UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

HOW TO POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

• Course Attendance
• Course Repetition
• Credit by Examination
• Advisement Report Updates
• Incomplete Grades
• Major and Minor Declarations
• Pass/No Pass Option
• Schedule Changes - Drop/Add
• Transfer Credit
• Study at Other Colleges
• Withdrawal from Courses

Course Attendance

Students are expected to attend classes regularly. Each instructor keeps his or her own record of student absences and is free to determine the extent to which absences affect the final grades of students.

An instructor who feels a student is jeopardizing his or her class work by absences reports this to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies for such action as the dean considers appropriate. An instructor who judges a student's absences from his or her class to be excessive may exclude the student from class and assign a grade of F. Instructors taking such action must notify the dean in writing.

Absences from hour examinations must be explained satisfactorily to the instructor of the course

Course Repetition

Any student who has received an F or W in a course specifically required for his or her curriculum must retake that course at the next regular opportunity unless the student has since passed the course by proficiency examination.

A student desiring the opportunity to repeat a course because of dissatisfaction with the quality of an earlier performance is eligible to do so, but must advise the Office of Undergraduate Studies of his/her intention by completing a REQUEST FOR COURSE REPETITION form.

Upon completion of the repeated course for an evaluative grade--A, B, C, D, or F--the grade received for the earlier enrollment will be replaced by the designation RPT and will no longer be computed in either the semester or cumulative grade point averages. The only grade posted and averaged for a course on the student record will be that resulting from the most recently completed enrollment in that course. This option may be exercised subject to the following conditions:

1. The repetition must occur within one calendar year of the previous enrollment or, for courses that are not offered annually, in the next semester in which the course is offered.
   
2. A student may not use the Pass/No Pass Option when repeating a course.
   
3. An academic action that occurred under the earlier grade is neither reversed nor removed from the record as a result of a change in the semester or cumulative averages that results from the repetition of one or more courses.
   
4. A student using the option must enroll for a minimum of 12 semester hours for which credit had not previously been earned. Students repeating courses previously passed may lose their eligibility to receive all forms of federal financial aid if they are not also enrolled in courses comprising 12 additional credit hours.

CREDIT BY EXAMINATION

Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate Examinations

Students may earn degree credit on the basis of advanced examinations taken while in secondary school; examinations eligible for credit and/or advanced placement include, but are not limited to: College Board Advanced Placement Examinations and International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examinations. Determination of the criteria for granting credit and/or placement is made by the appropriate department. In assigning credit or granting advanced placement for credentials from outside the United States, the University is guided by the placement recommendations and grade equivalencies approved by the National Council on the Evaluation of Foreign Educational Credentials.

Proficiency Examinations

Any student who receives proficiency credit for a course through a proficiency examination administered during a semester when the student is not registered for a full-time schedule (12 or more semester hours) at Case Western Reserve University is charged a fee equal to one-third of the present tuition charge for the course. No fee is charged if the student does not receive credit from the examination.

ADVISEMENT REPORT or DEGREE PROGRESS REPORT

Click here for further information.

Assignment of the Incomplete Grade

The Incomplete grade (I) is assigned by and at the discretion of the instructor when:

1. there are extenuating circumstances, explained to the instructor before the assignment of the grade, which clearly justify an extension of time beyond the requirements established for and met by other students in the class, and
   
2. the student has been passing the course and only a small segment of the course, such as a term paper, remains to be completed.

It is the student's responsibility to notify the instructor of the circumstances preventing completion of all assigned work. In the absence of notification or adequate justification the instructor has the authority to assign the student a final grade that assumes a failing grade for the missing work.

An Incomplete grade should not be assigned when:

1. a student has been absent for much of the semester and/or has done little of the work required for a course, or
   
2. because a student is absent from a final examination, unless the Dean of Undergraduate Studies has authorized the grade.

Changing the Incomplete Grade

The instructor shall submit to the Office of Undergraduate Studies for transmission to the Registrar a final evaluative grade to replace the Incomplete upon completion of the work outstanding by a date established for the student by the instructor. When a student fails to submit the work required for removing the Incomplete by the date established, the instructor shall submit to the Office of Undergraduate Studies for transmission to the Registrar a final grade that assumes a failing performance for the missing work. In the absence of the assignment of a grade by the instructor the Registrar will convert the I to F when the deadline for making up Incomplete grades from a previous semester has passed.

The amount of additional time allowed a student to make up incomplete work should serve to accommodate the student while being fair to other students in the course. It should be proportional to the duration of a student's illness or absence and might be no more than a few days or weeks. At the extreme, it should not extend past the eleventh week of the session following the one in which the Incomplete grade was received. In certain cases (such as students on probation) the dean may establish a date for completion of courses with Incomplete grades.

MAJOR AND MINOR DECLARATIONS

1. Obtain a DECLARATION OF MAJOR Form in the Office of Undergraduate Studies and take the form to the department representative in your intended major for his/her signature and assignment of a major advisor. A list of representatives is available here or in the current Handbook for Undergraduates.
   
