Academic Calendar
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Course Information
Courses are classified in areas of study as follows:
Interdisciplinary Studies
Black Studies -/m, Community and Justice Studies M/m, Data Science M/m, Education Studies -/m, Energy and Society -/M, Environmental Science and Sustainability M/-, Global Health Studies M/m, Healthcare Management M/-, Informatics M/m-, International Studies M/-, Jewish Studies -/m, Latin American and Caribbean Studies -/m, Middle East and North African Studies -/m, Public Humanities M/m, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies M/-
Languages, Literature, and Culture
Arabic -/m , English–Emphasis in Creative Writing M/-, English–Emphasis in Literature M/-, English -/m, Environmental Writing -/m French -/m, German -/m, Journalism and Documentary Storytelling -/m, Spanish M/m, and Writing -/m
Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Astronomy -/m, Biochemistry M/-, Biology M/m, Chemistry M/m, Computer Science M/m, Mathematics M/m, Neuroscience M/-, Physics M/m, and Software Engineering M/m
Social and Behavioral Science
Business M/-, Economics M/m, Political Science M/m, and Psychology M/m
Values and Societies
Communication and Cultural Studies M/m, History M/m, Philosophy M/m, and Religion in American Life -/m
Visual and Performing Arts
Art, Science, and Innovation M/m; Dance and Movement Studies -/m; Filmmaking -/m; Industrial Design M/-, Music -/m, Studio Art M/m; and Theatre M/m
Registration Schedule
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Each student has been randomly assigned a registration letter, which they can find in the WebAdvisor account. This letter determines the order in which the student will register. The order rotates each semester.
Exam Schedule
The exam time for a course is designated by letter code in the course descriptions posted on Self-Service. Prior to registration for each semester, the scheduled time for each letter code is published on the Academic Calendars Page maintained by the Registrar’s Office. Students are required to arrange travel and vacation plans to allow them to take all exams at the scheduled time. Please see the Tests, Papers, and Examinations Policy for approved exceptions to this rule.
Declaring a Major/Minor
To declare a major and a minor, students must complete the Major/Minor Declaration Form and submit it to the Registrar’s Office. Students should know that the faculty advisor for their graduation major will become their primary academic advisor, and they will need the new advisor’s approval to register for classes after declaring the major.
Students may change or add majors and minors at any time provided that their program continues to meet the college requirements (see below). To change a major or add an additional major to a student’s program once he/she has declared a major, please use the Change of Major Form. To change or add a minor, use the Change of Minor Form.
Requirements for the Major and Minor
Students are required to declare a major and minor no later than the semester after they have earned a total of 48 credit hours. In practice, this means that most students will need to declare a major and minor no later than the middle of the second semester of the sophomore year to be allowed to preregister for classes the following Fall. Students who enter with credits from AP exams, college work in high school, etc. (see Degree Audit) may need to declare a major and minor earlier in their academic careers. Students must initially declare at least one major (the “graduation major”) and either a minor (“the graduation minor”) or a second major. The graduation minor or second major must be in a different area of study (see Course Information) from the graduation major. If a student completes a second major instead of a graduation minor, the two majors must be in two different areas of study of the College. If a student completes additional minors beyond the College requirement, each must include a minimum of 8 credits completed in residence at Allegheny College.
Changing Your Graduation Requirements
Students follow the graduation requirements outlined in the Academic Bulletin published in the year they first came to Allegheny College. So, for example, if you entered the College in 2017, you are subject to the graduation requirements outlined in the 2017-2018 Academic Bulletin. For most students, this will work out fine, but some students may wish to declare a major or minor that was not available in the year they came to the College. If you wish to change the Academic Bulletin that you are following, please see the “Change in Graduation Requirements” page on the Registrar’s website.
Degree Audit
The Degree Audit is a useful tool to help faculty advisors and students determine what requirements a student needs to fulfill to complete his/her degree. Please note that the program does have some limitations – for example, it calculates the total credits in a student’s major but does not explicitly compare them to the minimum required.
To access the Degree Audit, first log on to Self-Service. Select “My Progress” under “Student Planning”.
When the Degree Audit comes up, scroll down to see each set of degree requirements (First-Year/Sophomore Requirements, Major, etc.)
