Monday, October 21, 2024 

SUBJECT: Information about Winter 2025 Course Registration

Hello all Bates students,

This communication provides some information regarding course selection and registration processes and deadlines for the upcoming Winter 2025 semester. Please read all of this email and please discuss it with your academic advisor.

This communication is also archived at the Student Advising Portal under the “Important Communications with All Students” Drop-Down. 

Please connect with your academic advisor between October 28 and November 8 (the last day to register) in order to discuss your academic plans and have your advising/registration hold lifted so that you can complete the course registration process. You will not be able to register until your advising hold is lifted, and it is recommended that all students meet with their academic advisor prior to having their hold lifted so that you may discuss your academic plans with your advisor.

Only your academic advisor can lift your hold. Your student support advisor cannot lift your hold. Your academic advisor is listed at the top of your Degree Audit as well as in your “Success Network” on Bates Reach.

First, below are the important dates and deadlines of the registration process for the WInter 2025 semester. All of the dates listed below are also available in the Important Dates and Deadlines Calendar, which is at the Student Advising Portal:

• Friday, October 25, 2024 – The schedule of courses for Winter 2025 will be available on Garnet Gateway on or near 4 PM for you to review and to start thinking about what courses you want to select. 

Friday, October 25, 2024 is also the last day to drop a Fall 2024 course. And, it is also 

the last day to select a letter-grade mode for any course you may be taking in the 

current Winter 2024 semester. Dropping a class and changing the grade mode (only from pass/fail to letter-grade, but not letter-grade to pass/fail) must be done by 11:59 PM EST. Please note: all General education requirements such as the MOIs, the W-courses, and courses to count for a GEC, must be taken for a letter grade. Students can only utilize 1 pass/fail per semester. Students are allocated 2 pass/fails during their time at Bates.

• Monday, October 28, 2024 – The academic advising period begins, and you should be in touch with your academic advisor to have your “advising hold” lifted. Only a student’s academic advisor can lift advising holds for course registration; Student Support Advisors cannot lift advising holds for course registration. Waiting until the last minute to reach out to your advisor puts you at risk for missing the course registration deadline.

• Friday, November 1, 2024 – The Registration Period opens at 9 AM eastern. Students can select up to 4.5 credits for Winter 2025 in Garnet Gateway. Please remember that registration is NOT first-come/first-served, and you have until Friday, November 8 at  4 PM Eastern time to select courses for Winter 2025. 

• Friday, November 8, 2024 – Course registration closes at 4 P Eastern time. 
• Tuesday, November 12, 2024 – At about Noon Eastern time, first-round results of registration will be released and a notification will be sent to students’ Bates email when the process is complete and the results are available. If you are satisfied with the outcome, and you are registered for the 4.0 or 4.5 Winter 2025 credits that you want to take, you do not have to do anything. If you did not get optimized into courses you are still interested in taking, you may file a petition for an available seat via Garnet Gateway (see petitioning dates below). 

• Wednesday, November 13, 2024 – Petitioning for a course that you selected but did not receive during the first-round of registration opens once initial course schedules are released. Petitions are submitted on Garnet Gateway. You can only submit a petition for a course that you attempted to register for during the first round. Petitions should be only 1 or 2 sentences, and they should indicate how and why the course you seek fits within your academic plan, i.e., how does it fulfill a general education requirement, such as an MOI, a W course, or a requirement within the major or the +1 (a second major, minor, or GEC). Indicate why it is important that you fulfill that requirement during the Winter 2025 semester.

• Sunday, November 17, 2024 – The petitioning process closes at 11:59 PM eastern time. Faculty will review petitions between Monday, November 18 and Sunday, November 24. If the faculty member accepts the petition, the Registrar will enroll the student; no action is needed by the student.

• Tuesday, December 3, 2024 – The Add/Drop period for all classes opens at 7 AM Eastern time. If your petition was accepted by the faculty member, the course has been added to your schedule automatically prior to the beginning of the add/drop period and you do not need to add it.. You can add credits to your schedule up to a total of 5.5 credits at this time.

The Add/Drop period will continue into the first few weeks of the Winter 2025 semester. Specific dates and deadlines for Winter 2025 that start in January 2025 will be listed on the Important Dates and Deadlines Calendar at the Student Advising Portal. All students will receive an email reminder of these dates and deadlines at the start of the Winter 2025 semester.

