<p>I enrolled in more classes then I plan to take as a freshman. I wanted to attend the classes first when the semester starts, and then drop the ones I do not want to take.</p>
<p>When I drop the classes, does it leave any record on my transcript or elsewhere?
And do I have 7wks to drop a class?</p>
<p>It won’t leave any record as long as you do it before the “drop deadline” in mid-October. That’s typically right after most classes have their first prelims.</p>
<p>During the add/drop period all classes can be freely added/dropped (depending on availability and some weird class-specific restrctions) on student center. This period should be displayed on studentcenter as we get closer. </p>
<p>After this period, any drops will have to be done through petition (a slip or two of paperwork requiring your prof’s signature and in some cases your advisor’s as well) without any academic penalty. This period lasts until the “LAST DAY TO DROP WITHOUT PENALTY” date posted somewhere eventually (usually coincidentally before you get your first prelims back ~1month). Any class dropped in this period will not show up on your transcript.</p>
<p>And then between that date and the “ABSOLUTE LAST DAY TO DROP A CLASS” date posted somewhere eventually (i think a week before exams, probably earlier. never ran into this) you may submit the same aforementioned petition form and drop the class. HOWEVER your transcript will have the course listed and a “W” for withdrawn. It’s just there as a placeholder I think… I’m not sure if your current grade will show or whether it will affect your GPA at all. As long as you dont make it a habit to have a million W’s, one or two during your years here shouldn’t matter.</p>
<p>After this date, you can’t drop a class. </p>
<p>If you are trying to add a class, you can pretty much add a class through petition all they way through to the week of exams. Cuttin’ it close but… i suppose it’s been done before. </p>
<p>I am also assuming that this process applies to all colleges as well, since I have only gone through engineering.</p>
<p>Ooh. I just thought it was a little weird that they let you go to classes for up to 7wks before dropping. </p>
<p>So they’re no drawbacks/pitfalls for my plan of enrolling in a lot of classes, and then dropping a few later?</p>
<p>Well I suppose if you forget to drop a class you might find a few F’s on your transcript. PE classes may have non-refundables. I’m assuming you wouldn’t want to purchase all of the texts so for some classes you might have issues with not readily having the reading material. The Cornell Store does have some sort of return policy but they can only give you a gift-card credit if you do. </p>
<p>Aside from that, as long as you don’t drop below 12 credits you should be fine in doing this. Plenty of students opt for this track and some opt to not enroll, attend a few lectures before adding the class. Enrolling in advance will just guarantee you a spot though.</p>
<p>Furthermore, for the mid-large lectures, you could always just sit in the class even if you’re not enrolled in that class to learn. It’s not weird at all. However, if you decide to not enroll in the class and turn in homework/exams anyway, you are adding 15min of work to a poor TA somewhere. Also, stuff happens sometimes and you just gotta drop some stuff :D.</p>
<p>ok thank you for the info</p>
<p>can juniors enroll in 400 level courses during this period?</p>
<p>@youngjeezy: I think so, I’ve done it before and it doesn’t seem like they check student prereqs all that closely, but this may depend on how popular the class is. For example, one upper level MAE class automatically prune out freshmen and sophomores due to it being a popular required lab course with very limited number of slots.</p>
<p>alright sounds good. thanks a lot!</p>