To: The Wellesley College Community
From: Andrew Shennan, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College; Sheilah Shaw Horton, Vice President and Dean of Students
Re: Planning for the Spring Terms
Date: November 2, 2020
We are writing to notify you of modifications we have made to the timeline for spring 2021 enrollment. Full details of the revised timeline are available in a revised spring planning FAQ, but we would like to draw your attention to the following changes in particular:
- First-year students and sophomores who have expressed a preference to live on campus in the spring will be notified November 3 whether they will be offered a room or be placed on the housing waitlist.
- We will reopen the spring intent form earlier than originally announced. Beginning on November 9 until November 13, students can make any changes to spring plans before registration for spring courses. On-campus housing may be requested at this time, but after November 13 housing cannot be added. Final housing waitlist notifications will be sent out by December 15.
- The course browser, with term 3 and term 4 course schedules, will be available on November 25. This timing will enable academic departments to re-evaluate their curricula in light of student preferences.
- Course registration will occur after the end of term 2, from Sunday, December 20 to Wednesday, December 23, which will give students more time to review the term 3 and term 4 course schedules and consult with faculty advisors.
As President Johnson noted in her announcement of October 7, our academic program in the spring will follow the principles that we announced in June. The majority of in-person courses will be geared toward juniors and seniors, most of whom have been studying remotely this fall. We anticipate that there will also be a substantial number of first-years and sophomores on campus in the spring, and academic departments may be able to offer a limited number of additional in-person sections of interest to those students.
We are committed to being as responsive as possible to student preferences, but we cannot guarantee in-person courses for all first-years and sophomores on campus or that juniors and seniors studying remotely will have the same options as those studying on campus. The administration and the entire Wellesley faculty are doing everything in our power to provide the best and broadest curriculum for all students, wherever you will be in the spring.
