Enrollment Policies

Enrollment & Change of Enrollment

Academic Advising

Students are assigned a liberal arts advisor upon matriculation and may change to a new advisor after the first semester, subject to the new advisor’s eligibility and agreement. Students are required to meet with the advisor at least once per semester and must have the advisor’s clearance to register. Students are strongly encouraged, and sometimes required, to select an advisor in the major department once the major has been declared. Students who feel that they have not been able to find an appropriate advisor should consult with the Director of Academic Administration in the Dean of the College Office.

Course Load

Normal/Full-Time/Part-Time Enrollment Definitions

• All enrolled courses are included in the course load calculation.
• Normal full-time enrollment is four full courses in each of the eight semesters.
• The minimum full-time course load is three full course credits (or the equivalent). Students who fall below this minimum are classified as part-time students.
• Students are limited to pre-enrollment in four full courses and .75 course credits from partial credit courses. Additional courses may be added, subject to the student’s eligibility, at the start of the semester.

Maximum course load

First-year students

For first-year students in the first semester, the maximum course load is the equivalent of 4.75 course credits from all full and partial credit courses. However, if one or more of the student’s courses is a half-credit course, then the maximum course limit is 5.25 course credits (in such cases, the student must contact the Registrar’s Office to be added to the half-credit course).

In the second semester, first-year students who completed four full courses in the fall on a letter-grade basis with no grade lower than B may enroll in the equivalent of 6.0 courses from all full and partial credit courses. Otherwise, the limit is the same as for the first semester.

All other students

Sophomores, juniors and seniors who are in good academic standing may enroll in six course credits (or the equivalent) from all full and partial credit courses.

Cumulative Credit Limit Toward Graduation
A total of eight cumulative (.25 credit) courses may apply toward the 32 courses needed to graduate (the equivalent of two course credits); after the eighth cumulative course has been taken, subsequent cumulative courses appear on the transcript but without credit awarded.  An exception is level II music lessons (MUS 020 PO  ) that receive .25 credits, which are not subject to the cumulative credit limit toward graduation: they do not count against the limit of eight cumulative credits.

Pre-Enrollment

On appointed days late in each semester, continuing students enroll for their courses for the following semester, subject to their advisor’s approval. New students enroll on announced days at the opening of each semester.

Cross-Enrollment Within The Claremont Colleges

Cross-enrollment within The Claremont Colleges provides opportunities for curricular enrichment and participation in the wider Claremont collegiate community.

Limitations on Cross-Enrollment: First-year students may cross-enroll for one course each semester. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors may cross-enroll for 40% of their overall program. Normally this will mean that the student will not cross-enroll for more than 10 of the 24 courses taken in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years. Exceptions to the rules above are contingent on advisor approval.

Note: While students may cross-enroll in areas that Pomona does not offer courses, they must complete a Pomona major.

Some considerations about cross-enrollment: Because it is generally most advantageous to take introductory courses for the major at Pomona, students should be especially careful taking courses away from Pomona if they are foundational to a potential major. Many departments and programs have specific restrictions about courses for the major that must be taken at Pomona. These are described in the major requirements sections for each major in the Pomona College Catalog.

The following curricular areas are particularly appropriate courses for cross-enrollment:

• Courses that are not offered at Pomona, such as Italian and Korean.
• Courses that are part of joint or cooperative departments and programs in which Pomona participates. These include the Intercollegiate Departments of Africana Studies, Asian American Studies, and Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies; Art History at Pitzer and Scripps Colleges; Astronomy at Harvey Mudd College; Classics; Foreign Languages (all lower-division language, and upper-division courses in French, German, and Spanish); Gender & Women’s Studies; Linguistics at Pitzer College; Mathematics; Media Studies; Religious Studies; Science, Technology and Society.

