Dartmouth College
Office of the Registrar
6014 McNutt Hall
Hanover, NH 03755-3541
| Glossary Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Academic Calendar | Calendar which specifies key academic dates when classes are in session. |
| Add/Drop | The third of three course registration periods, which begins at the start of each term and lasts for 10 days, when students may make changes to their course enrollment with no notation on their transcript. |
| Apostille | A special, standardized seal applied by an authority to certify that a document is a true copy of the original. The Apostille is used by countries that are part of the Hague convention. |
| Auditing | Attending a course not for credit with instructor permission and where no formal record is kept. |
| Banner | Dartmouth's student information system that students, faculty members, and staff access for administrative actions such as registration and grading. |
| Bounce List | Lists of students, available to each department/program, who attempted to gain entry into courses that were oversubscribed during the course election period. |
| Catalog Year | The academic year the student matriculates which establishes the curriculum requirements for their time at Dartmouth. |
| Centrally Reserved Classrooms | Classrooms scheduled by the Registrar |
| Chair's Guide | A handbook the Registrar's Office prepares for Department/Program Chairs that outlines useful information about processes and procedures |
| Chosen Name |
A Chosen Name is the name a student wishes to be known by in the Dartmouth community that is different from a student’s Legal Name. See the Chosen Name and Identity website for more information about Chosen Name at Dartmouth. |
| Citation | Statement (indicated by an asterisk after a letter grade) entered by faculty members to provide an official record of information about undergraduates who have made particularly favorable impressions on members of the faculty because of their unusual talents, dependability, initiative, resourcefulness, or other meritorious characteristics that are not indicated adequately by academic grades. |
| Class Schedule | Schema which specifies meeting times and days for standard class periods. |
| Course Assessment | An online student course evaluation system, available at the end of each term, with a series of reports that faculty members and Chairs may review after the term ends. |
| Course Assessment Faculty Opt -in | Faculty members may choose to opt-in so that students may view a subset of responses to their course assessments. |
| Course Changes | The second of three registration periods, which closes the last day of the prior term, when students may make adjustments to their course schedules. |
| Course Election | The first of three registration periods when students choose up to 3 courses for which they would like to gain entry for an upcoming term. |
| Course Election Priorities | The order in which students may gain entry into a course during course election based on class year and major. |
| Course IP Manager | A tool for departments/programs to manage instructor permission (IP) restrictions on courses. |
| Course load | Number of courses for which a student may enroll during in a term at Dartmouth. |
| Course Record Number (CRN) | The unique five digit number that identifies a particular course section offered for the term. |
| Course Section | A specific offering of a course in a given term at a particular time period. |
| Credit on Entrance | Prematriculation credit recognized for achievement on a test that may be equivalent to a course, however it does not reduce the number of credits (35) required for graduation. |
| Credit/No Credit Courses | Course that carries no grade units, is not used in establishing a cumulative average, and results in a grade of CT (Credit) or NC (No Credit). |
| Cross-list | A single course offered under 2 or more UG department/program subject designations. |
| Curricular Guidelines | On-line graphic which outlines the approval process to initiate curricular changes. |
| DartHub | Gateway for students to access Banner menu items and a termly reminder/deadline calendar. |
| DartID/NetID | A permanent, personal identifier assigned to every Dartmouth individual used to log into most Dartmouth systems. |
| DartWorks | A group of tools that students and advisors use to plan and track their academic career at Dartmouth. |
| DartWorks Dashboard | An information management tool where students submit and track the status of major or minor declaration requests so that advisors and departments or programs may review and approve them. |
| DartWorks Planner | A tool in DartWorks where students map out their major and minor plans for department/program review and approval |
| DCARS (Dartmouth Course Approval Routing System) | System used by faculty members and administrators to propose/update/cross-list courses |
| Degree Audit | A tool in DartWorks where students and advisors track students' progress towards degree completion. |
| Department/Program Reporting Dashboard | A collection of individualized reports developed by the Registrar's Office that department and program Chairs and administrators may access at their convenience to support their operations. |
