The spring semester has begun at The University of Memphis, and after the first day of classes many students may be asking themselves, “How do I get out of this class?”
The first week of each semester is when the most classes are dropped, according to Noel Schwartz, registrar at The U of M.
The registration process has changed dramatically over the years.
“Years ago, students would have to stand in line for the classes they wanted to take. When they got to the front of the line they would pull a card, then they would stand in another line until they had a card for every class. It was a very long process,” said Schwartz.
After a brief stint of using scan-trons to schedule classes, STRIPES was introduced, which allowed students to enroll over the phone.
TigerWeb, which launched in 1996, is the newest innovation in the enrollment process. It uses the Internet to post available courses, grades, holds, audits and enrollment status for each individual student, using their Social Security number and a password. It also allows students to drop courses from the comfort of their personal computers.
“TigerWeb is much more convenient to students. They are able to view the available courses and enroll in classes, and can see what they are doing as they go along. They can drop courses with just the click of a mouse,” said Schwartz.
Students are allowed to drop courses for the spring semester until March 11th, which is the final drop date. However, if the course is not dropped by Thursday, January 17th, the student’s records will show a withdrawal from the course.
“If a student wants to drop a class after March 11th, they would have to file an appeal to the dean of the college which their major is in, for a late withdrawal. In most cases it is because of an accident the student was involved in, or if their job requires them to relocate, and they won’t be able to finish the semester,” said Schwartz.
“I would guess that there are less than 100 students who drop a course after the drop date,” said Tom Nenon, assistant vice provost for Academic Affairs.
Nenon believes there are a couple of factors contributing to the rate of dropped classes at The U of M.
“As an urban University, we have a lot of students that have working or family obligations that might drop for reasons other than academic (ones).
Another reason students drop is because there is no disincentive in taking more courses. Since the students don’t pay extra for the more hours they take, they are more likely to sign up for a class they are unsure of and drop it later,” said Nenon.
Although rumors fly around campus of so-called, “weed-out classes,” which are notorious for high drop-out rates, they are usually no more than just rumors, according to Schwartz.
“Elementary calculus and college algebra have historically had higher drop rates than other courses,” said Anna Kaminska, professor of mathematical sciences at The U of M.
Students who feel they are not being challenged in a class may want to test out of that particular class. The process for testing out varies somewhat depending on the course, according to Schwartz, but the requirements are the same — the student must currently be enrolled in the class they want to test out of, have a 2.0 GPA, get departmental permission and pay a fee to take the test.
Information on how to test out of a course can be obtained at the Testing Center on campus, which is located in the same building as Student Health Services, south of the McWherter Library.
