Fall 2013 Registration for Incoming Exchange Students

These registration instructions apply only to students who will be on exchange from another institution, and whose first semester at Bowdoin will be Fall 2013. (All other students have different instructions.Contact Helkin von Schwaab in the Registrar's Office with questions [hvonschw@bowdoin.edu].)

Important Dates
Overview of Bowdoin's Registration Process
Phase I Registration
        Online Resources
        Preventing Registration Problems
Viewing Your Schedule
Phase II Registration

Important Dates:

Phase I Registration: Ends at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, 25 April 2013.
Course Schedule Notification: After 12:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, 30 April 2013.
Phase II Registration: Begins at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, 1 May 2013. Ends at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, 3 May 2013.

Overview of Bowdoin's Registration Process:

Registration at Bowdoin is based on a combination of rules and random draw.
Phase I: Everyone submits their course requests during Phase I registration. All requests that are received by the deadline are entered into the system and handled by the registration program at the same time. For each course, anyone who has a time conflict, does not have the prerequisite or permission, or is restricted or excluded from the course, is dropped from the list of interested students. If the number of students still eligible for a course is greater than the number of spaces in the course, then the instructor's preferences are taken into account. For example, if an instructor requests that sophomores be given priority, sophomores would get into the course first. Everyone else would get in the course (or not) based on a random draw. If the instructor did not specify any enrollment preferences, the entire group of eligible students would be randomized for selection (or not) into the course. At the end of the Phase I registration processing, departments look at course enrollments and decide if they need to change anything about their course offerings. Each student looks at his/her schedule for the next semester and decides if s/he needs to make any changes to it.
Phase II: Phase II registration is a three-day period during which students work with staff in the Office of the Registrar to adjust their schedules. Students are limited to four full-credit courses (and an unlimited number of half-credit courses) until the start of the semester. No course enrollment limit, course restriction, or course exclusion may be overridden until the start of the semester.
Add/Drop Period: During the first two weeks of the semester, students may add courses to their schedules with instructor permission. Students in their first semester at Bowdoin may drop courses from their schedules during the first six weeks of the semester.

Phase I Registration Directions:

You may request courses for next semester in one of these ways: The best and recommended way is to submit your requests through our online course registration form. Another way is to print the form, fill it out, and fax it to us at 207-725-3338. You may also email your course choices to registrar@bowdoin.edu; be sure to indicate those courses that are your top-choice picks and those that are your alternates. If you have any trouble with these methods, call the Office of the Registrar at 207-725-3521.

The first row of the registration form is for your top four full-credit courses. Enter alternate courses (1A and 1B are alternates for 1, 2A and 2B are alternates for 2, etc.) in case you do not receive a top-choice course. Enter half-credit courses at the bottom of the form in the spaces labeled "Additional Course." Students are limited to four full-credit courses (and as many half-credit courses as you wish) prior to the start of the semester. Additional full-credit courses may be added during the add/drop period only.

Course registration requests received after the deadline of 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on 25 April 2013 will be processed during Phase II registration. Course registration requests received after 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on 3 May 2013 (the Phase II deadline) will not be processed. In this event, you would have to register for classes at the start of the fall semester.

Online Resources:

- Online Registration Form
- Course Information (includes the Schedule of Course Offerings)
- Bearings (use Course Finder side only)
- Weekly Planning Calendar [PDF version; Word version]

Please begin this process early as it may take some emailing back and forth for you to obtain all of the information you need to make decisions about courses. If you see a course in the Schedule of Course Offerings that interests you, you may find a course description and the course rules in the Course Finder side of Bearings. (Click the symbol next to "Description" or "Rules" in the course listing to see more information.) You may also search for courses in the Course Finder side of Bearings. Contact Helkin von Schwaab in the Registrar's office if you have any trouble finding the information you need. In addition, you may wish to meet with an advisor at your home institution before you finalize your course requests.

As a new exchange student, you are not yet set up with all of the Bowdoin accounts that you will eventually have. Once your Bowdoin accounts have been activated, you will receive an email from Julie Bedard in our office; she will help you understand how to access your new accounts.

Tips for preventing problems with registration:

  • Course Meeting Times: Check the Schedule of Course Offerings or the Course Finder side of Bearings to be sure the meeting times of your preferred courses do not conflict with one another. Remember to include the meeting times of labs, film screenings, etc., in your plans. Every semester we receive course requests from students who list two or more top-choice courses that meet at the same time! Use a weekly calendar worksheet [PDF version; Word version] to help you plan.
  • Course Prerequisites: Check the Course Finder side of Bearings for course prerequisites. (Click on the symbol next to "Rules" in the course listing.) Since none of your coursework from your home institution will be in our system, we will be checking your transcript manually for course prerequisites. In the event that you feel your background meets a prerequisite, but that is not obvious to us in the Office of the Registrar when we view your transcript, you may see if the instructor will waive the prerequisite. Email the instructor with your reason for your request and, if you are allowed to take the course, ask the instructor to notify us by email.
  • Enrollment Restrictions: If a course has enrollment restrictions (such as first years only, declared majors/minors only, etc.) they are listed in the far-right column of the Schedule of Course Offerings and in the course listing in the Course Finder side of Bearings.
  • If you wish to register for an independent study or another permission-only course, you must have the permission of the instructor. Ask the instructor to send his/her approval to registrar@bowdoin.edu.
  • If a course you've chosen has labs, include your first-choice, second-choice, and third-choice lab numbers on the registration form. You will only be registered for a lab course if you can also be registered for one of its labs as well. Therefore, we recommend that you list multiple choices for labs on the registration form. Note: Lab assignments cannot be guaranteed; instructors may need to adjust lab assignments at the start of the semester.
  • If you wish to take a course with the Credit/D/Fail grading option, click the appropriate yes bullet for that course on the form. If you choose this option, credit (CR) is given if you produce work at a level of C- or above, a grade of D is given if you produce work at a D level, and a grade of F is given otherwise. Check with your home institution to see if this option would be acceptable for transfer credit. You have six weeks into the semester to choose this grading option for a course.
  • An instructor's permission will grant enrollment permission for permission-only courses and in cases where the instructor is willing to waive a course prerequisite. An instructor's permission to waive a course prerequisite will not guarantee course enrollment nor grant preferential treatment; it simply makes the system view a student as equally qualified to enroll as other students who have the prerequisite in their academic records. Instructor permission will not override enrollment limits nor enrollment restrictions during Phase I and Phase II registration.
  • Be sure to include your name, Bowdoin student ID number, and email address on all faxes and emails.

Viewing Your Schedule:

The Office of the Registrar will send you an email sometime after noon Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, 30 April 2013, informing you of the courses in your schedule for Fall 2013. If you do not get into four full-credit courses or wish to adjust your schedule, you may participate in Phase II of the registration process.

Phase II Registration Directions:

Email Helkin von Schwaab your requested schedule changes during Phase II Registration, 1 May 2013 through 3 May 2013. Schedule change requests received after 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on 3 May 2013 will not be processed. You may make further changes to your schedule during the add/drop period at the beginning of the fall semester.


If you have any questions, please let us know.

Helkin von Schwaab, Data and Reporting Specialist
hvonschwaab@bowdoin.edu
207-725-3521