By Marcelle Richards
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]
The bad news: you’ve dug yourself into an academic
rut.
The good news: your solution may just be a petition or office
visit away.
In the scenario you find yourself needing to drop a class, seek
an incomplete or dodge dismissal from the university you can save
yourself with a few quick tips.
Faculty interviewed said the best thing to do when in trouble is
to talk to the professor.
“The hardest thing for an instructor is petitions that
appear in your box, without a face,” said classics professor
Sander Goldberg, who also dislikes e-mail as a form of
communication.
“Figure out a way to get together,” he said.
Students seeking to drop a class during the quarter must pay a
small fee after the second week and obtain the professor’s
signature after the fourth week.
Professors differ in their policies for allowing drops, but
biology professor Arthur Gibson said he is “usually pretty
forgiving.”
“I don’t mind signing drop forms up until the last
day,” he said. “I don’t require a life story.
That’s not my job.”
There is also a retroactive drop petition, for individual
courses and quarters, which requires an explanation of why the drop
is necessary.
Students must also provide some form of proof, such as pay check
stubs or a medical note, to verify their reasons for dropping.
The College of Letters & Science cautions against
retroactive drops since repeat petitions may not be granted.
With counselor approval, students may also seek to drop an
entire quarter. This may help those on academic probation or
subject to dismissal if the drop will result in a higher GPA.
Academic probation is assigned to students with a GPA that is
below 2.0 and above 1.5 during a quarter or overall.
Subject to dismissal is when:
“¢bull;The student’s GPA falls below 1.5 for a
quarter;
“¢bull;The student’s quarterly GPA falls between 1.5 and
2.0 for two consecutive quarters;
“¢bull;The student fails to end probation after two
quarters.
When failing a class is inevitable, don’t take the final.
Students who take the final will not be able to drop the
course.
An alternative to drops is taking an incomplete, which allows
students to complete coursework over the following quarter with
permission from the instructor.
One problem with incompletes is making sure students have the
means to reach their ends, Goldberg said.
He also said he needs to see that students taking an incomplete
have shown progress during the quarter and that the student should
make sure the incomplete is a solution to a temporary problem and
not a way to deny the inevitable ““Â a drop.
History professor James Gelvin said students should not count on
an incomplete since professor’s schedules are subject to
change from year to year.
“We travel a lot,” he said, adding that travel may
get in the way of students finishing courses.
Gelvin tells students to “buckle down the first three
weeks” to prevent problems in the first place.