How long is your drop/add "week"?

[downer]

The school announces that drop/add will be extended half way into the second week.

I already make the first week light and orienting because it is important for the students to be on the same page. But I can deal with the change and the new students saying they don't have the textbook yet. Just a bit tiresome.

Upside: Maybe I can now persuade more students to drop.

[kiana]

Students are not supposed to be added after the second class meeting. This is based on years of data showing that students who added at that point simply didn't do well, and the creation of some "late start" classes for students who are trying to add then.

Sometimes they do add during the second meeting and therefore miss most of the first week or the entire first week.

I have gone the opposite approach -- I have a small assignment on the first class that is due the second class. The day after the first class, I check to see if anyone's added and send them a form email telling them how to get into the first assignment. If someone does add late and miss the second class, I send them almost the same email telling them that the assignment is late but to do it anyway and I'll remove the late penalty.

For the textbook, there's a two week free trial so I include that information in the form email.

[Grinch]

The first week of classes is drop/add. My classes are typically full, so I don't have a lot of problems with students adding late. I do, however, have problems with students not attending the first day of class and then expecting to be excused from the work due on day two of class. They are surprised we have an assignment due and frustrated when I tell them I won't accept it late. I do accept it late from any students who add the class after the first class meeting. 

[craftyprof]

One week for the students to drop/add and then another two months they can get in with department authorization - which means I get a fair number of requests in week 2 or 3.  In the summer, the late additions seem to come even later.  The authorization part at least allows me to send a conscious-clearing "this is a bad idea, you're way behind" note.

It's usually students who owed money from a previous term who couldn't officially enroll until their balance was paid.  I appreciate how the scramble may be inevitable for gen ed courses that fill up, but I hate it when it's a student in our major.  If you're a senior in my program, there is a seat for you.  Just show up week one and tell me that you'll be registering late.  Because those are the students who are working so much they definitely don't have time to be cramming three weeks of course work into one to catch up, and they also can't afford to retake the class because they missed three weeks and were hopelessly behind the whole semester.

[dr_codex]

A few years back we settled on one week to add, two to drop. It may sound odd, but it works. As kiana notes, it's important to get in early. But it's also important to allow students to get out, ideally once they've had some feedback on the course and a small assignment/test.

This may work best in a system where full-time students pay by the semester, not the course. So, they can over-subscribe and then drop something. It very student-friendly, not so friendly for administers and staff who then need to deal with smaller numbers.

[marshwiggle]

Here they have two weeks to add, and until about 6 weeks in to drop. Both of those are too long, in my opinion. Someone who has missed two weeks of course material is way behind the eight ball, and most of the people who drop at the last minute have effectively given up weeks earlier; having them on the books is annoying. The reason for the late drop date (or one reason, anyway), is so that in courses with a midterm students could usually see how they did before deciding to drop. In practice, it seems to me it just prolongs students' anxiety rather than encouraging them to drop and maybe start over next time with a better frame of mind.

[RatGuy]

The add/drop period is a week of classes (Wednesday to Wednesday). I generally don't have freshmen moving about, but my upperclass rosters are in flux right up until that final deadline. Three students who had added on Monday miserably bombed Wednesday's quiz. They told me that they hadn't bothered to buy the book because they wanted to see what my class was like before they decided to stay. I generally don't waste any time in those courses, and as someone said upthread, usually those who add late underperform all term. The last day to drop a course with a W is in week 12. That's late enough that I can tell some students "You can't mathematically pass anymore." I pay attention to that date, because I'll send reminders to those students who have ghosted my class -- it's good to get them gone, because they have a tendency to tank the mandatory student evals if they stay in.

[Juvenal]

Only up until the class has met twice, which means, "Before the second week" as most classes meet 2X/wk.  Except M/W classes, since the first Monday is a holiday where I say, just after, "Goodbye, shorts; hello long pants."

My course (I adjunct just one) has a lab assignment the first day we meet, which is the first day of classes.  But sometimes there are extenuating... whatever it is they call those things.

[Bede the Vulnerable]

We have two full weeks for add-drop.  It's far too long, and students who add after the second class day in one of my courses are definitely going to need to play catch up.  Since my advice to the first years in the fall is always "Go to class and don't fall behind in your work," late adds do seem to undercut my basic advice.  But since I teach almost entirely upper-division courses now--I teach a very popular subfield of basket weaving--I haven't given that speech in a while.