Second, you can watch a video, which explains the entire registration process, at the Student Advising Portal. Go to the portal, and click on the Drop-Down Menu labeled, “How to Register for Courses.” If you are a first-year student, you can also find this video and related information at your FYE Workshops Class of 2028 Lyceum Page, which you have been reviewing with your FYS professor.

Third, please remember that students must be registered for no fewer than 3.0 credits per semester to be enrolled at Bates. Standard academic progress per semester is 4.0 credits. The maximum permitted credit count per semester is 5.5 credits.

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Important Information by Class Year

Class of 2028 (First-Years)

Please connect with your pre-major academic advisor (your FYS instructor) to review your academic planning and to have your advising hold lifted. It is recommended that all students complete all of their MOI credits by the end of their sophomore year, so please attend to which MOIs you have not completed and consider registering for courses in those areas. Remember, MOIs can be completed with at least .5 credits in each.

Standard academic progress after 1 semester at Bates is 4.0 credits completed, and after 2 semesters it is 8.0 credits completed; minimum academic progress after 2 semesters at Bates is 6.0 credits completed; those MUST be 6.0 BATES credits. Even if you come to Bates with prior credits such as AP, IB, or A-Level Credits, you must have completed 6.0 credits at Bates to remain in good academic standing at the end of 2 semesters.

If you came to Bates with prior credits and those are not listed on your Degree Audit yet, please complete the necessary steps to do so. All information on that process is accessible here. 

Class of 2027 (Sophomores)

Please be sure to have your “Major Plus One” fully declared by March 1, 2025. Declaration is initiated and completed on Garnet Gateway. See here for more information, or speak with your pre-major academic advisor. If you intend to study abroad, the deadline for major declaration is on or near February 1, 2025. 

Please identify any MOIs you have not completed, and consider taking those your Winter 2025 semester as it is recommended that all MOIs be completed by the end of the sophomore year. Remember, MOIs can be completed with at least 0.5 credits in each.

Standard academic progress after 3 semesters at Bates is 12.0 credits completed; standard academic progress after 4 semesters is 16.0 credits; minimum academic progress after 4 semesters at Bates is 14.0 credits completed.

Class of 2026 (Juniors)

If you are currently studying away from Bates, your advising hold is already lifted. However, you may want to check in with your academic advisor(s) to review your course registration plans either by email or by setting up a Zoom video call at a mutually convenient time.

If you are currently studying away from Bates, when you return to Bates in January, please complete and send to the Registrar all forms to ensure that your credits from abroad are applied to your major, to your minor, and/or to your general education concentration if applicable. All forms and all information on what you must do to have your credits from study abroad applied to your degree are available here.

Standard academic progress after 5 semesters at Bates is 20 credits; after 6 semesters at Bates it is 24 credits completed, and at least 1 short term course (worth .5 credit) must be completed by the end of your junior year; minimum academic progress after 6 semesters at Bates is 22 credits completed.

Class of 2025 (Seniors)

If you studied abroad and have not filed your forms to have the credits applied to your major(s), minor(s), or general education concentrations, please do so as soon as possible. All forms and information on how to complete them are here.

Standard academic progress after 7 semesters is 28 credits; after 8 semesters at Bates, you should have 32 credits completed. You must complete 32 credits including at least 2 .5-credit short term courses by the end of your senior year. 

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Registration for Short Term 2025 will be in March 2025, which is also when you register for Fall 2025 courses. Please remember that students must take at least 2 short-term courses to earn the Bates degree; they can take up to 3 short-term courses, but they are not permitted to take more than 3 short-term courses. Each short-term course is worth .5 credits, and those credits are included in the total 32 credits needed for the Bates degree. A short-term course, if it is tagged with an MOI, completely fulfills that particular MOI requirement. 

If you have additional questions, please connect with your academic advisor(s). If you do not know who your academic advisors are, they are listed at the top of your Degree Audit, which you can access at Garnet Gateway and they are also listed in your “Success Network” on BatesReach, which you can also access at Garnet Gateway.

Thank you.

Stephen M. Engel, Professor of Politics and Associate Dean of the Faculty

Megan McHenry, Registrar