rules of interest for new students OVERVIEW 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 LS&A Bulletin describes in detail these policies and procedures. Here we are sketching only some of the rules of primary and immediate interest to new students. Course Load Students 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 a student has Advanced Placement 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 courseload includes three or four classes, totaling between 12 and 17 credits. To be considered full-time (for Financial Aid, insurance, etc.), a student must be registered for at least 12 credits. Students must get special permission from the Academic Advising Center to elect fewer than 8 or more than 18 credits during Fall or Winter term. Adding and Dropping Courses Once you are registered in classes for a term, you may drop and add courses according to the policies and procedures outlined below; see Chapter IV of the LS&A 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. The regular Drop/Add Deadline for Fall 2001 term is Tuesday, September 26. After this deadline, Adds or Drops must be requested through the 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. The Late Drop/Add Deadline for the Fall 2001 term is Friday, November 9. 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 on-line at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/saa/calendars/index.html 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 LS&A deadline dates, not those of another unit of the University. As an LS&A student, you must follow the LS&A 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 LS&A Academic Advisor if you have any questions regarding the deadlines. Pass/Fail & Credit/No Credit You are allowed to take up to 30 credits Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit. Keep the following guidelines in mind: No class in your concentration may be taken Pass/Fail. The 4th term of your language requirement may not be taken Pass/Fail. You have until the end of third week of a full term to decide if you want to modify a class Pass/Fail. The Fall 2001 deadline for Pass/Fail is September 25, 2001. You must earn at least a C- to receive a Pass for a class. Other factors to consider: Your instructor does not know you are taking the class Pass/Fail unless you tell them. Pass/Fail grades do not calculate into your GPA. You should NOT take pre-professional requirements (pre-med or pre-business courses) as Pass/Fail. You should always take your coursework seriously. Do not slack off on work in a Pass/Fail class. If in doubt about taking a class Pass/Fail, talk to your Advisor. FAQpass/fail Q: What if I realize I'm getting an A in class I'm taking P/F and I'd like to change the class to taking it for a grade? A: You may not make changes to a P/F election (in either direction) after the Drop/Add and Pass/Fail at the end of third week of a full term. Q: I heard you can get P/F grades uncovered when you graduate if you want to. A: During the final term in residence, a student may pay a special fee set by the Registrar's Office and request a specially prepared appendix to the 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 LS&A Bulletin. Generally, your work in a course is graded on the basis of the following: Summary of Transcript Notations  Letter Grade:  A+  A  A- B+   B  B-  C+  C  C- D+ D D- E  Honor Points:  4.0  4.0  3.7  3.3  3.0  2.7  2.3  2.0  1.7 1.3 1.0 0.7 0.0 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 the superior achievement of its students in a variety of ways as explained in Chapter IV of the LS&A Bulletin.   Maintenance of Good Standing At the end of each term the Academic Standards Board reviews the transcripts of all LS&A students showing evidence of academic difficulty. This is done according to the policies and procedures described under "Academic Discipline" in Chapter IV of the LS&A Bulletin. Final Examination The final examination schedule for courses is published near the front of each term's Time Schedule by the Office of the Registrar and is available on-line at: http://www.umich.edu/~regoff/exammenu.html. Individual instructors are not authorized to change the announced times of examinations. Re-scheduling exams into earlier time periods may mean that you will 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 Time Schedule: No allowance is made and no approval is given for final exams prior to the approved schedule. Approval will not be given for any exams during Study Days. Final exams scheduled for one date and time may not be moved to another date and time without prior approval of the Final Examination Committee. The LS&A 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 re-schedules an examination, the student has a right to take it at the scheduled time period. Anyone experiencing any difficulty in this regard, should see the Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs (G411 Mason; (734) 764-7297) or consult the Office of the Registrar (1524 LS&A; (734) 764-6280). Incompletes There may be an occasion when unusual circumstances make it appropriate for you to consider the option of taking an incomplete in a course at the end of a term and finishing the missing work a little later. You should talk this option over with your Academic Advisor first, and then discuss the possibility with your instructor. If the instructor agrees to give you extra time, the College allows you the first four weeks of the next full term in which to finish the work. An incomplete course which is not finished by that deadline (and for which no extension has been granted) automatically lapses to a failing grade on your transcript. Non-LS&A Coursework Courses offered by other academic units of the University of Michigan­Ann Arbor (e.g., Art & Design, Business, Education, Engineering, Music, SNRE) which are NOT listed in the LS&A Bulletin are non-LS&A courses. LS&A students may ordinarily use up to 12 credits of non-LS&A course work toward an AB or BS degree program. BGS students may use up to 20 credits of non-LS&A course work. See Chapter III of the LS&A Bulletin for further details. Examine the information carefully and note which courses LS&A does not accept. FAQgrades Q: How is class standing determined? A: Class standing is determined by the number of credits earned toward a degree: Freshman (fewer than 25); Sophomore (25-54); Junior (55-84); Senior (85 or more). Q: Is there a Dean's List in LS&A? A: The easy answer is no, LS&A has no Dean's List that is posted or released to the public. The more complicated answer is that the College does have several awards for academic achievement. "University Honors" are awarded once every calendar year to LS&A students who have maintained an average GPA of 3.5 or better. A notation designating University Honors is placed on each student's transcript. In addition, students with outstanding academic records are eligible for the William S. Branstrom Freshman Prize and 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 LS&A Bulletin.   ?