I tell the students on the first day of the semester that it's "Syllabus Day"; that we'll just go over the syllabus and end for the day.  But then--faculty are so sneaky!--I use the syllabus to teach.  "We will be reading a book about Latin American basket weaving this semester.  How do you think those baskets might differ from baskets where you're from?"  That kind of thing.  Fools 'em every time.  And it gives me a sense early on of their base knowledge of the subject.

[marshwiggle]

We have two full weeks for add-drop.  It's far too long, and students who add after the second class day in one of my courses are definitely going to need to play catch up. 

One thing that doesn't occur to people is the effect on labs. If a lab is early in the week, and a student adds at the end of the 2nd week, then that means that 2 labs have been missed. That's a lot, and will leave anyone other than a really strong student at a serious disadvantage. (And, most people who add late are NOT really strong students.)

FWIW, trying to accommodate these students in the lab by letting the do the experiments they've missed, after the equipment is no longer set up, is extremely inconvenient. (Staff need to be be there to supervise, and the lab needs to be prepared in between the current week's labs, etc.)

[dr_codex]

We have two full weeks for add-drop.  It's far too long, and students who add after the second class day in one of my courses are definitely going to need to play catch up. 

One thing that doesn't occur to people is the effect on labs. If a lab is early in the week, and a student adds at the end of the 2nd week, then that means that 2 labs have been missed. That's a lot, and will leave anyone other than a really strong student at a serious disadvantage. (And, most people who add late are NOT really strong students.)

FWIW, trying to accommodate these students in the lab by letting the do the experiments they've missed, after the equipment is no longer set up, is extremely inconvenient. (Staff need to be be there to supervise, and the lab needs to be prepared in between the current week's labs, etc.)

This one of many reasons that we went to a one-week add period. We also have professional courses that only allow a few missed classes; students couldn't add these late if they tried.

At a prior institution, students would not be allowed to enroll in full courses. Which is fine. But they also wanted to get in. So, faculty would often cut a deal: students attending would be admitted into any empty slot; students not attending would be dropped after a week. This assumes, of course, that the total number is not over capacity for lab seats and the like.

The unintended consequence is to either require make-up work for late adds, or to essentially make week one an advertising/orientation week. My colleague shows a movie, arguing that students have done no homework or reading, and at least they can catch up easily. At the same time, she assigns a ton of reading, to be tested week 2.

[Golazo]

We do a week, and then a 2nd week with instructor permission only. This helps avoid the people parachuting in in the middle of week 2 with no idea. Last year I had several students add a once a week class at the end of the add drop week and then miss the second week, too. That worked out well...

[FishProf]

We have the staggered one week to add two to drop system and it is awful.  What happens far too often is that student A sit in a course, hoping a different course/section will open up.  Add deadline passes, and THEN they drop, which precludes any student B on the waitlist from getting the spot that student A never really wanted in the first place.

I have submitted a proposal to correct this.

[dr_codex]

We have the staggered one week to add two to drop system and it is awful.  What happens far too often is that student A sit in a course, hoping a different course/section will open up.  Add deadline passes, and THEN they drop, which precludes any student B on the waitlist from getting the spot that student A never really wanted in the first place.

I have submitted a proposal to correct this.

I'd love to see your proposal. We moved to this because two weeks was too long for adds, and one week too short for drops.

The bigger problem, of course, isn't just the drop/add period, it is the registration process. We have many students who "rent" spaces in the courses that you describe, signed up for what are (to them) sub-optimal choices, which they will ditch as soon as possible. Our waitlist won't allow students to both be in a section and waitlist on another (probably for good reason), so they have little recourse except to pester the faculty for overrides of course caps. Then, as sure as Spring follows Winter, smaller sections/electives get cancelled, and the orphan students scramble to the already over-subscribed sections/electives.

I advise students, and I'm routinely stuck: give the students the best advice for them as individuals (sign up for an overload and drop something at the last possible moment) or for the institution (aim for the best final schedule, sign up early, and stick to it).

dc

[saffie]

One week to add/swap/drop classes.

No adds after the first week though, from what I've seen, except for independent study and internships. The paperwork for those can be submitted up to third week of the semester.