Some courses at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) are also open to Pomona students who are majoring in the fields in which the courses are offered. Permission to enroll in such courses must be obtained in writing from the course instructor and the student’s advisor. The chair of the student’s major department determines whether the course can apply to major requirements. Information on such courses can be obtained from the CGU and KGI registrar’s offices; a Web link to the CGU course schedule is provided on the Pomona College portal.

Students who wish to enroll in courses that are offered jointly between one of the undergraduate Claremont Colleges and CGU or KGI will be enrolled in the undergraduate course number.

Independent Study & Summer Reading and Research Courses

Independent Study courses, under the guidance of individual faculty members, are offered by all departments; there is some variation among departments in the amount of prerequisite coursework before such independent reading or research may be undertaken. Independent study courses cannot fulfill breadth area requirements. A Pomona student may enroll in one such course per semester in the first and sophomore years and two per semester in the junior and senior years with the permission of the advisor, the instructor and the department chair of the instructor.  Independent Study Forms must be submitted no later than the end of the first week of the semester, and require the instructor’s and department chair’s signatures.

Independent Study may be undertaken over the summer.  For summer enrollment, the Independent Study Form must be submitted by the last day of the semester.  The deadline to make change the grading option for a summer Independent Study (also called “Summer Reading & Research”) is June 1; the deadline to withdraw is August 1.

Change of Enrollment—Add/Drop, Pass/No Credit Grading

The deadlines to make enrollment changes are announced on the College’s Web page.

The deadline to add a course is the 10th day of instruction each semester, with the exception of Independent Study courses, the form for which must be submitted no later than the end of the first week of the semester, and require the instructor’s and department chair’s signatures. See the section on Independent Study below.

If a student fails to attend the first two meetings of a course, and the absences were not approved in advance by the instructor, the instructor may drop the student from the class. However, students will not automatically be dropped from a course they do not attend.

The deadline to drop a course is Thursday of the eighth week of classes. Courses dropped by the deadline do not appear on the academic transcript. After the drop deadline, students may only withdraw from a course with the permission of the Academic Procedures Committee; if approved, a W (withdrawn) notation is posted on the transcript.

The deadline to elect the Pass/No Credit (P/NC) grading option is Thursday of the 10th week in the fall semester and Thursday of the 11th week of the spring semester. Many courses are not offered for P/NC grading; students should not assume the option is available without consulting the Schedule of Classes, the course syllabus or the professor for verification. With rare exceptions, courses taken for the major must be taken on a letter-grade basis. All students are presumed to be enrolled in a course on a letter-grade basis unless the grading option change is made by the deadline, or the course is offered only on a P/NC basis.

Holds

Students who have failed to make necessary arrangements for the various financial or academic requirements of the College are subject to having a hold placed on their records that may prevent enrollment and release of transcripts. Unresolved holds at the time of graduation will prevent the student from participating in commencement exercises. The most common academic reasons for a hold are probationary academic status, failure to declare a major by the spring enrollment period during the sophomore year, failure to meet with the academic advisor, and failure to complete student Health Services forms. Financial holds involve unpaid balances, unsigned student loan promissory notes or loans in default.

Auditing Courses

Enrolled students of The Claremont Colleges may audit Pomona College courses with the consent of the instructor. Persons not enrolled at the Colleges may also audit Pomona College courses, provided they obtain the instructor’s and the registrar’s (and in some cases, the department chair’s) permission, and pay the regular auditor’s fee ($100).  (There is no fee for senior citizens). Such arrangements are not recorded by the Registrar’s Office; attendance in classes is not noted or recorded; and the auditor does not receive credit or record of any kind. Courses which are participation-intensive (such as art, writing, theatre, language and physical education), or in high demand, do not allow auditors. The College reserves the right to rescind permission to audit at any time.

Concurrent Enrollment

Students currently enrolled at Pomona College will not be awarded transfer credit for work completed at another college or university during the regular semesters. Students who take an approved leave from the College may transfer such work, subject to the restrictions described in the Transfer Credit section.