Adding/Dropping a Course

Policy

Before the start of classes for a given quarter, you may make any modifications to your schedule on CAESAR. However, once the new quarter has begun, you will need to fill out an Add/Drop Form in order to make changes to your schedule. These forms are carbon-copy forms, and therefore not available for download; you may pick one up at the MSEd program office.

If you do wish to make changes to your schedule once the new quarter has begun, make sure you follow Northwestern's deadlines for adding or dropping a course. These deadlines may be found in the quarterly class schedule. As a general rule of thumb, courses may only be added during the first week of the quarter. If you drop a course and do not add a new course in its place, you may be entitled to a tuition refund. The exact amount of tuition refunded for a dropped class depends on precisely when you drop the class; a refund schedule is also available in the quarterly class schedule. Typically, a full (100%) tuition refund for a dropped class is only available if it is dropped during the first week of the quarter.

Please keep in mind that if you are taking any courses in the School of Continuing Studies, drop/add deadlines and tuition refund schedules may be different. Please refer to the SCS website for more information.

Part-Time vs. Full-Time

If you are changing the total number of courses you are taking in a given quarter, it may be important to consider whether your full-time or part-time status is changing. Internally, it makes no difference to the MSEd programs whether you are full- or part-time. However, it may matter to you, depending on the terms of student loans you may have. If you are registered for 1-2 courses in a given quarter, you are considered part-time; if you are registered for 3 or more, you are considered full-time.

Dropping vs. Withdrawing

Withdrawal refers to the cancellation of all registration in a given quarter. If you drop a class, you are still registered for one or more classes. If you withdraw, you are no longer registered for anything. If you withdraw from the University after registering for classes, you must immediately obtain a withdrawal form from the MSEd Assistant Director.