General FAQs
ADDs
BearWeb registration closes after the first week of classes. Please contact your advisor to discuss your options.
Check the Registrar's "Dates and Deadlines" calendar to see if it's past the date for you to add a class.
Advising
CASA advisors formally advise students for most of the majors in the College of Arts & Sciences. Follow the link, listed below, to find the advisor who can help you with questions you may have about the major listed under their name.
CASA advises most students within the College of Arts and Sciences. Whether or not you are required to visit with an academic advisor depends on many factors. If you have specific questions about this requirement, please check with your academic advisor.
Yes, you will need to fulfill all your advising requirements before you can register for classes.
ou are assigned to a different CASA advisor or advising unit and will not be able to see that advisors calendar.
Advisor's schedules fill up quickly. Additional available appointments are opened up each Wednesday morning. Keep checking as appointments are sometimes cancelled, which will open up available appointment times.
You are allowed one future appointment at a time, including appointments with Advising, PreLaw, PreHealth, etc. Do you have a scheduled appointment that you have not attended yet?
You can wait until your appointment is complete and then schedule your appointment with another department/office. It is advised to schedule your CASA academic advising appointment before you schedule a meeting with another office.
You can find the classes you were advised for on your Bearweb account. To find this information, follow the steps below.
BearWeb - Checking your advised classes
- Log in to https://bearweb.baylor.edu/
- Select the "Student Academic Services > Advisement > Your Advised Courses" tabs
- Finally, select "Advised Term" where you will find the classes you were advised for
You can log in to your Navigate account and find this information posted under the "Notes" area.
CASA Location
1410 South 4th Street, Sid Richardson 229.1, One Bear Place 97177, Waco, Texas 76798
Burleson 105
Course Repeat Policy
Information can be found on the Registrar Website.
Degree Audit
No. The transcript is a legal document giving a record of your enrollment history and grades, including retakes.
Only if you are eligible to retake the course and apply one use of "academic forgiveness."
Note: While academic forgiveness will change your Baylor GPA calculation, it may not affect the GPA calculations in other areas (math/science GPA for med school, for example).
The key to reading your degree audit is to scan the "YES" and "NO" column on the far left side. All requirements that are complete will have a "YES". Some requirements will have a "NA", these are also considered complete.
Incomplete requirements will show a "NO". In BearWeb you can click on the box next to the "YES" or "NO" and the audit will take you directly to that requirement. Each requirement will list how many sub-requirements have been completed and how many are still needed. A "+" means the sub-requirement is complete. Incomplete sub-requirements will have a "-".
Some audits will have a "WORK NOT APPLICABLE" section. These courses are counting in the total hours and GPA; they're just not needed for the particular degree plan.
Drops
Students can add classes through the 5th class day and drop classes on BearWeb through the 12th class day. After these dates, you should reach out to your advisor to discuss your desire to add/drop.
Drop Dates information can be found on the Registrar Website.
Check the Registrar's "Dates and Deadlines" calendar for the last day to drop a class without receiving a "W" on your transcript.
If you drop a class after the 12th class day, YES.
See the Add/Drop Refunds & Policies on the Student Financial Services website.
It depends on the impact of the drop as this could impact your financial aid or other variables. You should email your assigned Advisor to discuss this further. The form needed to complete a drop is listed below. Complete the two pages in full and email to your CASA advisor.
There are no limits on the number of courses in which you may have a "W". However, a "W" counts as an attempt at a course, and students are allowed a maximum of three attempts in any one course. Also, any course that has been attempted at Baylor (with a "W" notation or a grade earned) may not be repeated at any other school for transfer credit to Baylor.
Furthermore, multiple "W"s can become a problem for both degree completion, as you may be taking longer to complete required courses, and for applications to graduate or professional school. If you plan to attend one of those (med school, law school, grad school, etc.), be sure consult with advisors for those programs before dropping classes.
Graduation
You can look at your degree audit on Bearweb to see if it is clearing for graduation.
This is an important conversation to have with your academic advisor as early as possible in your Baylor career. Be sure to let your advisor know if this is in your plans and they can discuss with you whether your timeline is realistic, and what you can do to achieve your goals.
Bearweb shows a graduation date for all students of 5 years beyond the date they started at Baylor. This is so that registration dates/times are assigned to you each semester; if there was no end date, you would continue to be assigned these “time tickets” well after graduation. In short, this is an IT issue and is NOT reflective of your graduation timeline—graduation is determined only by a completed degree audit. If for whatever reason this is causing you complications with plans after graduation, please contact your academic advisor or the degree certification office for the College of Arts and Sciences to have this timeline adjusted.
It is a University requirement that you file your graduation card with the Degree Certification Office when you reach your senior year. You must have registered for all the requirements listed on your computer degree audit to become a candidate for graduation. The deadline for filing is listed in your Baylor catalog
You can check with your academic advisor to determine whether you have correctly filed your graduation application, and to verify whether you have met all graduation requirements.
Majors
- Log in to your Bearweb account and select Student Academic Services > Student Records > Change of Major Request and complete the request online.
- After completing and submitting your change of major request, it can take a few business days for an academic advisor to receive the request and process it. You will hear from an academic advisor once it has been completed.
- If more than 2-3 business days have elapsed and you have not received an updated, please email CASACOM@baylor.edu to ask for an update.
Please contact your academic advisor.
Please reach out to your academic advisor and let them know what you are thinking about. Depending on your answer, you may be referred to the Major Exploration and Success Advising (MESA) office, to the Career Center, or to various faculty for further exploration and discussion.
