Important Dates in Your Student's Life
Here are some important dates that are associated with decisions your student needs to make or actions they need to take. You might find them to be useful conversation starters about “How things are going” at school. Start the conversation several days in advance, so that students have a chance to act before the deadline.
Fall Semester 2009
Monday, August 10 - Web Drop/Add begins for Fall 2009
Monday, August 24 – Classes Begin
- Last day for students to withdrawal from Fall Semester to avoid tuition and fee charges. Withdrawal form must be submitted to the University Registrar's Office. (Call (540) 231-4921 for more information)
Friday, August 28 - Last day for student to add classes
- Last day to add or drop audit option
- Remind students to check their class tickets on Hokie Spa to make sure their class tickets are correct.
Monday, September 7 - Labor day, Classes WILL meet
Friday, October 2 – Last day to apply for Fall 2008 graduation in order to be included in the Fall Commencement bulletin.
Friday, October 9 - Fall Break. Classes will not meet.
Monday, October 19 – Last day to drop classes without grade penalty
- Last day to change grade option A - F to P/F, 5:00 p.m.
- Visit University Registrar in 250 Student Services Building to process
See how your student is doing in each of their classes. Faculty should have given and returned a major assignment (or several smaller assignments) in each course by now. If there is a class that isn't going very well, talk to your student about whether it is better to drop the course or get extra help in succeeding. Suggest that they talk to their academic advisor or instructor for advice.
Monday, October 19 - Last day to resign without grade penalty.
- **If you are enrolled in only on course, you cannot drop your final hours, but must officially resign from the university for the semester. See your academic dean.***
Tuesday, October 20 - Tuesday, October 27 - Pre-registration for Spring 2010 classes.
Remind students to make an appointment to see their advisor before pre-registration opens to plan for next semesters courses. After their appointment, talk with them about which courses they have selected. During the pre-registration period, students use Hokie Spa to make course requests, however, they will not find out which courses they were assigned until later in the semester. It is very important to pre-register for courses since some classes will fill up and be unavailable to students. Departments also use pre-registration numbers to make staffing decisions – courses with lower than expected enrollments may be cancelled and resources diverted to courses with higher than expected enrollments.
Students who have “holds” on their record will not be able to pre-register. Holds happen because there are outstanding charges, missing medical documentation or immunization records, etc. Students can find out on Hokie Spa if there is a hold on their account. If so, they should make sure to get the hold cleared before pre-registration starts.
Friday, November 20 – Deadline to turn in forms requesting change of final exam times.
Ask students when their finals are and when they plan to come home for semester break. Be sure they check to see whether they have 3 or more exams in 24 hours or 2 exams scheduled at the same time. If so, advise them to fill out an Exam Change From so they can request to have an exam moved.
Saturday, November 21 - Thanksgiving Holiday Begins
Sunday, November 29, Thanksgiving Holiday Ends
Monday, November 30 – Drop/Add opens for Spring 2010 course schedules
If a student does not get the courses they need, they can use drop/add to try to add additional courses. If a course they nee is full they should visit their advisor for strategies and alternate courses, or check the course departmental web page for force-add instructions.
Friday, December 4 – Last day to use the Course Withdrawal Policy
Encourage students to realistically forecast their course grades. Students should talk with individual professors to ensure they have a clear understanding of their progress in the course before applying the course withdrawal. Forms need to be signed by their advisor and the Dean. To avoid long waits, frustration, and to devote more time to other courses encourage them to withdrawal as soon as possible.
Note: it is not possible to process a course withdrawal for a student with a hold on their record, so remind your student to clear up any holds they have before they come to the Dean’s office if they plan to withdraw from a course.
Friday, December 11 - Summer 2010 Course Request Opens (closes February 12, 2010)
Friday, December 11 – Thursday, December 17 – Final Exams
Your student may well have final exams on the last day of the exam period. If you don’t know their exact final exam schedule it is best not to arrange vacations or trips home until the day after exams end.