How to change school course or program

How to plan to change your school program?

I personally plan my schedule with the academic calendar in case of emergency. What do I mean by that? For example, if I want to change course or drop course or even switch program, I will be properly prepared.

Several students came to me and asked about switching programs or dropping courses. Some of them came to me too late and some of them came to me barely in time. And I realized none of them had plan to drop course or change program.

What I want to tell you is that you should always plan for the worst. In case if you want to drop a course or switch the program that you are studying into. This is very important, because it does not only save you some time in your academic years; it is also saving you money as well. The earlier you come out to work, the earlier you make money and the earlier you can build up your future. If you lose a few semesters due to the fact that you missed some deadlines due to dropping course or switching program, it can delay your graduation in a year or two. You are losing money paying tuition fee and also the time that you could have make money earlier. As we all know, the money of today is always more expensive than the money you are making tomorrow. This is why is very important for you to know and plan your schedule with your academic calendar.

5 Steps to plan your schedule

Step 1: Scheduling

Look at the academic calendar from your school and write down the important dates in your agenda.

Scheduling

Step 2: Change School Courses

Normally, you can change school courses in the first week of school. In the first week of class, please try to figure out if you really want to take those courses. The first week is the most important for the planning. Hopefully you are not still in your vacations and are missing school days. If you want to change school courses, you can only do so within this first week of school.

Step 3: Course Drop Part A

Course drop 1
Within the second to the third week of school, your school will allows you to drop a course without having any penalties like failing a course. If you drop within these periods, it will not affected your report card. The only thing that is on your report card is a note displaying that you dropped the course or it might not even be written on your report card (depending on different school). This period of dropping course will let you to get a refund of the tuition fee. Depending on which school and which program you are studying in, the deadline for dropping courses is different.

Step 4: Course Drop Part B

Some school or some programs will have an extended deadline for dropping courses. However that extended deadline will only allow you to drop courses without tuition fee refund. The report card will have a “withdraw” written. This extended course drop deadline mostly occurs in University.

Step 5: Program Changes

Program change usually occurs at the first week of school or before you register for the next semester. If it is done on the first week of school, then it is the best thing because you are not wasting one semester at all. But if you realize in the mid-way of the semester that you like to study another program more, you will have to switch it before next semester’s registration begin and apply for a program change.