You realize during the first week of classes that you registered for Algebra 001 when your math placement test stated Algebra 101.  You check the Registration Schedule and notice 2 sections of Algebra 101, one available in the morning and the other section available in the evening.  You double check with your busy academic adviser via email. The Add/Drop deadline is in 2 days.  The next day you get an email confirmation from your adviser and then, following the Add/Drop registration instructions, you change classes. 

Several weeks into the semester, you discovered that the “easy” elective, astronomy, that you added to your schedule is turning out to be not so easy. It’s really more demanding than you had anticipated, elevating your stress levels…not to mention the other work in your GenEd courses. You investigate the restrictions of your school’s Pass/Fail policy and, alas, you can designate the course as Pass/Fail.  You complete the sign-up requirements before the Pass/Fail deadline.

You’re carrying a full academic course load your second semester – 15 credits (5 courses).  You just completed your midterms and learn that you received a grade of “D-“in a biology course.  You did well in your other courses. You’re worried that this course will pull down your grade point average (gpa). The biology course only has a midterm and a final. You’re also a financial aid recipient and you have to abide by the federal government’s “satisfactory academic progress” regulation.  Withdrawing from the course may be an option, but you’re not sure about the financial and/or academic consequences. In addition, a family crisis is looming on the horizon and you may even have to leave school before the semester ends. There is also a deadline to withdraw from a course (s).  Time to have a conversation with your academic adviser.

During your first semester, you just realized that every semester,  you’ll receive an updated degree audit listing all of  your graduation requirements including your major, courses completed, grade point average, and other available course/program options. This degree audit will be quite helpful to you with deciding your course schedule for each semester and monitoring your academic progress. You noticed that your grade point average for your first semester was listed as 2.75.  Yet, you received all “A”s and “B”s on your first semester’s grade report.  Which means that your GPA should be listed as 3.5. Time to pay a visit to your academic adviser and the Registrar’s Office.

You’re unfamiliar with the subject matter in a course you’re taking to satisfy a social science graduation requirement. You have to write a 20 page research paper on a topic of your choice. You’re unsure about what topic to select because you really are having hard time understanding the lectures and the subject matter overall. Also, the language of the assigned text book is just not helpful, often confusing, as is the corresponding course information resources packet. What to do…get thee, ASAP, to a campus reference librarian and discuss your project and how best to accomplish it!