Why do I see "Instructor Drop" next to the student's course?

Consistent with the EPC Statement on attendance, an instructor may drop a student from his or her class list should that student fail to attend the first class session or to communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class. If a student has been dropped from the course by the instructor, “Instructor Dropped” will appear for that course. The student would need to submit a new enrollment request to be added to the class again.

How do I override the credit limit for my advisee?

If the instructor has not yet accepted the add, the “Approve” column will say “Pending Instructor Approval” and the advisor can take no action. If the pull-down menu is available, select “Approve.” Click the “Submit” button.  You will be given a chance to cancel or confirm the approval. “Approved” will show for the course in your portfolio, and “Advisor Approved” will appear in the student’s portfolio and on the instructor’s class enrollment list.

In order to keep untaken seats available, the system will enroll an undergraduate student in no more than four courses that carry a value of 1.00 or greater (excluding tutorials, private music lessons, and all partial-credit courses) and a graduate student in no more than six courses that carry a value of 1.00 or greater (excluding tutorials, private music lessons, and all partial credit courses). Students who feel they have a legitimate pedagogical reason to exceed the credit limit must discuss an override with their advisors.

To change the credit limit:

1. Click on the advisee’s name to view her information.

2. At the top of the advisee’s information page, use the pull-down to select a new course limit for the student (keeping in mind the courses not included in this limit, listed above).

3. Click the “Change” button.

4. The advisor has the option of approving “extra” courses but not approving a credit-limit override, thereby allowing the student to choose which courses to keep.

When a student requests enrollment in a course that would put her over her credit-limit, the student, advisor, and instructor will see that course/student’s name highlighted in red. If the student has not dropped another course or obtained a credit-limit override by by 5:00pm of the next business day, the nightly process will return the seat in the extra course to the instructor.

Why is a course appearing in red in my advisee's schedule with the words "advisor disapproved"? Because this course was already in my advisee's schedule, I couldn't take any action to approve or disapprove it during drop/add. Now my advisee would like to drop the course and isn't able to.

If your advisee participated in pre-registration in January or August as a new student or a student returning from leave/non-resident study and did not have the courses approved, his/her courses are appearing in red in the schedule because they were not approved. Your advisee should print out the schedule, have it signed by you, and return the signed schedule to the Registrar's Office. The Registrar's Office will then remove the hold on the courses.

Why is there a need for backup advising?

The Drop/Add system requires advisor approval to finalize a drop or add transaction. The electronic system will only allow faculty advisors assigned to the students in the computer to approve a Drop/Add transactions. The students can no longer seek this approval from a department administrative assistant or other faculty member should their own advisor be unavailable. This is an improvement over the current paper system. However, if advisors become unavailable for legitimate reasons (e.g. illness, travel to conferences, family emergencies, etc.) we need to provide for backup advising in the system.

What is the role of a backup advisor?

If the primary advisor will be unavailable to perform their advising duties, then the primary advisor will contact the backup advisor. It is only under these circumstances that the backup advisor will be required to approve advisees’ Drop/Add transactions. Advisees should not contact the backup advisor unless the primary advisor has instructed them to do so.

How will backup advisors be assigned?

Students are assigned a primary advisor and a backup advisor in the computer system. For students who have declared a major the primary advisor is assigned by the department administrative assistant through the portfolio and the backup will default to the department chair. First/second year advisors will be paired with other first/second year advisors. The electronic assignments of primary and backup first/second year advisors are done by the Registrar’s Office at the time students are admitted to Wesleyan. Subsequent assignments for primary first/second year advisors are handled by the Dean’s Office.

Can a primary advisor change their backup advisor assignment?

YES! The primary advisor may, after consulting with a fellow faculty member, assign a new backup advisor to their advisees through the electronic portfolio system.

Will advisees know who their backup advisors are?

Yes! The primary and backup advisors will be visible to advisees in their electronic portfolio. Advisees will be informed that they are only to contact their backup advisor if they have been instructed to do so by their primary advisor.

Return to the Drop/Add FAQ