Frequently Asked Questions

Our mission at the Office of the Class Deans is to help you make the most of your time at Smith. The class dean is responsible for your overall academic program and available to assist with course registration and procedures, academic options and general advice on such matters as study abroad, summer school, and leaves of absence. We work closely with the registrar’s office to ensure that you are meeting your degree requirements.

Each class dean has weekly short appointment times and drop-in hours. To find out what these are for your class dean, click on your class dean under our Meet the Deans page. In addition, you can always email classdeans@smith.edu to request an appointment.

See our Meet the Deans page to find your class dean.

The class deans maintain a Class Resources by Year page. Find yours!

Review the information under Advising.

Check out the Dates and Deadlines section of the Registrar’s Office homepage.

Consult the appropriate category at the Registrar’s Office Registration page.

Review the information about waitlists and about course eligibility waivers at the Registrar’s Office Registration page.

Complete the Change Grading Option form, found at the Registrar’s Office Forms and Worksheets page.

Instructions on how to free drop a course before the deadline can be found at the Class Deans Office Registration page.

Please consult the Fives College Courses section at the Registrar’s Office Registration page.

Review the information about grades and academic standing and let your class dean know if you have questions.

Academic probation is a warning that you must focus on methods to improve your grades. You are placed on academic probation by the Academic Board if your overall or semester GPA is below 2.00. During the semester(s) you are on academic probation, you will meet biweekly with your class dean to assure you have the support you need.

For more information, consult Academic Standing.

Consult the Credit Totals Per Year section of the Credits and Transfer Credits page.

Carefully review all of Smith’s transfer credit policies from the Registrar’s Office.

All transfer credit must be preapproved by the Registrar’s Office. Once you have an idea of which course(s) you would like to take, complete the Transfer Credit Application at the Forms and Worksheets page of the Registrar’s Office. In addition, carefully review all of Smith’s transfer credit policies from the Registrar’s Office.

First, review the information about majors, minors, and concentrations. When you’re ready, complete the Program of Study Declaration Form at the Registrar’s Office Forms and Worksheets page.

Yes! Talk with your current major or minor adviser, a faculty member in the department whose program you would like to change to or add, and your class dean. When you’re ready, complete the Program of Study Declaration Form at the Registrar’s Office Forms and Worksheets page. This form is used not only to declare majors, minors, and concentrations, but also to change or remove them.

Yes. Review the information under Changing Advisers at the Advising page of the Class Deans Office. If you are ready to change your major advisor, complete the Change of Faculty Adviser Form at the Registrar’s Office Forms and Worksheets page.

Yes. Complete the Change of Faculty Adviser Form at the Registrar’s Office Forms and Worksheets page.

Please visit the Lewis Global Studies Center’s Study Abroad website for all the information you need.

Yes! Smith is part of the 12-College Exchange, which provides you with opportunities to take courses at Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke, Trinity, Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Wheaton, Williams-Mystic, and the National Theatre Institute.

In addition, the Smithsonian Program and Picker Semester-in-Washington programs unique domestic study away opportunities for students with particular interests.

For more information about domestic study away, see Off-Campus Study.

Under most circumstances and with advanced planning, yes. You must meet eligibility requirements and submit an application. Review the details and instructions at Studying Elsewhere Senior Year.

No. There are no sick notes at Smith, even though some people may ask for or talk about them occasionally. You are responsible for communicating your absence due to illness to your faculty. If possible, do so before class. If that’s not possible, communicate as soon as you are able and preferably within the same week. If you are sick for more than one week, please communicate with your class dean and/or the Schacht Center. You may need to take a short-term medical leave.

A short-term medical leave (STML) provides for absences of 5 to 10 class days for students who are acutely ill. Short-term medical leaves are initiated through the Schacht Center. Once your STML is approved, your class dean will notify your faculty. You will be asked to meet with your class dean upon your return to classes.

A personal leave of absence may be taken for any personal reasons, so long as the student completes the personal leave of absence form before the first day of the semester in which the leave is to be taken (so, during summer for fall semester and during winter break for spring semester).

Your class year will be adjusted by the Registrar’s Office.

A student may not be on leave of any kind for more than two consecutive semesters.

For more information and to complete a personal leave request form, see Leaves of Absence, under Academic Procedures and Forms.

A student may take a medical withdrawal to care or receive treatment for a health issue of any kind. The medical withdrawal is processed via the Schacht Center, in collaboration with the class deans.

A student may notify their class dean that they need to take a medical withdrawal for the coming semester at any time prior to the first day of classes.

