Monday, February 12, 2024 

Information about Short Term 2024 and Fall 2024 course registration

Hello all Bates students,

This communication provides some information regarding course registration processes for Short Term 2024 and Fall 2024 semester. Please read all of this email and please discuss it with your academic advisor.

This communication is also archived at the Student Advising Portal at the “Important Communications with All Students” Drop-Down. You can always go to that Portal to get this information.

Again, please connect with your academic advisor in order to discuss your plans and have your advising hold lifted so that you can complete the course registration process.

First, below are some important dates. All of the dates listed below are also available in the Important Dates and Deadlines Calendar, which is at the Student Advising Portal. You can add that calendar to your Google Calendar. To learn how, watch the video, “How to Use the Student Advising Portal,” which is also at the Student Advising Portal:

• Monday, February 26, 2024 – The schedule of courses for both Spring Short Term 2024 and Fall 2024 will be available on Garnet Gateway by noon for you to review and to start thinking about what courses you want to select. The academic advising period also begins on February 26, and you should be in touch with your academic advisor to have your “advising hold” lifted. You will NOT be able to register until your advising hold is lifted by your academic advisor. Only academic advisors can lift advising holds for course registration; Student Support Advisors cannot lift advising holds for course registration. Waiting until the last minute to reach out to your advisor puts you at risk for missing the course registration deadline.

• Saturday, March 2, 2024 – You can select one .5-credit short term course for Short Term 2024 and up to 4.5 credits for Fall 2024 in Garnet Gateway starting at midnight EST. Please remember that registration is NOT first-come/first-served, and you have until Friday, March 8, 2024 at 4:00pm Bates (Eastern) time to select courses for both Short Term 2024 and Fall 2024. Also, please remember that the short-term requirement has been waived for the Class of 2024 only. Students in the Class of 2024 can select a short-term course, but they do not have to take any. Students in the Classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027 must complete no fewer than 2 short-term classes (each short term would add .5 credits to the total 32 credits needed for the degree) before they graduate. 

• Friday, March 8, 2024 – Course registration closes at 4:00 PM Bates (Eastern) time. This is also the last day to drop a Winter 2024 course. And, it is also the last day to select a letter-grade mode for any course you may be taking in the current Winter 2024 semester. Dropping a class and changing the grade mode (only from pass/fail to letter-grade, but not letter-grade to pass/fail) must be done by 11:59 PM EST. Please note: all General education requirements such as the MOIs, the W-courses, and courses to count for a GEC, must be taken for a letter grade. Students can only utilize one pass/fail per semester. Students are allocated 2 pass/fails during their time at Bates.

• Wednesday, March 13, 2024 – First-round results of registration will be released and a notification will be sent to students’ Bates email when the process is complete and the results are available. If you are satisfied with the outcome and you are registered for the 4.0 or 4.5 Fall 2024 and 0.5 Short Term 2024 credits that you want to take, you do not have to do anything. If you did not get optimized into courses you are still interested in taking, you may file a petition for an available seat via Garnet Gateway (see petitioning dates below). 

• Wednesday, March 13, 2024 – Petitioning for a course that you selected but did not receive during the first-round of registration opens once initial course schedules are released.

• Sunday, March 17, 2024 – The petitioning process closes at 11:59 PM EST (Faculty will review petitions between Monday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 27–if the faculty member accepts the petition, the Registrar will enroll the student; no action is needed by the student).

• Monday, April 1, 2024 – The Add/Drop period for all classes opens at 7 AM Bates (Eastern) time. If your petition is accepted by the faculty member, the course is added to your schedule automatically prior to the beginning of the add/drop period. You can add credits to your schedule up to a total of 5.5 credits at this time.

• Wednesday, May 1, 2024 – This is the last day to add a Short Term 2024 course; the course must be added by 11:59 PM Eastern. The add period for Fall 2024 remains open.

• Friday, May 3, 2024 – This is the last day to drop a short-term course. The course must be dropped by 11:59 PM Eastern.

