Here are some important dates that are associated with decisions your student needs to make or actions they need to take. You might find them to be useful conversation starters about “How things are going” at school. Start the conversation several days in advance, so that students have a chance to act before the deadline.
Remind students to check their class tickets on Hokie Spa to make sure their class tickets are correct.
See how your student is doing in each of their classes. Faculty should have given and returned a major assignment (or several smaller assignments) in each course by now. If there is a class that isn't going very well, talk to your student about whether it is better to drop the course or get extra help in succeeding. Suggest that they talk to their academic advisor or instructor for advice.
Remind students to make an appointment to see their advisor before pre-registration opens to plan spring courses. After their appointment, talk with them about which courses they have selected. During the pre-registration period, students use Hokie Spa to make course requests, however, they will not find out which courses they were assigned until after Thanksgiving. It is very important to pre-register for courses since some classes will fill up and be unavailable to students. Departments also use pre-registration numbers to make staffing decisions – courses with lower than expected enrollments may be cancelled and resources diverted to courses with higher than expected enrollments.
Students who have “holds” on their record will not be able to pre-register. Holds happen because there are outstanding charges, missing medical documentation or immunization records, etc. Students can find out on Hokie Spa if there is a hold on their account. If so, they should make sure to get the hold cleared before pre-registration starts.
Ask students when their finals are and when they plan to come home for semester break. Be sure they check to see whether they have 3 or more exams in 24 hours or 2 exams scheduled at the same time. If so, advise them to come to the Dean’s office to fill out a request to have an exam moved.
Right after Spring break students will find out on Hokie Spa which courses they have been assigned for Fall 2008. If they didn't get all of the courses they need, now is the time to use the computer to fill out their course schedule. If a course they want is full they should visit their advisor for strategies and alternate courses.
Encourage students to realistically forecast their course grades and take action if one of them will be unacceptable. If a student believes that they will not get an acceptable grade in a course, they should use one of their course withdrawal options to drop the course rather than receive a bad grade. Forms need to be signed by their advisor and the Dean, so it isn’t a good idea to wait until the last minute to try to withdraw. Nevertheless, many students do wait until the last minute and will find themselves with a considerable wait to see a Dean – one more reason not to procrastinate. Note: it is not possible to process a course withdrawal for a student with a hold on their record, so remind your student to clear up any holds they have before they come to the Dean’s office if they plan to withdraw from a course.
Your student may well have final exams on the last day of the exam period. If you don’t know their exact final exam schedule it is best not to arrange vacations or trips home until the day after exams end.