If a student has begun the semester and then needs to withdraw for medical reasons, they may do so. However, the timing of the medical withdrawal (i.e. before or after the fifth week of classes) has differing consequences.

Your class year may be adjusted by the Registrar’s Office.

A student may not be on leave of any kind for more than two consecutive semesters.

A student away on Medical Withdrawal must complete the return-to-Smith process when they are ready to come back. See Return to Smith for details and deadlines.

For more information, consult your class dean and see Withdrawal.

A student may be administratively withdrawn from the college if (a) they are not registered by the fourth week of the semester, (b) they miss greater than four weeks of class at any time, or (c) they earn a 0.0 GPA in any given semester.

At the time you take a personal leave of absence, you usually inform your class dean of your expected semester of return. You may return at the start of a new semester.

While you’re on a personal leave you continue to receive Smith emails, including those from the Registrar’s Office and Residence Life that you would need to respond to should you plan to return the following semester. If you have questions, reach out to your class dean.

If you decide to rescind your personal leave of absence and return to Smith, you must notify your class dean in writing (email is fine). You should do so as soon as possible.

Include your ID number and specify the semester you intend to return. Students who rescind a leave can register for courses once registration opens during add/drop. A meeting with your adviser will be required in order to remove your registration hold in Workday, where you will register for classes. You cannot rescind a leave after the start of classes.

You must follow the return-to-Smith process when you are ready to come back to your studies after a medical withdrawal. See Return to Smith for details and deadlines.

Yes. At Smith, a student is not permitted to take more than two consecutive semesters of any kind of leave. This includes personal leaves of absence, study abroad, and study away within the U.S. For more information, consult with your Class Dean.

If you need to request an exception to an academic policy, you must petition the Academic Board.

Petitions received by noon on Fridays are added to the Academic Board agenda for the following Tuesday’s meeting.

Carefully review all of the information for students at the Departmental Honors page.

First, review the general information about Special Studies from the Registrar’s Office.

Students can upgrade a first-semester special studies project (4 credits) or a particularly successful seminar paper (4 credits) in their major produced in residence, in the first semester of the senior year, to a one-semester honors project (4 credits) in the second semester of the senior year. The student must submit an honors application to the department just as for any other honors thesis/project according to the same deadlines. See the information for students at the Departmental Honors page.

We’re glad you’re here! Check out the Ada Comstock Scholars page for more details about how the program works and important academic information. 

Yes. Please see Student-Designed Majors and Minors.

In some cases, yes. You must meet eligibility requirements and complete an acceleration application for review. For information and instructions, see Graduating Early under Academic Procedures & Forms.

See the Academic Integrity Board page for details about what happens if you’re reported to the AIB. This page also contains important information about example violations, use of generative AI, and FAQs.

The Registrar’s Office has a Degree Requirements page. This page also contains information about Latin honors.

Completion of degree requirements (senior certification) is managed through Workday. Second-semester seniors will be prompted to begin the process of certification by the Registrar’s Office (see When do I apply for graduation?). Major and minor requirements will be certified by the respective advisers. The 64-credit rule will be certified by the Registrar’s Office and confirmed by the major adviser(s). Latin honors will be reviewed by the Registrar's Office.

Students and advisers should review the Academic Progress report, and advisers should submit overrides to requirements as needed. Prior to certification, all requirements must appear as Satisfied or In Progress; no requirements should be outstanding.

Please pay special attention to any email from the Registrar’s Office that you receive during the second semester of your senior year, as they contain important tasks you must complete to graduate.

About a month into the second semester of your senior year, you will receive a Workday task prompting you to complete a Workday Journey that will walk you through applying for degree completion, which initiates your senior certification. This signals your adviser(s) to certify your major (and minor and/or concentration, if applicable).

You must complete the Workday Journey before the deadline, so play close attention to the due date.

The Workday Journey will also ask you to answer important questions about your diploma name, announced name at Commencement, whether you want to march with a house different from your current house, and your access needs for Commencement Weekend.

Students are expected to earn 96 credits by the start of the first semester of senior year, 112 credits by the start of the second semester of senior year, and at least 128 credits in order to graduate. Students finishing their junior year with fewer than 96 credits, or who have accumulated a credit shortage within the first semester of their senior year, must discuss a plan to make up the missing credit with their adviser(s) and submit the completed plan to the Class Deans Office for approval. Please see Senior Year Credit Plan under Credits & Transfer Credits for more information and a link to the required form.