Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Quick Reference Guide

Transfer Students 

Incoming transfer students fall under the rules for the semester that they entered HWS, not their class year status.

ASPIRATIONAL Goals

Any enrolled HWS student wishing to take a course at another institution in order to address a goal, or who wish to use a study abroad course to address a goal, should have the course evaluated as meeting that goal ahead of time by contacting the Registrar’s Office.

Credit/D-Credit/No Credit Courses

Students entering HWS Fall 2018 or later, except final semester seniors: ALL All HWS courses are must be taken for a grade and may not be changed to the CR/NC/DCR option until after final grades are posted. The deadline for submission is two weeks after Incomplete grades are due. Fall courses: Students may change to the CR/NC/DCR option until the 8th week of the immediately following spring semester. Spring courses: Students may change to the CR/NC/DCR option until the 4th week of the immediately following fall semester. Final semester seniors: Students may change to the CR/NC/DCR option until the end of the 11th week of the same semester the course is taken. Changes are notreversible. Students may use the Change of Grading Option up to 4 times throughout their studies. Note that many majors and minors do not accept CR grades, even when the course has been successfully completed.

All HWS courses must be taken for a grade. Only after grades have been submitted, may students request a change to the CR/DCR/NC grading option. For fall courses, the deadline to change to the CR/DCR/NC grading option is the 8^th week of the following spring semester; for spring courses, the deadline is the 4^th week of the following fall semester. Final semester seniors, however, must request grading option changes no later than the 11^th week of the same semester the course is taken. Grading option changes are not reversible. Students are allowed up to four grading option changes during their entire program. Note that many majors and minors do not accept courses with CR grades to meet program requirements.

Voluntary Withdrawals

Students may withdraw from a course up to and including the last day of classes of the same semester. For final semester seniors, however, the deadline to withdraw from a course is the 11^th week of the semester.

Course Substitutions

The Course Substitution Form is used for internal HWS courses which are not in a pre-approved list for a particular requirement to be approved for a student’s major or minor by the appropriate advisor and chair. It may also be used for HWS Global Education courses, which are pre-approved by the Colleges for general credit and do not need Dean’s approval for use in a major or minor. It may additionally be used for a transfer course which is already listed in the student’s HWS transcript, as the Deans have already approved that course for incoming credit and only the department review for the major or minor is outstanding.

If a student is using a course to meet a program requirement that is not pre-approved as meeting that requirement, the student, advisor and department chairs should indicate this using a program audit form.