By Megan Finnerty
Asst. Campus Editor

Today's the day.

The long lines around campus are not for the "Who Wants to Marry an Engineer" contestant search; they are for Drop/Add day.

Today is the last day students can drop or add a class and receive a "W" on their transcripts, which does not have an effect on their GPA.

Students can do this by getting the instructor of the casualty class to sign Form 23, the drop/add form available in all counselors' offices. Then the form must be returned to the student's counselor by 5 p.m. today.

If a student does not drop a class today and tries to drop one later, a "WF", which stands for withdraw/fail, will appear on the transcript and is figured into the GPA as an "F".

Dropping a class after today without "WF" appearing on the transcript is a more involved process and only happens under extenuating circumstances. In addition to getting the signatures of his/her counselor and the instructor of the course, the student must also get the head of the department in which the course is listed to sign the drop/add form. And the instructor must indicate whether or not the student is passing the class.

Only students with semester classifications of 1 or 2, i.e. freshmen, can drop classes without any signatures.

A deadline so important to some students coming the day after Spring Break can be a difficulty. University Senate established the drop/add date years ago, but when they moved the week of Spring Break back a week, they didn't change the drop/add deadline.

Because many students will find out today how they performed on the tests before break, many instructors e-mailed students their test scores so the students could think about what to do over Spring Break.

Because this is the second deadline to drop and add classes, for many students it is an act of desperation, according to Alan Welch, director of counseling for the School of Science.

"If students are dropping a class this late, it is probably because they are not doing well, and if they are not doing well they are considering changing majors and rearranging their lives," he said. "They come in and want everything changed for them in a few minutes. It is not the drop/add process that is a problem; it is the decision making that needs to be made in a timely manner because there can be many ramifications."

Those ramifications can include changing majors, schools or even universities. Retaking the class is almost always one of the ramifications. Or they can include dropping down to part-time student status, which can affect international students and their Visas, financial aid and insurance for some students that have plans predicated on full-time student status.

"At this point, students will have stick the class out as long as they can, but they just can't stay with it," said Welch. "And many times students drop some of these math and science courses; some are worth five credits and that can have major ramifications for students if they drop below 12 credit hours."

Adding a class to maintain full-time student status this late in the semester can be a significant challenge because it can only be done under extenuating circumstances with approval from the class' instructor. One of the only options for students interested in increasing their course loads are some of the eight week, one-credit classes that began the week before break. This, however, is not a perfect solution because the courses are condensed; missing one week of these classes is comparable to missing two weeks in others.