History Department Course Restriction, Wait List, and Drop Add Policy
We welcome the high demand for our classes and want to make seats available for as many students as possible. However, we do not have limitless numbers of either faculty or classrooms and therefore have to have policies that insure that we make the best use of our resources. To help you understand the Course Restriction , Wait Lists, and Drop Add Policies that we employ to try to service as much demand as possible, we provide below some explanations.
Course Restrictions: Not every history course is restricted.
200 level courses: Many sections in 200 level courses have 3 seats restricted to certain categories of people. The language in TRACS on restrictions applies only to those few restricted seats. The rest of the seats are open for general registration.
Thus in this example:
HI 207 003 ANC WRLD TO 180 AD call no:493050 status:open cr:3.0 total class size:30 open seats avail:25 days:T H time:1015-1130 instr:PARKER bldg:HARRELSON rm:00163 rstr seats avail:5 wait list avail:5
restrictions: MAJOR=LAH OR LSH OR LTH
The restriction that you must be a history major applies only to the 5 restricted seats (restr seats) There are 25 unrestricted seats that are open for registration according to the usual registration priorities (i.e., seniors first, etc.)
Similarly, in this example
HI 208 002 THE MIDDLE AGES call no:493410 status:open cr:3.0 total class size:30 open seats avail:25 days:M W F time:1120-1210 instr:PUMPHREY bldg:HARRELSON rm:00163 rstr seats avail:5 wait list avail: 5
restrictions: NEW FRESHMAN ONLY OR NEW TRANSFER ONLY
There are 5 “rstr seats” which are set aside for first year and transfer students. There are 25 other seats that are open for registration according to the usual registration priorities (i.e., seniors first, etc.)
3xx and 4xx courses: If you see that the number of seats and the number of restricted seats is the same, then the restriction applies to all of the seats in that section or course. Thus, Hi 300 and Hi 491 are restricted to majors only. Hi 350 is for military science students only, HI 364 has seats reserved for middle school teacher education students, and students seeking to take most 4xx courses must have passing grades in a certain number of credit hours.
HISTORY DEPARTMENT POLICIES ON WAITLISTS,DROPS AND ADDS
- Wait List: There is a TRACS wait list of 5 students for every history course. This is the only wait list that is kept. Approximately 2-3 weeks before classes begin, Registration and Records closes the wait list. Students should keep a copy of their schedule to show that they were listed on the waitlist for a particular course and section. The department’s student records assistant, Norene Miller, then provides a copy of the appropriate waitlist to each faculty member. Thereafter, open seats will be filled according to the policy described below, which gives priority to students who had been on the TRACS wait list in the order they were placed on the wait list. However even if you were on the TRACS wait list, you must attend the first class meetings or notify the faculty member that you plan to take the class and have a legitimate reason for missing the initial meeting. Otherwise you are subject to being dropped according to the policy described below.
- Drop/Add Policy The History Department employs a MANDATORY DROP POLICY. This policy requires that unless you have notified the instructor in advance that you will be absent, you will automatically be dropped from your class if you fail to attend the first two meetings of a course that meets two or more times a week or the first class of a course that meets only once a week. Your place in the class will be assigned to someone on a wait list for that class.
On the first day of class, all class rosters for history courses are closed so that we can enroll students off the waitlist (where possible). Every course will also have a sign-up sheet at the first several classes for students who were not on the TRACS waitlist and are seeking to be added to that class. In order to be added to the waitlist, a student must attend the first two class meetings of the semester. Seats that become available through either voluntary or mandatory drops will be assigned first to those on the TRACS waiting list and then to those on the waiting list maintained by the instructor of the class, based on the following priorities: history majors graduating that semester, history majors graduating the following semester, any student graduating that semester, any student graduating the following semester, history majors in general, CHASS students, non-CHASS students. Within each of those categories the normal seniority preferences will apply: seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen.
Starting with the first day of class, the instructor for each section maintains his/her own wait list. After either the first or second class meeting, the instructor gives the list to Ms. Miller, who will add students from the wait list to the course roll according to the priorities described in the previous paragraph.
You will be able to add history courses only through this process. There are no longer any drop/add slips; and you cannot come to the History Department and asked to be admitted to a course. FACULTY MUST USE THE ADD/DROP LIST AND GIVE IT TO NORENE MILLER FOR PROCESSING. DO NOT SEND STUDENTS TO THE DEPARTMENT OFFICE WITH YOUR PERMISSION OR WITHOUT, AND DO NOT TELL STUDENTS TO JUST KEEP TRYING TO GET INTO A CLASS THROUGH THE TRACS SYSTEM. This policy may result in overcrowded classrooms for the first several meetings of a course. However, no class will be allowed to have more students than there are seats. Please be patient.
If you have any questions about this policy, see Ms. Miller in Wither 359. Please do not email or call with phone messages as she is too busy during the first week of classes to check her voice mail.
Finally, and most important, remember that it is your responsibility to check your schedule on your ADA to make sure that you are properly enrolled in a class. According to University rules, if you are attending a class but not on the roll, a faculty member is required to stop evaluating your work. To make sure that your time and effort is not wasted, confirm that your schedule shows you to be enrolled in a class and in the status that you want (i.e., for credit or for grade). Again, making sure that you are properly enrolled is not the responsibility of the faculty member or Ms. Miller. It is your responsibility.
Jonathan K. Ocko
Professor and Head
Department of History
