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Important Miscellaneous Information

At Rice students can designate a class as “pass/fail.” This option was created by the faculty to encourage students to explore interesting courses in which their background or time commitment might be insufficient. Each student is allowed four pass/fail courses during his or her undergraduate career, and no more than one may be taken in a semester. You cannot take a course required for the major on a pass/fail basis. Receiving a “Pass” in a pass/fail course does not affect a student’s grade point average, but does award credit for taking the course. Failing a pass/fail class carries the same consequences as failing a course for a grade.
Students may convert a pass/fail class to a grade after the semester is over. This rule is intended to encourage students to continue to work at pass/fail classes through the end of the course, rather than to slack off once they feel they have completed just enough work to get by.
Pumpkin grade
Bunny grade
Drop/add
It is possible (and common) at Rice for students to register each semester for more classes than they actually intend to take in order to try out different choices. There is no penalty for adding or dropping a course in the first two weeks of classes, this is an accepted method for arriving at the best course combination. Courses can be added for up to four weeks and dropped through the ninth week for a sliding-scale fee up to $10.
Note: if a student neglects to drop a course officially on the Registrar’s records, the student is responsible for that course!  Be especially careful with courses that require you to sign up in two places, such as HPER — adding or dropping a section at the gym doesn’t change your official registration. A misunderstanding in such a case often results in a failing grade in the class in question. The Registrar sends students copies of their current official course load several times during the semester. Students must make sure to check this record carefully! The bottom line is that the Registrar’s records determine what courses will be listed on the transcript, regardless of whether one attends them and does the work.
The drop deadline is quite late at Rice so students have ample opportunity to know whether they are succeeding or not. There are other drops-and-adds students can make at this late date. For example, a student can drop down one course level in math if he or she has over-enrolled — from Math 211 to Math 102, from 102 to 101, from 101 to 111 — providing he or she has not already taken the lower course. 
Add/drop must be signed by divisional advisor
Adds must be signed by professor after…..
In first semester at rice can drop until last day of class
Divisional advisor
If, during O-week or throughout the year, a divisional advisor is repeatedly unavailable or presents a communication barrier to a student, the student is urged to make an appointment with an advisor in the Office of Academic Advising or speak with the College Master. 
Associates – Faculty, University and Community
Each college has approximately twenty faculty associates representing a variety of fields, who have accepted the college’s invitation to be associates. In addition to taking an active role during O-week, faculty associates attend lunches and other events at the college throughout the year and continue to be a valuable source of advice for course planning, as well as other issues.
Incomplete
The big 3
it is normal for those planning to study in the sciences or engineering to attempt “The Big Three” (math, chemistry, and physics) during the freshman year. 
Academs and S/Es
Restricted distirbution courses and foundation courses
GPA
To compute a student’s grade point average (GPA), his or her grades are weighted by the number of semester-hours each course is worth, and averaged.
Honor Code
General Announcements
The Registrar sends students copies of their current official course load several times during the semester. Students must make sure to check this record carefully! The bottom line is that the Registrar’s records determine what courses will be listed on the transcript, regardless of whether one attends them and does the work.
Which rules apply – when begin or when graduate
7.2. CALENDAR OF ACADEMIC EVENTS
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~reg/calendars/acadcalf00.html
7.3 INFORMATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
The Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS), (http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~ois/) located in A101 Abercrombie, is responsible for the special services needed by students on non-immigrant visas at Rice. Their primary focus is on matters related to the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Department of State, but the office also provides new arrival and cross-cultural orientation, advising about life in the USA and personal issues, as well as any work authorization for students on non-immigrant visas. Upon arrival new international students must come to the office to confer visa status. They must bring their passport and visa documentation within a few days of arriving at Rice. 
Students on F-1 visas are allowed to work on campus during the academic year (up to 20 hours a week) and in the summer (full time). They cannot work for an employer off campus unless they have Immigration permission to do so. This permission must be requested through the OISS . 
International Undergraduate Student Orientation for all students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents will be at 8:30 a.m. in the Miner Lounge of the Ley Student Center.
7.3 INFORMATION FOR STUDENT ATHLETES 
The student athlete is at Rice primarily to get the best education Rice can offer. Accordingly, most of the advice applicable to any incoming student is directly applicable to student athletes. However, some special considerations are: 
• Because of the extra time commitments student athletes have, they sometimes lack the flexibility in scheduling that other students enjoy. They must make sure there are as few conflicts as possible between their sports commitments and their studies, while remembering that student athletes are students first. 
• Some student-athletes who plan engineering majors may lack the high school background for success in the “Big Three.” Students who don’t have at least a 600 math SAT and a good high school calculus course should plan on completing Math 111 & 112 in their freshman year and beginning Math 102, Phys 101 and Chem 101 in their sophomore year. This will entail a 5-year engineering program.
• Student athletes are required by the NCAA to attempt 12 hours per semester; if they drop below that load they are ineligible to practice or compete. 
• A number of NCAA provisions must be followed for a student athlete to maintain his or her eligibility and, in some cases, scholarship. Please check with Julie Griswold, Assistant Athletic Director, Academic Services (EMAIL LINK) if questions or uncertainties arise. 
7.3 INFORMATION FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS 
Transfer students’ meetings will be held in 303 Sewall Hall from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday August 22, to discuss transfer credit issues with the Registrar.

Transfer students are required to take and pass the English Composition Test before graduation, even if they have considerable college credit in English.

The transfer credit policy awards as much credit as possible, consistent with Rice’s curriculum. To evaluate a student’s prior work properly, one should take into account the quality of past instructors, quality of the student’s former institution, amount of work, and the effort the student put forth. 
Of course, because this type of evaluation is impossible, the Registrar’s Office must rely on the student’s record and grades and Rice’s curriculum, and hope that this evaluation is fair. Frequently, it is impossible to evaluate the acceptability of courses from titles on transcripts. In these cases, more information will be requested from the student. 
Standard policy awards a year’s credit at Rice for a year’s work elsewhere. Thus (if all courses transfer), a student who attended another university for one year carrying a normal course load (as defined by that institution) would be credited with thirty semester hours of credit at Rice. (Note that 120 semester hours is the required minimum for the Rice B.A.) If the student has been in college for a longer or shorter time, or has taken overloads or underloads, credit is transferred proportionally.
A student cannot receive credit for a course in which he or she earned a grade lower than “C-” or took the course P/F. Furthermore, only courses appropriate to the Rice curriculum are accepted for credit. For example, Rice doesn’t offer a course in Japanese History, but Rice would accept credit for such a course because it could be offered. Rice, however, would not accept “College Algebra” because it is not consistent with Rice’s curriculum. 
Rice does not accept transfer credit for courses the student “tested out of” at other universities, correspondence courses, “experiential” learning, credit earned at institutions not accredited by a recognized accrediting agency, or college credit used to fulfill high school graduation requirements. Some departments may offer additional restrictions on transfer credit, both for their majors and for course equivalents in the field.
????????New transfer students should make every effort to discuss their individual cases with the Registrar at the meetings scheduled for that purpose during Orientation Week, or should make an appointment with him after classes begin.

LINK TO TRANSFER STUDENT INFO ON O-WEEK PAGE