Other Questions
This will vary widely depending on the kind of internships you are looking for. A good general place to start is the office of Career & Professional Development's page on internships.
Individual academic departments or other offices on campus pertinent to your interests may also be able to provide ideas on internships connected to your major (examples: Environmental Sciences department, Prelaw Office)
First, remember that there are very few majors that lead to a specific set of jobs, as the job market is much broader than that! That is, almost every major CAN lead to a variety of KINDS of jobs.
Two extremely helpful on-campus resources to help you decipher the kinds of jobs that your major can lead toward are (1) the faculty members for the major itself; and (2) the office of Career and Professional Development (try the Career Exploration resources here: Career Exploration; or set up an appointment for the CPD career advisor for your major: Find the career advisor assigned to your major).
Override
It may be possible that the wrong override was entered or there is no override entered for you. You will need to contact the department, or your academic advisor, depending on the issue.
Registration
You may find registration information on the Registrar’s Office’s website.
Log in to BearWeb, select Student Academic Services > Registration > Registration Status. The date and time for your registration will be listed under Registration Status.
You will have continuous access to register and add through the 7th class day, and drop classes through the 12th class day in the fall/spring semesters. You should plan to register as soon as possible once your early registration time arrives in order to have the best selection of available classes.
You may find registration information on the Registrar website.
Check Bearweb to ensure that you have met all advising requirements. You may have other registration holds as well. If you were not enrolled at Baylor last semester, note that reactivation is required before registering.
If your preferred section is full, look to see if other sections or alternate courses are open. If all sections are full, use the waitlist function.
There are multiple reasons why you could be ineligible to register for a class. Bearweb should give you the reason for the error and may include one or several of the reasons below. This list is not exhaustive. If you are confused as to the error message you are receiving, contact your academic advisor.
- You have not met the pre-requisite/co-requisite course required for that course.
- Time conflict, you are already enrolled in a class at that time.
- The course requires instructor approval to register.
- The section is full.
- Registration for the class requires registering for 2 or even 3 parts (a lecture and lab), and you are not trying to register for all required parts.
- Registering for this class will put you in overload (19+ hours).
- The section has special restrictions (section is only for students in that major).
For questions about the reactivation process, please contact the Office of the Registrar at: registrar@baylor.edu.
The answer depends upon the error message you are receiving. Contact your professor or academic advisor to troubleshoot.
This may mean that you have either not met your required advising and/or your advising flag has not been lifted for registration.
The maximum number of hours students can take at Baylor in the summer is 20. However, there are limits for the May term (4 hours), the Summer I term (8 hours), and Summer II term (8 hours). Please work with your academic advisor if you plan to take multiple courses in a summer to ensure your plan is feasible. This answer becomes more complex if you plan to take full-length summer courses, or combine both Baylor coursework and courses taken outside of Baylor. Please contact your advisor to discuss.
Use the Schedule of Classes (select "Term: Summer 20__") to find courses that Baylor will offer this summer.
Be sure to refer to your degree audit and advising records to choose courses that will fulfill degree requirements (or requirements for other programs, such as premed, that may or may not overlap with degree requirements but which you need to complete for your graduate/professional plans).
Study Abroad
Study Abroad information sessions are offered every Monday and Tuesday from 4-5pm in the Center for Global Engagement office on the 1st floor of the Hankamer Academic Building.
You will find the study abroad opportunities at the BearsAbroad website.
Each study abroad program offers a unique set of course options. You can begin researching Baylor's study abroad programs here: BearsAbroad and Center for Global Engagement
Contact the program director directly (for a specific program), and/or the Center for Global Engagement (more generally) with further questions about a particular program(s). Once you know which program(s) you're interested in, your academic advisor will be happy to help you see how this will affect your remaining coursework and semester plans.
While most of the study abroad programs in the links above are offered through Baylor and whose courses will count as residence hours (rather than as transfer work), there are some exceptions. Contact the Center for Global Engagement to verify how a particular program(s) will count for you.
Transferring to Baylor
Transfer hour policies require careful review before enrolling in any coursework outside of Baylor. Please refer to the Registrar’s Office for answers to frequently asked questions about transferring credit to Baylor.
See the Transfer Credit Policies website and The Equivalent Course Tool. As always, refer to your advising records and degree audit to choose courses that will work for you.
Waitlist
This information can be found on the Registrar’s Office’s website, including the waitlist FAQ page.
Log onto Bearweb. Select Student Academic Services > Registration > Registration + Planning > [Select Term] > Schedule Details (midway down the page) > Go to the waitlisted class and select the triangle on the left to show details > There you will find “waitlist position.
Almost universally, no. However, any exceptions to this can only be made by the departments and generally occur only when graduation is at stake.
Contact the Registrar’s Office at registrar@baylor.edu and your academic advisor in the same email. The appropriate office will be able to assist you.
There is no hard-and-fast answer to this question. You should always assume that a wait list MAY NOT work out, and create a plan to choose a different section of the wait listed course or a different class to fill that spot in your schedule.
You should also always register for a full schedule with a minimum of 12 hours (not counting waitlisted classes), even if you hope to make changes to your schedule if/when seats become available in other sections or classes.
Contact the Registrar’s Office at registrar@baylor.edu and your academic advisor in the same email. The appropriate office will be able to assist you.
Students may not be on a waitlist for a course for which they are registered.