Christina Domenico | Racing against the clock

Time's almost up already.

To pick your classes for this lovely spring semester, that is. The add period ends Feb. 4 this year, two and a half weeks after Penn students first stepped into their spring classes.

Eighteen days later, the drop period ends, right around midterm time, meaning that many students won't have received their grades until after they're able to exit the class without a penalty.

For over 20 years, Penn's add/drop calendar has been the same, said College Associate Dean Kent Peterman.

Maybe it's time to change it.

This policy leads to student regrets about taking a certain course. College junior Daniel Milgrom told me he has taken classes in which he hasn't received a single grade until the drop period had ended. Like Milgrom, many students are unable to determine their potential success or failure in their courses before they have the chance to find one more suitable to their liking.

Unlike its peer institutions, Penn does not offer undergraduates a set midterm period, thereby allowing professors to determine when to give exams. While Peterman said that some instructors are encouraged to give some form of assessment during the drop period, the Penn Registrar's calendar on Penn InTouch doesn't give any hint as to when midterms should be held.

Dartmouth, for example, gives students a 10-day window after receiving midterm grades to decide whether or not to stay in the class.

At Yale, students have until March 7 to make their decisions.

And - drum roll please -- our neighbors across the Delaware River at Princeton have until April 11 to drop their courses this semester. Yes, April. As in the month after March.

Mind you, they don't start their semester until Feb. 4, but that April deadline still lies nine weeks into the semester - three weeks later than Penn's deadline - and only five weeks before Princeton's finals begin.

Even at Princeton, however, dropping a course so late in the semester isn't common. "I think the sentiment is that if you've been in a course for six to nine weeks, you're going to stick it out instead of just dropping it all together," said Princeton senior Ariel Rogers.

Still, Princeton students have a lot of time to decide on courses they like, unlike Penn students, who have to scramble early on to find out if they'll do well in their classes. "It seems like I haven't really taken advantage of the add/drop period," College sophomore Andrew Gaffney said. "I'm set in stone unless I have a serious problem with a course."

Everyone knows that a bad day or a bad professor can turn a seemingly great class into a bad midterm grade. And by then, it's too late.

A shopping period, however, "can make the first two weeks seem to not really count," said Dr. Peterman. "It's really disruptive to students to come in at the last moment and ask what they missed."

Extending the add period would allow students to test the waters more, but as Peterman points out, it might hamper the flow of classes. So maybe that's not the solution.

Instead, the Feb. 22 deadline, to drop or change the grade type on a class, is the heart of the issue.

"Maybe being able to decide whether or not you want to take it pass/fail later on" would encourage students to take more classes outside of their comfort zone, Milgrom told me.

In fact, the April 11 deadline at Princeton is also the deadline to utilize a pass/fail option the university offers. The option "is very popular," Rogers said. "Especially for junior and senior year."

Extending the pass/fail decision date could save students the pain of seeing a less than desirable grade or a withdraw on their transcripts in May.

It could even encourage students to explore more academic realms outside of their majors.

February 22 is too early to make any form of decision regarding a class. It seems that Penn is the early bird in the Ivy League - but not in a good way. Our peers realize this, and their add/drop and grading decision policies reflect it.

By mimicking these other calendars, Penn can help students worry less about the classes they choose.

But for now, your time is running short to figure it out, so good luck on Penn InTouch.

Christina Domenico is a College junior from North Wildwood, NJ. Her e-mail is domenico@dailypennsylvanian.com. The Undersized Undergrad appears on Fridays.

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