Glossary of Terms for First-Year Students

Academic Advisor: Incoming Obies are assigned an academic advisor, either a professor or staff member, with whom they will work until a major is declared and the major advisor selected. An academic advisor can assist with academic issues and will meet with students to provide course schedule guidance. Students can change their advisor at any time by contacting the Academic Advising Resource Center (AARC).

Catalog: The catalog defines requirements for graduation, majors, minors, integrative concentrations and outlines academic policies. It also contains information about academic departments and highlights information that is new for the academic year.

Chair: The department chair is typically a faculty member who carries responsibilities for departmental leadership, management, and curricular planning. The department chair serves as the principal liaison between the department and the rest of the college and can address questions about courses, prerequisites, and transfer of credit.

Institutional Requirements: In addition to fulfilling requirements for a major, Obies must also fulfill institutional requirements as outlined in the catalog. Students take a wide variety of courses to satisfy their institutional requirements, and you can see which institutional requirements a course fulfills by reviewing the course description in the catalog.

OberView: This online tool serves as a gateway to the information that is vital to life at Oberlin. A series of “tasks” are available to students, such as My Self Service Profile, Degree Works for Students, Register for Classes, and many more.

Office Hours: Students typically use this time to ask for clarification about course content, gather information about majoring or working in the discipline, and talk about internships or study away programs, in addition to a wide range of other topics. Generally, office hours and the location are listed on the course syllabus. In some instances, faculty members establish weekly office hours when students can drop in and in other instances they are by appointment.

Syllabus: A course syllabus lists course requirements, meeting days, required course materials, deadlines, test dates, and assignments. Syllabi are written and distributed by the faculty member of the course.

Attribute: Courses are assigned attributes, or areas of specialty, by the department in which they are taught. Attributes indicate the division of the College of Arts and Sciences (Arts and Humanities, Natural Sciences and Math, or Social Sciences), as well as areas of focus like quantitative reasoning or cultural diversity. Attributes fulfill graduation requirements and are viewable in course descriptions.

Course Definitions: 

• Academic Courses – Courses taught by academic departments. 
• Co-Curricular Courses – Non-academic courses, like ExCo, Athletics, and Learning Enhancement Across the Disciplines (LEAD) courses
• Full Courses – Spans the full semester and worth 4 credits
• Module Courses – Half semester courses, taught either in the first half or the second of the semester. Could be .25, .5, 1 or 2 credits depending on course.

Course Load: Bachelor of Arts students are expected to complete at least 3.5 full courses each semester, including 3 academic courses. A student who does not meet these requirements is subject to academic standing review. Completing 4 full courses each semester enables an Arts and Sciences student to reach the 32 full courses required to graduate in 8 semesters or 4 years.

Course Overload: After the first semester at Oberlin, Bachelor of Arts students can request to take up to 20 credits, 5 full courses, each semester. First semester first-years are not generally granted a course overload for any course other than LEAD 050.

Credits: The numerical unit that each course is worth, depending on time expected to be spent on coursework in and out of class.

Academic Calendar: Oberlin’s academic calendar includes deadlines for academic record changes throughout the semester. The calendar is approved by the faculty and enforced by the Office of the Registrar. All students must observe the deadlines posted in the calendar.

Add/Drop Deadline: Add/Drop is the date by which courses can be added to or dropped from a student’s schedule without appearing on the official transcript. Refer to the academic calendar for the deadline to add or drop a course. Refer to the Office of the Registrar’s page on registration for information on errors you may encounter when attempting to add or drop a course

Banner Self Service: Banner is Oberlin’s student information system. Banner Self Service is the online portal students use to register for classes, view grades, and access billing and financial aid information. These and other Banner Self Service items are available through corresponding tasks in OberView.

Course Withdrawal: After the add/drop deadline and up until the course withdrawal deadline listed on the academic calendar, a student can withdraw from a course with a W grade recorded on the transcript. Advisor permission is required. Students should consider academic standing implications and discuss this with their advisor.

Degree Works: Degree Works is a comprehensive, web-based, academic advising and degree audit tool that helps students and their advisors successfully navigate curriculum requirements. Students can check degree progress, utilize the “What-if” feature to explore the requirements of future majors, minors, and concentrations, as well as access the list of courses earned each semester, including applied AP, transfer, and IB credit.

Instructor Consent: Some courses at Oberlin require instructor consent in order to register for them. To obtain instructor consent, students must contact the instructor of the course and request it. If granted, the instructor must provide consent in the system by the add/drop deadline. Once this has occurred, it is then the responsibility of the student to register for the course by the add/drop deadline. Instructor consent is listed in the course details under “Restrictions.”

Pass/No Pass (P/NP): Instead of a letter grade mode, some courses can be taken Pass/No Pass grade mode. If a student chooses to take a course as P/NP, a grade of C minus (C-) or above must be earned to receive a P and receive credit for the course. A grade of D or below will earn a NP and result in no credit received for the course. P/NP does not affect GPA. Some courses cannot be taken P/NP, and some are only able to be taken P/NP.  Grade mode information is listed in the course details.

Prerequisite: A prerequisite is a course or test score that has been determined to be foundational for another course and must be fulfilled before registering for the next course. If you do not meet a prerequisite but think you are qualified to take the course, contact the instructor. The instructor may grant you special permission to take the class if they determine you are eligible. Prerequisites are listed in the course details.

Registration Alternate Pin (RAP Number): A Registration Alternate Pin (RAP Number) is a six digit code required to access the registration system in Banner Self Service. Students are expected to meet with their academic advisor prior to registration each semester; students receive their RAP number directly from their academic advisor.