Academic Information and Policies

• Adding or Dropping Classes
• BGS Continuous Registration and External Study
• Consents/Permission Numbers
• Degree Credit and Credit Restrictions
• Grades and GPA
• Honors

• Internship/Independent Study
• Prerequisites and Corequisites
• Recommended Preparation
• Residency and Eight-Year Policies
• Scholastic Probation and Dismissal 
• Stopping Study Temporarily and Withdrawal
• Transfer Credits--Taking Classes at Other Colleges and Universities
• UConn Course Numbers and Skill Codes
  

Adding or Dropping Classes
If you need to add or drop a class after the add/drop period, you should talk with your BGS advisor, who will give you information on the procedures to follow and the appropriate forms to use.

• A student may add and drop classes via the Student Administration System (PeopleSoft) from the time that registration opens through the second week of the semester without special permission. Classes dropped during this period are not recorded on the student’s record.
• During the third and fourth weeks of the semester, a student may add classes with consent of the instructor, BGS advisor, and the head of the department offering the class. After the fourth week of the semester, the permission of the BGS Director is also required.
• If a student drops a class after the second week of the semester, a “W” for withdrawal is recorded on the transcript. From the third through the ninth week of the semester, a student must obtain the BGS Advisor’s signature to drop one class. To drop more than one class during that period, a student must obtain both the BGS advisor's and the BGS Director’s signature.
• To drop a class after the ninth week, the student needs the BGS advisor's recommendation and the permission of the BGS Director. The BGS Director only grants permission to drop a class after the ninth week for extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control. Exceptions are not made for the student’s poor academic performance.

BGS Continuous Registration and External Study
A new BGS student must register for a credit class at UConn in the first semester in the program. Additionally, as a BGS student, you must register at UConn each fall and spring semester. In most cases, you will take a regular credit class at UConn. If you wish to take a class elsewhere, or even not study in a particular semester, you must enroll in one of the following:

• GS 3200* (Continuous Registration) — this designation keeps your student status active at UConn when you are not taking a credit class anywhere; there is a fee incurred for this option. You cannot register for GS 200 for more than two consecutive academic semesters.
  
• GS 3201* (External Study) — this designation keeps you active as a student at UConn when you are taking a class at another college or university; there is an infrastructure fee for GS 201, but no course fee, provided you present a paid fee bill from the college you will attend that semester. You should note that classes taken at other colleges need prior approval for transfer credit.

See your BGS advisor for procedures for registering for GS 3200* and GS 3201*. 

*Note that with course renumbering, effective Academic Year 2008/2009, the former GS 201 is now GS 3201, and the former GS 200 is now GS 3200

Consents/Permission Numbers

Consents in the form of permission numbers are sometimes required to insure that you have had adequate preparation for the material to be covered in a course:

• If such consent is required, it will be noted in the class schedule.
  
• For such courses, registration cannot be completed without consent in the form of a permission number.
  
• Permission numbers are obtained from faculty or department representatives, as specified in the schedule.

Degree Credit and Credit Restrictions
While courses carry a certain number of academic credits, in some cases not all the credits count toward a degree or degree requirements.

• For example, a student might repeat a 3-credit course for some reason. While he or she has earned 6 credits for the course, only 3 of those credits may be counted toward a degree. The credit counted toward the degree is often called degree credit to distinguish it from earned credit, which is the total of all credit. It is possible to have more earned credits than degree credits.
  
• UConn’s catalog refers to credit restrictions, that is, to limits on the number of credits that can apply to degree requirements. As a BGS student, you are subject to the same credit restrictions as all other undergraduate students at UConn. Check in the most current catalog before registering for a class to see if some restriction is listed on that course. Restrictions can be either in the course description or in a list of credit restrictions.

Grades and GPA
Undergraduate course grades are based on a letter system in which passing grades are A, B, C or D. A plus or minus may be awarded.

• The grades of A and A- represent excellent work; B+ represents very good work, B, B- and C+ represent good work; C represents average work, and C- represents fair work; and D+ and D represent poor work and D- represents merely passing. A grade of F indicates failure.
  
• Each letter grade is assigned a grade point value as follows:

Your grade point average (GPA) is a measure of your academic standing.

• To compute a GPA, the total of all grade points (grade point values multiplied by the number of course credits) is divided by the number of calculable credits. Calculable credits include all earned credits and all “F” credits, but do not include pass/fail credits or courses in which a grade of “S” or “U” was given.
• For example, a 4-credit Math course with a grade of C would yield 8.0 grade points, a 3-credit English course with a B+ yields 9.9 points, and a 3-credit History course with an A- yields 11.1 points. The total number of points for the three courses in the illustration is 29 for 10 credits. Dividing 29 by 10 results in a 2.9 GPA.

Other grade marks may be assigned:

• W--A grade of W denotes that a student withdrew from a course after the 10th day of classes. W grades do not impact GPA.
• I--The instructor reports an I if the completed work is passing and the instructor decides that, due to unusual circumstances, the student cannot complete the course assignments. If the student completes the work by the end of the third week of the next semester, the instructor will send the Registrar a grade for the course. Otherwise, the Registrar will convert the I to I F (fail). At this time, the IF will be computed into the student's GPA.
• N--The N grade is recorded when no grade is reported for a student who has been registered in a course section; usually indicates a registration problem. N grades that are not resolved by the third week of the next semester will convert to NF (fail) and will be computed into the student's GPA.

