UGAD Info

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FOR UNDERGRADUATES

Address Changes
It is the student's responsibility to keep the University informed of his or her correct mailing address (both school and home). Mail sent to the address on file will be considered to have been delivered. Address information can now be updated online. From the Vanderbilt University Homepage, Click on Students/More and select Address Change from the "Taking Care of Business" list. Students may also go to their school registrar to initiate an address change.

Advisor Approval Code
All students enrolled in undergraduate schools are required to obtain advisor approval prior to registration. At the student-advisor conference, the advisor will give the student the Advisor Approval Code number for that student. This number must be entered by the student in order to access OASIS.

Although assistance is provided through the advisory system, various publications, and consultations in the academic Dean's offices, each student is responsible for selecting a program of courses that fulfills all degree requirements.

Course Load
Undergraduate students must have the approval of the Dean of their college or school to take fewer than 12 hours or more than 18 hours in a semester. Because OASIS will not let any student add a course if the addition would cause the load to exceed 18 hours, students with a legitimate need to take more than 18 hours should seek approval from their dean as early as possible in order to avoid inconvenience when using OASIS.

OASIS is the system Vanderbilt students use to request, register and change course selections for a term. OASIS operates in "Periods" that define what actions students can perform in the system.

Course Request Period is the first phase of registration during which students request the courses they wish to take for the upcoming term. During the Course Request Period, enrollment limits for individual courses are not enforced. Courses will not be closed during this period regardless of when students enter their requests. This is not a first-come, first-served activity. Since this is a request phase only, students are not guaranteed that they will get every course and every day and time slot they request.

Course Bumping and Balancing Period occurs at the conclusion of the Course Request Period. During this activity, registration is turned off to students. Each school and their departments review enrollments in all of their courses and make decisions as to whether to cancel under-enrolled courses, create new sections for over-enrolled courses, balance sections of the same course by shifting students from over-enrolled sections to under-enrolled sections of the same course, or to "bump" (drop) students from over-enrolled courses when there are no other options.

Course Registration Period: Students who have been "bumped" from courses have the initial days of the Registration Period to replace the course(s) from which they have been dropped. Students who failed to register during the Course Request Period and all other students wishing to make schedule changes will join the bumped students a few days after the beginning of this period. The Registration Period ends for the semester at 7:55 a.m. on the day classes begin. During the Registration Period maximum enrollment limits on all courses are enforced. Hence, many courses will be closed because they are full. Courses open and close during this period as students are changing their schedules, deciding not to return or taking a leave of absence for the semester. Students seeking entrance to a closed course should check the desired course periodically for an open seat during this period. Wait lists are not open until the Change Period begins. It will not be productive to contact professors or departments during the Registration Period to get into a closed course. (See Waiting Lists.)

Course Change Period begins the first day of classes at 8:00 a.m. It is during the Change Period that Wait Lists for closed courses become available and eligible students may declare a course pass/fail. All students should be registered on OASIS for all classes they intend to take for a given semester by 4:00 p.m. on the last day of the Change Period. After the last day of the Change Period, students may not add a course or declare a course pass/fail. Students who drop a course after the Course Change Period will receive a grade of "W" (withdrawn) and the course remains on the student's academic record. A "W" grade has no impact on the cumulative grade point average.

Course Maintenance Period: Students may view their schedules in OASIS but may no longer drop or add courses.

Pass/Fail
In accordance with stated eligibility rules, students may request Pass/Fail status in a course. The student first registers for the course; then during the Change Period the student requests Pass/Fail status. Some courses are designated as not available for Pass/Fail status. These courses have a note attached to them in the schedule listing. Students in A&S, Blair, Engineering, and Peabody use OASIS to request Pass/Fail status and to convert to regular graded status. All pass/fail requests will be reviewed against each school's pass/fail requirements after the change period. Owen students may not take classes Pass/Fail.

Restricted Courses
Some courses are restricted to students who meet specific criteria. These courses are not accessible by the student through OASIS.

Teacher Candidates
Arts and Science students who are interested in pursuing teacher licensure must discuss their licensure plans and program of courses with Dean M. Francille Bergquist, Advisor to Teacher Education Candidates, 311 Kirkland Hall, 322-2844. Students contemplating enrolling in an education course must confer with Dean Bergquist prior to registration. Students who have not seen Dean Bergquist will not receive credit for certain courses in teacher education.

All other undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing teacher licensure should discuss their certification plans with Chris LaFevor, Director, Teacher Licensure, 210 Administration Building,
322-8270.

Waiting Lists During Change Period, students may use OASIS to place themselves on waiting lists of most closed courses. After placing one's self on a waiting list, the student will be notified on the computer screen of the deadline by which the waiting status must be reviewed, using the UPDATE command in order to claim an available seat or confirm that he or she wants to remain on the waiting list. OASIS can be accessed at any time prior to the deadline. Each access will extend the student's deadline. Failure to access OASIS by the deadline will result in the student being removed from the waiting list. A position on the waiting list does not guarantee or constitute enrollment in the course. When a seat becomes available, students are moved from"wait" status to "conditionally enrolled" status and held in this status until either the seat has been claimed by the student or the deadline has passed, whichever comes first. OASIS will not automatically enroll a student in a course, but a department may enroll a student if that student has expressed to the department a strong desire for the course and the department is able to accommodate the student. Therefore, students are strongly urged to review their schedule on OASIS, allowing sufficient time to make corrections before the stated deadline for Change Period. Each student is responsible for his or her own registration for courses, regardless of who performs the transaction.

Students are given a waiting list priority based on their official classification (freshman, sophomore, etc.) and officially declared major as of the beginning of the Change Period. Normally, senior majors have the highest priority, freshmen the lowest. Students who are not enrolled in any section of the course have a higher priority than students already enrolled in the course. Students are warned that it is very risky to drop a course in which they have a seat in order to increase one's priority. Rather, students with unusual, hardship cases should consult with the department administrative assistant or their Registrar/ records office if they are having difficulty adding a closed course or changing into a closed section of a course. Students should not contact individual instructors unless instructed to do so.

Students are allowed to be on a total of five waiting lists. Students already enrolled in a course may place themselves on the waiting list of one other section of that course.

Withdrawal From a Course
After Change Period, and extending to the end of the eighth week of classes, a course may be dropped with the consent of the instructor and the student's advisor. These withdrawal changes must be made by the student on a Change of Course card, which must be submitted to the Registrar/ records office of the student's school. Students who desert a course without officially dropping it will receive the grade of F.