Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon Community:
Beginning next fall, the dates for student class drops and withdrawals will change as part of a suite of measures designed to improve the academic experience. The changes will allow students to make better informed choices and minimize disruptive changes to class rosters that particularly harm team-based work.
Developed over 18 months, in consultation with major governing bodies on campus that include deans, associate deans, Faculty Senate, Student Government, Student Senate, the Graduate Student Assembly, the University Education Council and in town halls, the Academic Policies and Procedures (APP) working group of the Task Force on the CMU Experience proposed the new deadlines as part of a comprehensive plan that improves student work-life balance.
What’s changing
Currently, students have 10 weeks to drop a course; students can withdraw until the last day of the semester. Beginning with the Fall 2018 semester for undergraduate and master’s level courses, the drop deadline will move to six weeks and the withdraw deadline will be moved to 10 weeks. Since academic calendars vary across programs and locations, refer to your program's academic calendar for specific date changes.
To encourage students to continue to explore classes of interest, CMU also will implement a late-drop voucher system. The voucher system will allow students to enroll in classes of interest and to drop a limited number of courses without impacting their official transcripts. Additional information regarding the voucher system is available on the FAQ page of the Task Force. In addition, a full copy of the related changes to the official Grading Policy is available online.
Last semester, changes to the overload procedures also were implemented. This change eliminates an automatic overload unit increase and requires students togain advisor approval to register for more than 12 units above a department’s “normal load.”
As with any policy, allowances will be considered for students facing exceptional circumstances.
In addition, to help students make more informed decisions during the registration process, the University Registrar’s Office will be providing an online collection of course profiles. Course profiles will contain information about content, assignments (frequency and type), grading criteria (e.g., exams and papers) and average hours per week required (based on student feedback). These profiles will provide students with information that will help them select courses that fit their interests and learning goals while creating a balanced workload. The profiles also will help students select courses that better complement one another.
The course profile collection will be published in mid-April on the registration page. Students will need their log-in information to access the page. Advisors also can help students make more informed decisions during enrollment periods. Registration begins on April 22.
Implementation and evaluation
As these changes are implemented, additional resources will be available to assist students: a syllabus repository & archive has been created and is available to all CMU community members through Canvas.
This is an ongoing process. Changes will be evaluated and we welcome feedback from all members of campus via the Task Force inbox at cmuexperience@andrew.cmu.edu.
We appreciate the engagement of the individuals and organizations across campus who have provided input and support for these important academic improvements. This will allow us to uphold the academic rigor we value at CMU, while supporting students in making the best decisions possible for their overall experience.
Regards,
Laurie R. Weingart
Interim Provost
Richard M. and Margaret S. Cyert Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory
Amy Burkert
Vice Provost for Education