WI 2015-16 Newsletter

Reminder: Add Day is Approaching

Just a friendly reminder that the last day for adding courses and removing incompletes is this Friday, January 22nd. Please remember to bring your add cards to the Registrar's Office by 5:00 p.m. on Friday.

Graduate Student/Faculty Colloquium 2016

Calculating your GPA

A student's grade point average is computed by dividing the total number of credits earned in a term or earned through a term by the total number of units taken toward the GPA in the corresponding period.  For example, a student earned 45 units in one term, 36 units of which was attempted toward the GPA.  They received 138 credits for the term based on the grades they earned.  138 credits divided by 36 units attempted toward gpa results in a Term GPA of 3.8.

Units for which a grade of F has been received are counted, even though the course may have subsequently been repeated.  Grades of P or F obtained in courses graded on a pass/fail basis are not included in computing grade-point average.

Course Substitutions

Option representatives may approve course substitutions for both undergraduate and graduate students.  Option Reps simply need to email regis@caltech.edu to indicate their approval for a specific student and our office will apply the substituted course to the student's course requirements. 

HSS Courses and Grading Schemes

Advanced Hums, Advanced Social Sciences and the 3 writing-intensive courses* must be taken on grades.  Students cannot take these courses as freshmen during their pass-fail grading terms, nor would any course offered as only Pass-Fail count toward these Institute requirements. 

Freshmen Humanities, Introductory Social Science courses and additional HSS courses may be elected pass-fail and will still count toward those course requirements.

Remember, unless the Catalog specifically states otherwise, all option requirements must be taken on grades, unless only offered pass-fail. 

 * the 3 writing-intensive courses will double count as Adv Hum and could double count Adv SS when designated as a writing intensive course

 Voter Registration

 With the presidential primary season upon us, we encourage you to be civically engaged.  To vote in the California Presidential Primary Election, held June 7th, you must be registered to vote in California by May 23, 2016.  Visit http://registertovote.ca.gov to register now. 

 33 vs 36 units... What's Required for Undergraduates?

To be considered a full-time student, you must be enrolled in a minimum of 36 units.  In order to remain academically eligible for the following term, you must PASS a minimum of 33 units (with a term gpa of at least 1.9). For students who are underloading, they must pass all units taken for the term in order to remain academically eligible.  Underload petitions must be approved prior to Add Day. 

Excellent TAs from Fall Term    

We'd like to congratulate and recognize a couple outstanding TAs from the past quarter:

Slava Butkovich, TA for Ch 3a - Slava is a junior in chemical engineering who clearly went above and beyond to answer every question from her students.  Many recognized the effort Slava put into assisting students both in the lab and outside as well.  According to one comment, "Slava was amazing in every way possible.  That's it."

Emily Wyatt, TA for ChE152 - Emily is a G3 in Chemical Engineering and had many students singing her praises as one of the best TAs they ever had.  Not only was Emily skilled at clarifying the course material, she clearly outlined the expectations for exams and gave extremely helpful comments while grading.  "A role model for every teaching assistant," one student shared.

Thanks, Slava and Emily, for making a difference in the academic lives of our students. We appreciate all the time, effort and enthusiasm you put into your work with students.