Credits and Grades
Most students who choose to go abroad for a term or a
year report that the experience has been one of the most powerful
and enjoyable parts of their undergraduate education. I certainly
feel that my year at the University of Madrid was one of the best
times of my life. I am sure that you will have the same reaction. Study Abroad can also be a challenging experience, and, for some, a frustrating one. Some
of the challenges you will face are part and parcel of the study abroad
experience and coming to terms with them is one of the opportunities
for growth that study abroad provides.
However some students encounter another sort of challenge or frustration
that is best avoided, if possible. The academic programs that
CIEE and other study abroad programs provide are to varying degrees
integrated into another culture's academic framework, and are often
governed by rules that unfamiliar to US students. At
CIEE we want you to experience the challenges of adapting
to a new culture, of accepting different teaching styles, and embracing
forms of learning
that may be different from what you are used to.
But we are sure you will agree that problems associated with your credits
and your grades are problems that should be avoided, not opportunities
for growth. We want to help you avoid these problems, and with
some careful planning and attention to detail, you can.
The next few paragraphs are rather dry, but taking a few minutes to get ready for the logistical aspects of your academic experience will pay off in the long run.
1. Managing your Registration.
You are probably going to sign up for five classes during
your session overseas. You may have already filled out a preliminary
registration form. Although it's surprising, one problem faced
by some students when they return, is that the Course
Registration Record we have for them doesn't match what the student
actually
took. You can avoid this. Read
on. Make it your responsibility to keep your Course Registration
Record accurate and up to date.
Students select a preliminary course schedule, either in the U.S. before
going abroad or after arrival at the Center. The courses selected
constitute your Preliminary Registration, which will
be sent to your home or sending school. There will be an opportunity
to change courses during the first days of the regular
semester (the "drop-add" period). Once
this drop-add period ends, all courses for which you
are registered will remain final, and will be permanently
listed on your Course Registration
Record. These will be the courses that will appear on the credit
and grades report that we will send to your home or sending
school after the session ends (called the "CIEE Academic
Record").
Although CIEE staff, both in the US and at your site will make every
effort to ensure that your Course Registration Record
is accurate, we cannot do this unless you correctly follow
all the formal procedures
for making changes. You must fill out a form to drop or add a
course. It is not sufficient to tell your professor, the CIEE
Resident Director, or another staff person that you are
changing courses, you must complete all required paperwork or the change
is not official. In
some cases you will also be required to obtain permission
from your home institution.
To sum up, make it your responsibility to ensure that
your Course Registration Record is accurate. If at any time you
are not sure, ask to see a copy of it.
There's a difference between a DROPPING a course and WITHDRAWING
from one. As
noted above, once the drop-add period is over, all the
courses for which you are registered will remain permanently
on your record. However, if you realize after the end of the
drop-add period but before the middle of the session,
that special circumstances
will prevent you from completing a course successfully,
it is possible to "Withdraw" from the course. However,
it is not possible to add a course at this time. In these cases,
the course will remain on your CIEE Academic Record
with a "W" grade. Permission
to Withdraw from a course is not automatically granted
just because a student is not doing well; it is only
granted when there are circumstances
that the Resident Director believes prevented a student
from doing well, and only before the program's withdrawal
deadline. There
is also required paperwork to complete if you are withdrawing
from a course.
After the withdrawal deadline, all courses that remain on your Course
Registration Record will be posted on your CIEE Academic Record with
a letter grade. If you stop going to a course, fail to take the
final examination, or fail to turn in required coursework, you will
receive an F.
2. Getting good Grades
The time to think about your grades is at the beginning of each
course, not at the end. Make
sure you understand the basis on which the professor
will be assessing your work. Practices vary from country to country.
Often a single final paper or examination will be the most important
(perhaps the only) opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned
and/or achieved in the course. In some courses, the basis
for grades may have been explained during orientation or during the
registration process. An explanation may appear on the course
syllabus, and/or the professor may announce grading policies. In
some cases, you may not be sure how the professor will be calculating
the grade. In
this case as well, make it your responsibility to be sure
you understand the basis for grading in each course. If
you're not sure, ask the professor or the Resident Director.
How am I doing?
Although grading differs from country to country, there are general
guidelines that we can offer. In the US, a student usually
forms an idea of how he/she is doing as the semester progresses based
on a self-appraisal
of participation in class and a general sense of what
the professor cares about. In most overseas situations, this is much
more difficult,
and often not possible at all. Although we ask our teachers to
give students ongoing feedback, their own academic cultures are often
very different in this regard, and many teachers do not always do this
in a way that enables a student to form a reliable opinion of his/her
progress. Ask your professor how you are doing, perhaps two weeks
after the semester has started and again two or three times during the
session. Don't
wait until mid-term time to do this.
"Demanding" doesn't mean the same thing in most overseas
academic cultures.
US students are accustomed to forming an idea of how demanding a teacher
is based on the pressure that is applied on a day-to-day
basis. In the U.S., if a professor repeatedly challenges students
to show they have read and understood the assignments,
and then chastises those who can't answer, students will
conclude that this is a demanding teacher. This doesn't
always happen overseas. "Demanding" in
an overseas context may mean simply that the grades awarded
at the end of the course are lower than those awarded
by other professors.
Because of these differences, you need to take stock of your situation
early and often. If the regular clues are not present, you should
ask, "How am I doing?" or if there isn't yet any basis
for the professor to answer this question, "What is important
in this class? What should I be doing in order to succeed?" Make
it your responsibility to actively seek confirmation
of how well you are doing in each course.
All the CIEE staff, both in the U.S. and at your program site, want
you to have an enjoyable and successful session overseas. We are committed to offering top-quality assistance to help you understand the host culture and its constraints. Please
do not hesitate to contact any staff member if we can advise you on
how best to manage your overseas experience.
Have a great year, learn all that you can about your temporary home, and try to bring back an excellent and accurate academic record.
Bill Cressey
CIEE Chief Academic Officer