Adding and Dropping Courses after Registration

Students may add and drop courses without penalty until September 18, 2023. If students find themselves in the wrong level of a language, for example, this is the time to make an adjustment. Swarthmore students often shadow courses during this time period, visiting multiple courses before making final decisions. Since reading and writing assignments in Swarthmore courses can build very quickly, however, students are encouraged to make decisions within the first week, to attend the first class of all potential courses, and to use the second week only to complete the necessary paperwork.

After September 18, 2023 and up to the end of the ninth week of the semester (on the date specified in the Academic Calendar), a student can withdraw from a course and receive a letter grade of W. A student cannot add a course during this period. After the ninth week of the semester, students receive the No Credit grade if they drop a course. If a student is in academic difficulty after this point, dropping a course might still be an appropriate choice. A student's adviser should help the student think through whether dropping one course to save the others makes sense.

See the catalog rule in chapter and section 8.3.