| Discipline(s) | A branch of knowledge or area of study. |
| Distributive Requirement (distrib) | One of two categories that each student is required to complete as part of their general education requirements. |
| D-Plan (Dartmouth enrollment pattern) | A flexible study plan where students choose, within certain restrictions, which mix of academic terms they plan to be in residence, enrolled off-campus, and on leave. |
| Echo360 | Lecture capture technology installed in select classrooms that allows instructors to record what happens in their classrooms and make it available digitally. |
| EMS (Event Management System) | Application used by Events Management and the Registrar's Office to schedule campus space. |
| Enrollment Verification | Document that students can access at no charge which shows their current and past enrollment at Dartmouth. |
| Entering Students | All students beginning their first year at Dartmouth, including first-year students, transfer students, and incoming exchange students. |
| Exchange Programs | Dartmouth-sponsored study-away programs with other institutions. |
| Expanded Course Numbering System (point numbers) | System used by many department/programs to expand course offerings and allow for curricular growth. |
| FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) | Federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records. |
| First-Year Seminar | Seminar taken in the term immediately following completion of Writing 5 or Writing 2-3. |
| Foreign Study Program (FSP) | Off-campus programs offered by Dartmouth language departments but conducted primarily in English where student's study a country's language, literature, and civilization. |
| Fourth Course Drop/Withdrawal from a Course card | A card students use to make certain registration adjustments; adjustment may not be completed online but delivered to the Registrar's Office. |
| Gender Identity |
Gender identity refers to the role of a male or female in society, known as a gender role, or an individual's concept of themselves, or gender identity. Sometimes, a person's genetically assigned sex does not line up with their gender. See the Chosen Name and Identity website for more information about gender identity at Dartmouth. |
| Honor groups/"Honor List" | Honors are granted at the end of each academic year to those students whose GPA matches or exceeds the top 5% (Rufus Choate Scholars), 15%, and 35% of the previous academic year's eligible students. |
| Incomplete | Temporary transcript designation (indicated by "I") granted by an undergraduate dean after consultation with the student and instructor in the course when there are circumstances that are judged to be beyond reasonable control by the student. |
| Instructor Permission Override | Override an instructor or department/program administrator applies to a course that requires instructor permission to gain entry so that a student is able to elect their course. |
| Language Drill | Scheduled drills required for all introductory language classes which feature the Rassias Method for understanding and using the spoken language. |
| Language Requirement Waiver | Exception granted for a student who has demonstrated a substantiated disability-related need that allows the student to not meet the foreign language graduation requirement |
| Language Study Abroad (LSA, LSA+) | Off-Campus programs offered by the Dartmouth language departments where courses are taught by Dartmouth faculty members and local instructors. Students study language, culture, and literature in the particular country. |
| Latin Honors | Traditional honors granted to students upon graduation based on their GPA. The honors of summa, magna, and cum laude are granted to students with GPAs matching or exceeding the top 5%, 15%, and 35% of the past three years' graduates, respectively. |
| Local Placement tests (LP) | Tests taken by first-year students administered by individual departments and programs that can provide students entry into higher-level courses within that department/program. |
| Matriculate | To be accepted by Admissions and enrolled as a full-time degree-seeking student. Students officially matriculate the first day classes begin for the fall term. |
| Median Grade | The median is the value separating the higher half of the grades from the lower half, or the ""middle"" value. Median grades for each course appear on transcripts and the Registrar's website each term. |
| Minor | An approved program of study offered by departments, programs, or groups of faculty which consists of at least six courses and forms a unified and coherent intellectual whole. |
| Modified Major | Majors offered by departments and programs intended to fit the needs of students who have a definite interest in the major department/program but are also interested in some specific problem or topic, the study of which depends on courses in related fields. |
| Faculty Member's Guide | A reference available in hard copy and online that the Registrar's Office prepares for Faculty members that outlines useful information about processes and procedures. |
