To ensure that students are able to take required courses in a timely fashion, students follow a predetermined curriculum during the fall and spring semesters (for those students who enter in the spring, they follow a predetermined curriculum starting with the spring semester and first summer standard session). First-year students are pre-registered into their courses. The Office of the Registrar may also pre-register upper-level students into required courses. Students are responsible for ensuring that they register for the necessary courses and credit hours.
Students are advised that scheduling flexibility is not unlimited and that there will be certain instances where students in the part-time enrollment option will need to arrange their personal and work schedules to attend certain required courses and other graduation requirements when the school schedules those courses and requirements.
For reporting purposes, 13 credit hours is considered full-time, 10-12 credit hours is considered three-quarter time, and 7-9 credit hours is considered half-time.
Students may not take more than 17 credit hours in a fall or spring semester. Please see below for information about Maymester and Summer credit limits.
The Charleston School of Law offers courses for academic credit during Maymester and summer sessions. The below information applies to these sessions:
Students who are admitted for the spring are required to take courses in their first Summer Standard Session.
Once classes begin in any given semester or session, there is a scheduled period of time designated as “Add/Drop” in which students may make changes to their elective course selections. The dates for Add/Drop are reflected on the academic calendar. Students are responsible for ensuring that they register for the necessary courses and credit hours. Students may not withdraw from a required course in which they have been pre-registered without the express written permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Forms for add/drop can be found on the Office of the Registrar page.
Students are not permitted to withdraw from a course or courses after the Add/Drop period without the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Withdrawals will only be approved for good cause. The Associate Dean may consult with the faculty member if she or he believes that the faculty member may have information bearing on the request for withdrawal. In any case, the faculty member will be notified by the Registrar before the student is informed that permission to withdraw has been granted. A student will receive either the grade of “W” or “WF” at the discretion of the Associate Dean.
Forms for a late withdrawal can be found on the Office of the Registrar page.
Currently enrolled students may be permitted to audit an elective course offered by the Charleston School of Law. In certain circumstances, students may audit a required course after they have satisfactorily completed the course. However, a student who audits a course will receive no academic credit for the course and may not later take the course for a grade. Students who wish to enroll in a course for credit are given priority over students who wish to audit the course.
Students who have permission to audit a course must satisfy all requirements that the professor teaching the course determines are appropriate for a successful audit. Students must also comply with the Law School’s attendance policy. If a student exceeds the number of absences allowed for the course he or she is auditing, the student will be withdrawn for absences and will receive a grade of “WA” on his or her transcript for the course. A student who satisfies the professor’s requirements for the course for a successful audit and who complies with the attendance policy will receive a notation of “AU” on the student’s transcript.
To audit a course, a student must take certain steps before the end of the Add/Drop period for the semester or session in which the student wishes to audit a course:
Students who enroll in a course for credit will not be permitted to change their status to "auditing” after the Add/Drop period without the approval of the Associate Dean. Such changes will be approved for good cause only as determined by the Associate Dean. The Associate Dean may consult with the faculty member if she or he believes that the faculty member may have information bearing on the request for the change. In any case, the faculty member will be notified by the Registrar before the student is informed that the change has been granted.