Don’t Be Afraid To Drop That Class: Advice For Add/Drop Period

By: Lanie Brice ‘24

The first week of school is always exciting, nerve wracking, and exhilarating. You get to see your friends again, get back into your routine, and meet old and new professors. It always has its ups and downs, but this past week, I had my most tumultuous return to campus yet, and I’m ending the week with an entirely new schedule. 

Last fall, I meticulously planned my junior spring schedule and registered within the first minute of my window being open. I struggled to fit together classes in a way that made sense for commuting, and while it felt good enough, I was never fully satisfied. I also had a lot of wild card classes completing requirements outside of my home school and the professors I knew and adding in the last of my GE requirements. But I was trying to make it work. 

I’ve dropped four classes since the semester commenced and added 3 more, moving from an excessive 20 credits down to 14 and then slowly making it back to 16 and soon to be 18. It’s been a wild, stress inducing ride, but I’ve managed to get to a much better place with a schedule that works far better with my needs as a student and my personality. While it can be intimidating to make last minute schedule changes, it’s better to be a little chaotic now and have a strong semester than to grin and bear a bad class for fifteen weeks. Here’s my top tips for navigating Add/Drop season and finding the right fit for you. 

Note: The last day to add or drop a course is Friday January 27th, but I highly recommend making any changes ASAP so you don’t get behind. 

Add/Drop Exists for a Reason

While we don’t have a formal shopping period at USC, we do have a bit of wiggle room to figure out if classes are a good fit. Having to register months in advance and jumping right into course material the first week can make it feel like we’re stuck with our original choices, but that’s far from the truth. 

For the most part, when we select our courses, we’re working with sentence long course explanations, the commentary others have posted on Rate My Professor, and advice from friends. No wonder we sometimes end up in classes that are the wrong fit. It’s impossible to make a real commitment to a class without having met the professor or read a syllabus. Sometimes there are major red flags that you can’t spot ahead of time. 

I’ve dropped 2 classes in my time at USC the second I read the syllabus before even attending the class. We’ve all been in school long enough to know what works for us and what doesn’t. I recently dropped a GE-B because all the essays were handwritten and the professor noted she severely counted off for mechanical errors. As a Dyslexic person who struggles with spelling and doesn’t have accommodations through the school, I knew this class would never work for me. While you shouldn’t let the syllabus scare you away from taking a class (they all sound so harsh when you first read them!), if you see something that’s fundamentally a roadblock for you, turn the other direction and run.

There Are Always Options

I know it doesn’t feel this way most of the time. There’s certain credits we have to fulfill, sometimes in a certain order. But very rarely are there credits with absolutely no flexibility, especially if you’re creative. Sometimes, considering checking off credits over different semesters than you originally planned or taking the class with a different professor can help you find better timing to fit your life. If you talk to your advisor, there are also sometimes options to take alternative classes for the credit than what’s listed on the quick recap sheet.

While sitting in classes I knew I absolutely didn’t want to return to this week, I went back to the drawing board and compiled a list of all of the open classes that I still had to complete. In doing so, I discovered there were some classes I was super excited about that suddenly fit a reimagined version of my spring schedule quite well. I ended up with a much tighter, better schedule for commuting after facing total despair that I’d never find enough credits. Be inventive with pairing 4 and 2 credit classes as well. 

Another perk of reassessing your schedule in the first week is that people inevitably have the same realizations you’re having, and seats open up in previously closed classes if you’re paying enough attention. If there’s a class you’re heartbroken to have missed during registration, check in on WebReg to see if there’s a sudden opening. Most of getting to a good schedule is keeping an open mind.

D-Clearance Forms 

I can only speak for Thornton because that’s where my experience lies, but I assume that there are policies like this throughout the university; D-Clearance forms are a pain but must be done if you’re joining a class that requires clearance. If you’re looking to add a class after the first Monday back (even if the class itself hasn’t started yet), you’ll have to get a form from your student affairs office to have your professor sign at the first class. Then you’ll have to physically return the form to the office during business hours. This is extra tedious when there’s lots of people who attended the class with forms and now you’re racing to get the last available spot. Still, don’t let these extra steps scare you from adding classes with D-Clearances.

The big thing to remember here is that you’ll need to retrieve the paper form before attending class and then not lose track of it before you can submit it. I recommend keeping a folder in your bag while you’re still sorting out your schedule. 

Make Sure Your TA Is a Good Fit Too

The power of your TA is so often overlooked! In many classes, they’re responsible for the majority of the grading, and they definitely don’t all have the same standards even if they use a rubric. They’ll also help you review for exams, re-enforce the material, and hold office hours and study sessions. While labs or discussion sections are often chosen based on time, Add/Drop is a chance to get to know your TA and compare notes with those in other sections to figure out if you’re paired with your best fit. 

While it’s possible to ask for help from TAs outside of your section if need be, I find that these big lecture classes go much smoother when you’re with a good match from the start. Don’t overlook how valuable a great TA can be, especially if you’re new to the subject!

A Gut Feeling Is Enough

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the majority of us grew up with a certain amount of shame around quitting. We’re supposed to persevere through everything we even tentatively begin for unknown gains. While it’s sometimes great to stick things out, I find that it’s usually not worth it, especially with college classes. It’s one thing to be so-so about a professor or a bit intimidated by the workload or skeptical; it’s another to have a clear and concerted reaction in your gut or your throat or your hands or wherever you get the signals from your brain that something is wrong.

Sometimes, it’s hard to justify what exactly is giving you a bad feeling about a class. It can feel totally illogical. Over the last few semesters, I’ve learned that coming up with elaborate justifications to yourself doesn’t matter. You have nothing to prove to anyone. If you’re feeling bad enough about a class on syllabus day that you find yourself wishing you could just get up a leave, don’t force yourself to stay in the class to simply not be a quitter or because you can’t think of a crystal clear reason to drop. There are so many classes at a university as big as USC that you’ll find ones that make you feel much more at home and comfortable enough to confront academic challenges. Don’t settle.

Following a feeling of intuition can be really difficult, especially in the analytical, logic-based world of academics, but it can save you a serious headache in the long run. 

Sometimes It’s Not The Topic, It’s The Professor

The best advice I got before starting college actually came from a YouTube video called “what I wish I’d known about college…” by Best Dressed. In the video, she covers tons of helpful topics, but the point that resonated with me the most is that the best professor can make a random topic like City Planning the most interesting thing in the world, and a bad professor can make you hate your favorite subject. This can be both a hopeful and disappointing piece of advice depending on how you spin it, but at the end of the day, it’s the professor you’re experiencing on a day to day basis, and they’re the ones responsible for communicating the information. 

Oftentimes, you have to go in-person to figure out who you click with, so it can be helpful to register for 20 units and drop the class you like least or experiment with visiting a few classes to decide. 

Also, this means that if there’s a required class that you’re not loving, there’s a chance that taking it with a different professor could make a world of difference, so don’t write off the whole course. One of my big changes this semester was switching professors for a required business class in Marshall for my Music Industry major. The class has gone from being anxiety provoking and something I dreaded to one I feel quite hopeful about, even though I was skeptical when I made the change. This is an important thing to keep in mind particularly for GE classes that are often outside of both our expertise and interests. 

So go forth and add or drop or make whatever changes feel right to you before January 27th!

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