As an entering student in the College, you should familiarize yourself with the academic policies and procedures of the College as well as with the degree requirements. Chapter IV of the LSA Bulletin describes these policies and procedures in detail. Here we are sketching only some of the rules of primary and immediate interest to new students.

Course Load
You can complete the 120 credits required for graduation in four years by carrying an average load of 15 credits per term each fall and winter. An average of less than 15 credits per term is possible if you have International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, A-level or other transfer credits or plans to take spring or summer classes. Because of the adjustments and new demands of college life, it may be advisable to take fewer than 15 credits during your first term. A typical course load includes three or four classes, totaling between 12 and 17 credits. To be considered full-time (for Financial Aid, insurance, visa regulations, etc.), a student must be registered for at least 12 credits. As an international student, you must carry 12 credits to be considered in good visa standing. To drop below 12 credits, you must get permission from the International Center. Students also must get special permission from the LSA Academic Advising Center to elect more than 18 credits during Fall Term or Winter Term.

Adding and Dropping Courses
Once you are enrolled for a given term, you may drop and add courses according to the policies and procedures outlined below; see Chapter IV of the LSA Bulletin for full details.

The College allows you to drop and add courses during the first three weeks of the regular term without any record of the changes appearing on your transcript. After this deadline, Adds and Drops must be requested through the LSA Academic Advising Center, 1255 Angell Hall. If your late-drop request is approved, you will receive a grade of “W” for any course dropped after the third-week deadline.
In addition, be aware that after the ninth week of the term, late-drop requests are rarely approved, and then only on an exceptional basis. You should discuss all late drop/add requests with your academic advisor.

More on academic deadlines: You should make yourself aware of the various deadline dates each term. These can be checked online at:

https://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/students/academic_calendars/

Each College within the University has a specific set of deadlines which apply to the academic term— deadlines for adding and dropping courses, for finishing incomplete work from a previous term, for identifying a Pass/Fail course, etc. The deadlines are not necessarily the same for each College, so be sure that you are acting within the LSA deadline dates, not those of another unit of the University. As an LSA student, you must follow the LSA rules and deadlines, even if the course you’re taking is in another school or college (e.g., Business, Engineering, Art & Design). Be sure to check with your academic advisor if you have any questions regarding the deadlines.

Pass/Fail and Credit/No Credit
You are allowed to take up to 30 credits on a Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit basis.

Keep the following guidelines in mind:

• No course that counts toward your concentration and minor may be taken Pass/Fail.
• The fourth term of your language requirement may not be taken Pass/Fail.
• You have until the end of the third week of a full term to decide if you want to modify a class Pass/Fail. The Fall 2004 deadline for Pass/Fail is Monday, September 27, 2004.
• You must earn at least a “C-” to receive a Pass for a class.

Other factors to consider:

• Instructors do not know you are taking courses Pass/Fail unless you tell them.
• Pass/Fail grades do not count in your GPA.
• You should NOT take pre-professional requirements (pre-med or pre-business courses) Pass/Fail.
• You should always take your course work seriously. Do not slack off on work in a Pass/Fail class.
• If you’re in doubt about taking a course Pass/Fail, talk to your advisor.

  FAQ: Pass/Fail
  Q: What if I realize I’m getting an “A” in a course I’m taking Pass/Fail and I’d like to change it from Pass/Fail to graded?
  A: You may not make changes to a Pass/Fail election (in either direction) after the Drop/Add and Pass/Fail deadline at the end of the third week of a full term. Note that even if you are taking a course from a different unit, the LSA Pass/Fail deadline still applies to you.
  
  Q: Can I get Pass/Fail grades uncovered?
  A: During the final term in residence, you may pay a special fee set by the Registrar’s Office and obtain a specially prepared appendix to your transcript, on which the original grades submitted for all courses elected Pass/Fail are listed.

Grades
You should become familiar with the section on “Grade Notations and Grading Policies” found in Chapter IV of the LSA Bulletin. Generally, your grade in a course is recorded in the following manner:

Summary of Transcript Notations
You compute your grade-point average (GPA) by first multiplying the honor points obtained in each course by the credit hours for the course, then adding all of these honor points and dividing the sum by the total number of credits attempted on a graded basis.

Academic Honors
The College acknowledges superior achievement by its students in a variety of ways as explained in Chapter IV of the LSA Bulletin.

Maintenance of Good Standing
At the end of each term, the Academic Standards Board reviews the transcripts of all LSA students showing evidence of academic difficulty. This is done according to the policies and procedures described under “Academic Discipline” in Chapter IV of the LSA Bulletin.

Final Examination
The final examination schedule for courses is available online at: www.umich.edu/~regoff/exams/

Individual instructors are not authorized to change the announced times of examinations. Re-scheduling exams into earlier time periods may mean that you lose the final class period; it may mean that you are denied review time in class, and it may rob you of study days.

As stated in the Schedule of Classes:

The LSA Faculty Code states that:

An instructor may not depart from the official schedule unless prior approval of the Final Examination Committee is obtained.

All students are expected to take their final examinations at the time fixed in the official schedule of examinations. No single student may be examined at a time earlier or later than the official time unless a mutually agreeable time has been arranged in advance by the student and the instructor.

If an instructor reschedules an examination, the student has a right to take it at the originally scheduled time. Anyone experiencing any difficulty in this regard should see the Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs —1228 Angell Hall, 734-764-7297— or consult the Office of the Registrar—413 E. Huron Street, 734-763-5174.

Incompletes
In the rarest of circumstances, you may be unable to finish a small portion of the work in one or more of your courses before the end of the term. If so, you may consider asking the instructor(s) for the grade of an Incomplete (I). The College will allow you up to the end of the fourth week of the next full term to finish the work if the instructor agrees to your request for an Incomplete. A grade in an incomplete course that is not finished by that deadline (and for which Academic Standards has not granted an extension) lapses to a failing grade on your transcript.

Non-LSA Coursework

Courses offered by other academic units of the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (e.g., Art & Design, Business, Education, Engineering, Kinesiology, Music) that are NOT listed in the LSA Bulletin are non-LSA courses.

LSA students may use up to 20 credits of non-LSA course work toward a degree program. See the LSA Bulletin for further details. Examine the information carefully and note which courses LSA does or does not accept. Not all courses from the Division of Kinesiology transfer to LSA: see Chapter III of the LSA Bulletin for details.

FAQ: Grades
Q: How is class standing determined?
A: Class standing is determined by the number of credits earned toward a degree: First-Year (fewer than 25); Sophomore (25–54); Junior (55–84); Senior (85 or more).

Q: Is there a Dean’s List in LSA?
A: The easy answer is no, LSA has no Dean’s List that is posted or released to the public. The more detailed answer is that the College does have several awards for academic achievement. “ University Honors” are awarded once every calendar year to LSA students who have maintained an average GPA of 3.5 or better. A notation designating University Honors is placed on the transcript of each student who earns them. In addition, students with outstanding academic records are eligible for the James B. Angell Scholar Awards.

The College also has two types of graduation awards. Degrees are granted with the notations with Distinction, with High Distinction, and with Highest Distinction. This is roughly equivalent to cum laude (etc.) notations given at other colleges and universities. Distinction awards are granted on the basis of class rank.

Moreover, students who have pursued Honors concentration programs are eligible to receive an additional degree citation with Honors, with High Honors, or with Highest Honors in their field of concentration. For more detailed descriptions of these awards and the criteria for each, see Chapter IV of the LSA Bulletin.