 

1. Ask the student some check-in questions to find out how their semester is going. For example: What is your favorite class this semester and why? How were midterms? How are you feeling about your academic path?
2. Address any questions they have about academic progress or withdrawing from courses.
3. Make sure the student is registering for at least 12 units and no more than 18 units for the semester, and no more than 36 units for the academic year.
4. Approve them for registration on GaelXpress 2.0 [slides].
5. Check students for Holds [see top right corner of student’s GXP advising profile]
6. Make sure that the student has an updated Plan to Graduation.
7. Record the student’s plan in the NOTES tab of GXP 2.0 advising profile:
   • Paste your link to the student’s Plan to Graduation
   • Student’s to-do items (e.g. clear holds, send transcripts, take X course in the summer, see financial aid etc.)

Registration Resources:

Holistic Support Questions for Advisors (by Class)

Registration and Add-Drop Information for Students

Add-Drop Period

The Add-Drop Period starts on the first day of classes. Please see the Academic Calendar for specific dates for the Add-Drop Period. Once the Add-Drop Period starts students will no longer be able to add a course on GaelXpress on their own. The student will need to obtain “Add Authorization” from the course instructor in order to add themselves to the class.

Students are not officially registered in the course until they receive “Add Authorization” and have enrolled themselves in the course and it appears on their schedule in GaelXpress. Reminder: Courses that students are registered for will display a green check mark indicating “Registered”

Important advice to share with your students

• Attend prospective and current classes in the first week
  • If your student is considering adding a class or if they are on a waitlist for class, it is important that they attend both the class they want to add and the class they want to drop. Many faculty will not add students into their classes if they have missed the first 2-3 days of class. If your student cannot attend the class in the first week, they should email the course instructor and also stop by their office hours to discuss adding.
• Don't wait until the last minute
  • Although the Fall & Spring semester add/drop periods are now two weeks. It can be increasingly difficult to add a class as each day of add/drop passes
• Encourage your advisees to check in with you when making decisions to add or drop classes

Resources:

Add-Drop Procedures in GaelXpress for Faculty

Course Enrollment Changes after the Add-Drop Period

After the add-drop period ends students are no longer able to add or switch the courses that they are enrolled in. However, students may still withdraw from a course without academic penalty through the withdrawal deadline of the fall or spring semester, the 2nd day of Jan Term, and the 2nd day of undergraduate Summer Term. Please consult the Academic Calendar to confirm the deadline to withdraw from a course or the College without Academic Penalty.

If a student wishes to withdraw from a course after the add-drop period, they should complete the Petition to Withdraw from a Course on the Registrar’s website. Other things to be aware of:

• If the student is receiving Financial Aid, the student should contact the Financial Aid Office to understand the impact of withdrawing from a course on their Financial Aid package.
• The course will remain on the student’s record with a “W” grade. This W grade will not impact the student’s GPA.
• If a student withdraws from a course, they won’t receive credit for the course. See the section on “Catching Up On Credits” for ideas on how to help your advisee mitigate lost credits.
• Repeatedly withdrawing from courses after the add/drop deadline can be a factor in students falling below the Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress guidelines because “W” grades will be counted towards number of credits attempted.

Leave of Absence or Withdrawal from the College

Students wishing to unenroll from all of their courses must submit a Leave of Absence or Withdrawal from the College form. The Academic Calendar specifies the last date that a student can submit a Leave of Absence or Withdrawal from the College without an academic penalty.

For information about the refund policy see the Business Office page. There is no refund after the fourth week of the semester.

Midterm Grades

After the midterm period, all instructors are required to submit Midterm Grades. The grades used at Midterm:

S= Satisfactory performance

D=Deficient performance

F=Failure

Z= Auditing course

These grades are used for advisory purposes, and are not reflected on the student’s transcript. TAO will notify advisors about their assigned advisees who have received D/F grades at midterm. Midterm grades are an opportunity to have a check-in with your advisee to help them discuss difficulties they may be having in their course(s), remind them about available resources, and discuss pros and cons of withdrawing from the course.

Final Exams

See the Final Exam Schedule