2. All students must also select which General Education/Core Requirements they are following.
   
3. Bring the completed form to the Office of Undergraduate Studies. The declaration of major is not official unless it is submitted to the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

Follow the above procedure for declaring minors as well using a MINOR DECLARATION FORM. Complete and return the form to the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

PASS/NO PASS OPTION

Courses elected on a Pass/No Pass basis and completed with a grade of D or higher will be entered with a grade of P on a student's transcript. Courses taken Pass/No Pass and for which a grade of F is earned will be entered on the transcript with the letter grade NP. Courses completed with letter grade P under this option will be counted for credit toward the baccalaureate. Courses completed with the grade NP do not earn credit. Courses completed with grades P and NP are not included in computing the grade point average.

The Pass/No Pass option is subject to the following regulations:

1. The Pass/No Pass option is exercised during the last three days on which classes are scheduled.
   
2. It is available only during regular fall and spring semesters to full-time students who are in good standing.
   
3. It can be exercised for only one course during any semester.
   
4. It cannot be used for courses taken for satisfaction of core requirements.
   
5. It cannot be used for courses taken for the satisfaction of requirements of a major or minor concentration.
   
6. Courses offered only on a Pass/No Pass basis with the approval of the curriculum committee do not affect the student's use of the Pass/No Pass option.
   
7. Instructors are not notified of a student's use of this option. They are required to submit evaluative grades for all students and these are converted to Pass/No Pass in the Registrar's Office. The meaning of the grades P and NP will be noted on the transcript.

SCHEDULE CHANGES DROP/ADD

Changes in course schedules must be completed online or submitted to the Registrar's Office before the end of the second week of classes during the fall and spring semesters, and on or before the second day of classes during the summer session.

Make schedule changes online using your pin, or fill out a DROP/ADD form (available in our office) and obtain your advisor's signature before submitting the form

TRANSFER CREDIT

Students may receive credit by transfer from another accredited college, university, or technological institute in the United States or from institutions of higher education outside the United States under the following conditions:

1. At the time of admission to Case Western Reserve University upon presentation of an official transcript from each institution previously attended. Credit will be awarded for courses equivalent or comparable to those offered by the University and completed with a grade of C or better. Any such courses taken prior to the student's graduation from high school must be listed in the college's catalog among courses offered for degree credit to the college's undergraduates, taken in the company of matriculated college students, and organized and taught by college faculty. In addition, to be considered for transfer credit, such courses must not have been used to fulfill high school graduation requirements. The allocation of transfer credit is determined by the Office of Undergraduate Studies in consultation with the appropriate department. The applicability of such transferred work toward the satisfaction of major or minor requirements will be determined by the major or minor department. Students who are eligible to receive transfer credit equivalent to ENGL 150, Expository Writing, are required to take the English placement examination for transfer students.
   
2. After enrollment in the University, only when approval has been secured in advance from the Office of Undergraduate Studies. After matriculation in the University, undergraduates are not permitted to earn more than 15 semester hours as transient students at other accredited institutions. Credit earned elsewhere after matriculation is not applied toward the 60 hour minimum required in residence. Work taken through the cross registration program (see below) is treated as transfer credit.

Credit is not awarded for work done at an unaccredited institution in the United States except by proficiency examination in those departments offering that opportunity. The award of transfer credit for work done at institutions outside the United States is subject to departmental evaluation and to the recommendations of the National Council on the Evaluation of Foreign Credentials.

A student dismissed for poor scholarship from any institution cannot receive credit by transfer for courses taken in the first two sessions after that dismissal without prior permission of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies.

Grades for courses taken at other institutions will not be entered on the student's record nor will they be computed in the student's grade point average.

STUDY AT OTHER COLLEGES

If you are interested in taking summer classes at institutions other than Case and receiving transfer credit for the courses, pick up an OFF-CAMPUS STUDY REQUEST form in the Office of Undergraduate Studies, Sears 357, as soon as possible.

You must submit course descriptions in advance for the courses that you are interested in taking which will be evaluated by the Director of Advising and Evaluation for Off-Campus Study. The sooner you complete the form, the sooner you will be notified if the course that you are interested in taking has been approved. The submission deadline is April 15th.

After matriculation in Case, students are permitted to earn no more than a total of 15 semester hours at other accredited colleges or universities.

Case offers summer courses with half-priced tuition. Students will not normally be permitted to take elsewhere in Cuyahoga County courses that are offered at Case.

WITHDRAWAL FROM COURSES

After consultation with a dean in the Office of Undergraduate Studies, a student may withdraw from a course no later than the end of the 11th week of the semester and receive a grade of W. After this date, a student who withdraws from a course normally will receive a grade of F. In unusual circumstances, the dean may permit a student to withdraw from a course after the final date and receive a W. A freshman who is subject to the freshman grading practices (see "Good Standing" under Academic Standing, below) may withdraw from a course after the end of the 11th week, but no later than the last day of classes.

Notice of a withdrawal from a course must be transmitted by the student to the Registrar on the appropriate form, signed by the student's instructor, advisor and dean. Failure to attend class, or providing notice only to the instructor, does not constitute an official withdrawal from a course. Such an unofficial withdrawal normally will result in the student's being assigned the grade of F.

A student who withdraws from the University or is dismissed during a semester will receive the grade of WD for each course for which he or she is registered at the time of withdrawal.