| Non-Recording Option (NRO) | An option whereby students may elect, under certain conditions, to exclude a grade from showing on the transcript or to be calculated in their grade point average in one regularly graded course a term. |
| Office of the Registrar | The Office of the Registrar maintains students' permanent academic record and provides services for students and faculty members at Dartmouth in the areas of academic policy, enrollment and course information. |
| Official Transcript | An institutionally-certified record of a student's performance and course(s) of study at Dartmouth College. May be obtained either electronically or in paper format. |
| On Course | A newsletter published by the Registrar's Office that highlights current activities and projects. |
| "Ongoing" grade (ON) | Temporary transcript designation used on transcripts when the assignments of a single course necessarily extend beyond the limit of a single term. |
| Optional Practical Training (OPT) | Program that allows F1 Visa students to work on a full time basis for one year after they have completed their studies, in a field related to their major. |
| ORC/Catalog (Organizations, Regulation, & Courses) | Dartmouth's online bulletin and course offerings |
| ORC/Catalog New Course Supplement | An online repository for courses that are newly approved after the yearly publication of the ORC/Catalog. |
| Petitions | Standard request forms used by students in various instances when they seek an exception to a regulation (such as a change in enrollment pattern). |
| Pre-matriculation credits | Refers to credits or exemptions (for/from courses) earned by a student prior to matriculation at Dartmouth. These may be from tests such as AP, or from courses taken at another College/University. |
| Prerequisite checking system | Automated prerequisite checking by the Banner system that is activated for certain departments/programs listed on our website. |
| Primary course | Same as course "owner" as determined by who "pays" for the course per Dean of Faculty Office |
| Pronoun |
A form of address such as he, she, they or ze. Dartmouth students may indicate their pronoun choice in Darthub. See the Chosen Name and Identity website for more information about pronouns at Dartmouth. |
| Rationale (Modified Major) | A document provided by the student that explains to the department/program and Registrar how the courses selected for a modified major represent a unified whole. |
| Reading Days | The 2-day pre-examination break at the end of each term during which no classes or exams may be scheduled. |
| Reference Guides | Web documents created by the Registrar's Office to help students, faculty or staff accomplish a specific process or use a system/tool. |
| Registration Schedule | Dates and times for course election, course changes and add/drop. Includes when student enrollment and course schedules are available. |
| Reinstate No Change (RNC) | The ability, within the DCARS application, to copy a course that exists in Banner directly to the ORC/Catalog without a request for any changes. |
| Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) | STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach |
| Sophomore Summer | The summer term that follows the sophomore year when rising juniors are required to be in residence. |
| Special Community Student Program (SCSP) | A program Dartmouth College provides to academically prepared area high school students and Dartmouth employees where they may take Dartmouth courses free of charge. |
| Specific Course Requirements | A component of degree requirements whereby students are required to take a writing course, a First-Year Seminar, and complete the language requirement. Beginning in fall 2019, it also includes a quantitative requirement. |
| Term Calendar | Calendar which includes important deadlines and key academic dates for a term. |
| Third Course Withdrawal card | Card required for students enrolled in three courses to have signed by the instructor in order to withdraw (notation of W) from a course after the second week of the term. |
| Timetable Editor | A tool departments/programs use to enter or edit information to be included on the Timetable of Class Meetings for an upcoming term. |
| Timetable of Class Meetings | Up-to-date information published each term that includes detailed course section and schedule information for the current and upcoming term. |
| Transfer Credit | Credit earned for successful performance in a course at another institution that meets Dartmouth's transfer credit rules and may be applied towards the Dartmouth degree. |
| Transfer Term | A term where a student takes courses at another College/University (not part of a Dartmouth FSP, LSA, or exchange program) with the goal of transferring them back to Dartmouth for credit. |
| Unofficial Transcript | A record of a student's performance and course(s) of study at Dartmouth College that is not institutionally-certified. It may be used for any purpose where an official record is not required. |
| VA Enrollment Certification | Confirmation of enrollment status to the Veterans Administration so that those eligible may receive their veterans educational benefits. |
| X-Period | Optional weekly class meeting period associated with each time slot. |