Internship/Independent Study

In addition to regularly scheduled classes, you can take a limited number of credits on an internship or independent study basis.

• An internship is supervised fieldwork under the supervision of an individual in the field and a UConn faculty member. The exact number of credits awarded for the internship is determined by the UConn faculty member. Please see Internship Guidelines for further information.
  
• An independent study is an in-depth research paper or project on a topic chosen by a student in consultation with a faculty member. You and the faculty member will also determine the number of credits to be awarded upon successful completion.

A BGS student is usually allowed to take up to 9 credits of internships and/or independent study during the course of their program. Both an internship form and independent study form are available. See your BGS advisor for more detailed information.

Prerequisites and Corequisites

The term prerequisite implies a progression from less advanced to more advanced study in a field. Students must satisfy the prerequisite(s) before registering for the class, unless exempted by the instructor. Corequisite courses must be taken concurrently. When a course is listed as both a prerequisite and a corequisite, it may be taken prior to or concurrently with the other course.

Prerequisites taken out of sequence within a single department shall not count toward degree credit unless the head of the department offering the course grants an exception.

Recommended Preparation

This term denotes that the instructor will assume that students know material covered in the course(s) listed. Students who register for a class without the recommended background may experience difficulties and are encouraged to consult with the instructor prior to registration.

Residency and Eight-Year Policies
The University of Connecticut ordinarily requires students to take and complete the last two semesters of study at UConn.

• For most students, the last two semesters would be the senior year, when they would be completing the final 30 credits in their major field of study. As a BGS student, you will meet this regulation with the 30 credits you must complete at UConn within the program. It is not necessary that they be your final 30 credits.
• As a BGS student, the expectation is that you will complete your program of study within eight years of your admission to the BGS program. However, for BGS students this time limit is not always reasonable or possible, so check with your BGS advisor, if you have concerns.
  
  

Scholastic Probation and Dismissal 
Scholastic probation is an identification of students whose scholastic performance is below University standards. A student on probation is informed that a marked academic improvement in future semesters is necessary to achieve the minimum scholastic standards.

A BGS student may be put on academic probation if his/her performance falls into one of the following categories:

• A BGS student who has completed his/her first semester at the junior-senior level (i.e., the first semester as a BGS student) or any subsequent semester with less than a 2.0 semester GPA or upper division GPA;
  
• A BGS student taking fewer than 12 credits who, at the end of the semester, has earned less than 60% of the credits for which he/she was initially registered, unless the student had permission to drop the classes which resulted in the less than 60% credits earned;
  
• A BGS student allowed to take 12 or more credits in a particular semester, who earned fewer than 9 credits during the semester, unless the student had permission to drop the classes which resulted in the fewer than 9 credits earned.

A BGS student is subject to dismissal if his/her academic performance falls into one of the following categories:

• A BGS student whose grades fall below scholastic standards for two consecutively registered semesters, or for three semesters while a BGS student, or for a total of four semesters in his/her academic career (if he/she attended UConn as a freshman/ sophomore), may be dismissed from degree-seeking status. However, no student with at least a 2.3 semester GPA after completing all courses for which he/she is registered at the end of a semester shall be subject to dismissal.
  
• A BGS student who attains less than one-half of the stated scholastic probation minimum standards at the close of any semester is subject to dismissal.

Stopping Study Temporarily and Withdrawal

Several UConn programs allow a student to discontinue study for the degree and then resume degree-seeking status at a later date.

• If you need to stop your BGS studies temporarily, you can enroll for continuous registration (i.e., GS 3200*), which will insure your place within the BGS program and will keep you active as a UConn undergraduate even though you are not taking courses. You cannot register for GS 3200* for more than two consecutive academic seemsters. *Note that with course renumbering, effective Academic Year 2008/2009, the former GS 200 is now GS 3200.
  
• If, in any given semester, you are neither registered for a credit class or continuous registration, you will be withdrawn from the BGS program. You may request readmission to the BGS program for subsequent semesters.

If you decide that you want to drop out of BGS and UConn completely, you can withdraw officially by completing the necessary form, or by putting the request in writing to your BGS advisor .

Transfer Credits -- Taking Classes at Other Colleges and Universities
BGS accepts courses offered by other regionally accredited colleges and universities, both for admission and while you are a BGS student.

• Please be aware that you must review with your BGS advisor all plans to take courses at another regionally accredited college or university. The Course Approval form is available online and must be submitted to your BGS advisor well in advance of the semester in which you plan to study elsewhere. An official transcript must be submitted to your BGS advisor upon completion of each external semester.
  

• For guidance on whether particular course credits from another institution are acceptable as transfer credit at UConn, please refer to University of Connecticut Transfer Equivalency .

  Note that revisions to course equivalencies sometimes occur as new information becomes available, and that no transfer credit evaluation is official until credits appear on your University of Connecticut transcript.

• To receive transfer credit you must obtain a grade of C or better.

UConn Course Numbers and Skill Codes