When a student declares or changes a major or minor, his/her Degree Audit will be updated with the appropriate major and minor requirements for the program.
Transferring Credits From High School/AP and CLEP Exams/Other Collegiate Institutions
Transfer credit is limited; students must complete a minimum of 64 credits through Allegheny to be eligible to graduate. First-years may transfer in a maximum of 42 credits of coursework completed prior to matriculation. This includes credit by examination (AP etc.; see next paragraph), college-level courses offered at high schools through accredited colleges and universities, and qualifying coursework taken at an accredited college or university. If a first-year student wishes to transfer in more than 42 credits (up the 64 credit maximum for all students), they must contact the Office of the Registrar.
Credit by Examination
Students may receive a maximum of 20 credits at Allegheny by participating in the Advanced Placement (AP) Program of the Educational Testing Service, the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs prior to matriculating at Allegheny. Students who receive scores of 4 or 5 on an AP examination will receive academic credit. Placement is determined by the appropriate academic department. AP credit is awarded only after we receive the official examination scores from the Educational Testing Service.
Individuals who perform well on certain CLEP tests may receive both credit and placement, usually at the firstyear or sophomore levels. Students who score five or better on the higher examinations of the IB testing programs may be granted credit and placement by some departments.
Credit by Transfer from Other Collegiate Institutions
Allegheny accepts transfer credit from other collegiate institutions provided the work satisfies the following criteria:
- The course is taken at a regionally or nationally accredited institution
- The course is taught at a college (non-remedial) level
- The course is of a liberal arts (not vocational or technical) nature
- The course is taken on a letter-grade basis.
- The student earns a grade of “C” or better. Please note that grades of “C”-minus do not transfer.
- Allegheny receives an official transcript from the other institution verifying that the course has been successfully completed.
- Accepting the transfer credit does not violate the College ” academic residency” requirements that: a) no more than 64 credits towards the minimum number required for graduation may be transfer credits; and b) the last 16 credits towards graduation must be taken “in residence” (i.e., students must register for their final 16 credits through Allegheny).
- If taken prior to summer, 2014: the course must have been taught in a classroom setting, not on-line.
Students planning to take coursework elsewhere are strongly urged to have the courses pre-approved to ensure they meet the criteria for transfer. Please be aware that students may not take courses at Allegheny and at another institution during the same term (see the Concurrent Enrollment Policy).
Please note that Allegheny transfers in the number of credits awarded by the other institution. Thus, a course worth three semester credit hours taken elsewhere will transfer in as three credits, even if a seemingly similar course at Allegheny is a four-credit course. Students using transfer credit to satisfy distribution requirements should pay close attention to this provision. For example, the Natural Science distribution requirement specifies eight credits of science, not two courses. For institutions that do not use semester credit hours (e.g., colleges on the quarter system), the institutional credits are converted to the equivalent number of semester credit hours.
Once the course has been completed, the student must arrange with the institution where the course was taken to have an official transcript sent to: Office of the Registrar, Box 41, Allegheny College, 520 N Main St, Meadville, PA 16335. Transfer credit will not be processed until the Allegheny Registrar receives an official transcript showing that the course has been successfully completed with a grade of C or better.
Adding/Dropping/Waitlisting Classes
Please see here for the overall structure of registration.
Add/Drop:
The Change Period Students may add and drop 14-week courses through the first two weeks of the semester. Students may add or drop seven-week courses through the first two weeks of the module in which the course is offered. Students should be aware that, after a class starts, instructors will become increasingly reluctant to admit additional students. Courses dropped will not appear on the official transcript but will appear, as appropriate, on the academic record.
Waitlisting
As part of the registration process, student routinely email instructors to ask to be placed on a waitlist or to ask instructors to “save them a place” in a course. This happens for several reasons. First, the course may be closed and they’d like a spot if one opens up. Second, the student has been placed on registration hold because of outstanding bills with the College. In this case, the student is trying to make sure she/he won’t be shut out of desired courses while the matter is being cleared up.
Different instructors and different departments have their own guidelines for handling these requests, but it never hurts to advise students to try this path for situations indicated above.
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