ADD/DROP

For further information, contact: Shauna Manning, 617-287-6776

(updated aUGUST 2009)

Add/Drop for American Studies, Communication Studies and Women's Studies is online through the WISER Web Registration system. Students can add or drop themselves from courses on the web from any computer.

Please do not sign Add/Drop slips for any AMST classes. ALL undergraduate registration is through the WISER online system--no one should have paper slips to sign.

How On-Line ADD/DROP Works

On line Add/Drop will keep your course from becoming overenrolled. If your course is capped at 40 students, the 41st student will not be allowed to register until someone drops. As soon as someone drops the class, the next caller can register. Students who want to get into popular classes should keep trying to register through the online system.

I have asked that the wait lists remain active during Add/Drop. This way, when a student drops, the next person on the wait list will be added at night when the system goes down for a batch run. Students who drop during the day will make your roster appear to have open seats. If students are on the wait list, this is not true--the wait list folks will be automatically put into your course overnight.

You can adjust your course enrollment by letting the me or the Registrar know that you want to change the capacity. For example, if your course is capped at 30 students, and you can accommodate 35, the Registrar will raise your course capacity to 35. The next five students who register will be accepted into your course.

The online system will not go over your capacity. If you have a particular student whom you want to be certain will be in your class, give me their name and UMS number and I will register them for you by overriding the system. OR, you can give them one of your course permission numbers and then they can register themselves and override the cap with this number. (Please note, permission numbers have a ONE TIME use--whoever uses it to get in is in. If a student shares the number with a friend, only one of them will get into the course with the permission number.) This may put your course over the capacity-but as soon as other students drop your course, the online system will hold the line at your cap. If you are in this situation, I can advise you regarding your overenrollment numbers.

This means that some of the names on your roster may be changing at each class meeting during Add/Drop week, but the number of students will not exceed your cap. You can print out a new roster prior to each class during the Add/Drop period.. (Since course enrollments may be in flux, do not hand out course packets or other expensive materials during the Add/Drop week--or, make sure you are paid upfront for materials that are handed out-- since students may go home and drop the class and not return the materials.)

You may drop students who have not attended the first week of classes (and have not contacted you about wanting to stay in the course) so that there is room to add those who have been attending. This policy is listed in the university course schedule catalog. If a student who was dropped for not showing up during the first week of classes cannot show up and insist on getting back into the class.

Please use the system to keep your enrollment manageable. In my experience, students who come late in the semester and beg to be let into your class end up not being an asset! Most of these students have ended up having poor attendance, don't turn in work, and then want special consideration or an incomplete at the end of the semester.

If you have trouble saying no to students, let me help you. I have no problem saying no to the student for you and helping them find another course. Rarely, if ever, does a student need YOUR course to graduate (which is a common tactic students use to beg to get in). What they mean is that they need is a course that meets certain requirements in a certain time slot--and your course is convenient for them.