• May 31, 2024 at 11:59pm EDT – The add/drop period for Fall 2024 closes. It will reopen on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 at 7:00 AM EDT.

Second, you can watch a video, which explains the entire registration process, at the Student Advising Portal. Go to the portal, and click on the Drop-Down Menu labeled, “How to Register for Courses.”

Third, please remember that students must be registered for no fewer than 3.0 credits per semester to be enrolled at Bates. Standard academic progress per semester is 4.0 credits. The maximum permitted credit count per semester is 5.5 credits.

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Important Information by Class Year

Class of 2027 (First-Years)

Please connect with your pre-major academic advisor (your FYS instructor) to review your academic planning and to have your advising hold lifted. It is recommended that all students complete all of their MOI credits by the end of their sophomore year, so please attend to which MOIs you have not completed and consider registering for courses in those areas. Also, you may want to discuss with your academic advisor any ideas you have about possible majors or possible “plus one” areas including minors or general education concentrations (GECs). Standard academic progress after 2 semesters at Bates is 8 credits completed; minimum academic progress after 2 semesters at Bates is 6 credits completed.

Remember, that short-term is a general education requirement for your class year and the half-credit earned in a short-term course is counted toward the total 32 credits you need for the Bates degree. Students must take 2 short-term courses as part of their Bates degree. You can take a short-term as a first-year student, but you are not required to do so.

Class of 2026 (Sophomores)

Please be sure to have your “Major Plus One” fully declared by March 1, 2024. If you are intending to study abroad, the deadline for major declaration was February 9, 2024. If you have not completed your MOIs, please consider doing so during your junior year. Do not wait until your senior year to complete your MOIs. Standard academic progress after 4 semesters at Bates is 16 credits completed; minimum academic progress after 4 semesters at Bates is 14 credits completed.

Remember, that short-term is a general education requirement for your class year and the half-credit earned in a short-term course is counted toward the total 32 credits you need for the degree. Students must take 2 short-term courses as part of their Bates degree. You can take a short-term as a sophomore, but you are not required to do so.

Class of 2025 (Juniors)

If you are currently studying away or abroad from Bates, your advising hold is already lifted. However, you may want to check in with your academic advisor(s) to review your course registration plans either by email or by setting up a Zoom video call at a mutually convenient time.

If you studied abroad in Fall 2023, please be sure to have completed and turned into the Registrar all forms to ensure that your credits from abroad are applied to your major, to your minor, and/or to your general education concentration if applicable. All forms and all information on what you must do to have your credits from study abroad applied to your degree are available here.

Standard academic progress after 6 semesters at Bates is 24 credits completed; minimum academic progress after 4 semesters at Bates is 22 credits completed.

Remember, short-term is a general education requirement for your class year and the half-credit earned in a short-term course is counted toward the total 32 credits you need for the degree. Students must take 2 short-term courses as part of their Bates degree. You can take a short-term as a junior, but you are not required to do so.

Class of 2024 (Seniors)

If you studied abroad and have not filed your forms to have the credits applied to your major(s), minor(s), or general education concentrations, please do so as soon as possible. All forms and information on how to complete them are here.

Standard academic progress after 8 semesters at Bates is 32 credits completed.

The short-term requirement has been waived for your class year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can register for a short-term course and take it, but you are not required to do so. The half-credit from the short-term class is NOT added to your 32 total credits needed to graduate. You must reach 32.0 total credits including courses taken in the Fall and Winter semesters, as well as credit earned from non-Bates sources.

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If you have additional questions, please connect with your academic advisor(s). If you do not know who your academic advisors are, they are listed at the top of your Degree Audit, which you can access at Garnet Gateway and they are also listed in your “Success Network” on BatesReach, which you can also access at Garnet Gateway.

Thank you.

Stephen M. Engel, Professor of Politics and Associate Dean of the Faculty

Megan McHenry, Registrar