Glossary Of Terms And Services
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Calendar (Academic) - University dates and deadlines for the academic year. The main dates for the next five academic years are available at academics.usc.edu. The Schedule of Classes lists registration dates for the university's main on-campus programs.
Cancellation of Enrollment - A withdrawal from all enrolled classes in a semester. Students can cancel or drop all enrolled classes through Web Registration, by emailing us, or in person in the John Hubbard Hall Lobby (JHH).
All requests for withdrawal must be received and processed by the refund deadline of the course(s). Before cancelling their enrollment, students should contact the department of their major and the USC Financial Aid Office, if applicable..
CAPP (Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures) - Appointed by the provost, this committee is a representative group of faculty, students and administrators. The committee meets on a monthly basis and provides recommendations to the provost on matters related to academic policies and procedures. The committee also reviews or delegates the review of most general petitions.
Catalogue (University) - The USC Catalogue is the document of authority for all students. The program requirements listed in the USC Catalogue supersede any information that may be contained in any bulletin of any school or department. The university reserves the right to change its policies, rules, regulations, requirements for graduation, course offerings and any other contents of this catalogue at any time.
Catalogue (of Enrollment) - The catalogue in effect for the term in which a student was first admitted to a degree program and enrolled at USC. Students are subject to the degree requirements detailed in the catalogue of enrollment. Students may switch to a later catalogue as long as they were enrolled in a term in which it was in effect. They must then follow all requirements in the new catalogue. They cannot mix requirements from different catalogues.
Students wishing to enroll in a new minor must switch to a catalogue that includes that minor. While students continue to follow the requirements of the catalogue of enrollment, changes in regulations, policies and procedures are immediate and supersede those in any prior catalogue.
The catalogue of enrollment may be changed by submitting a Change of Information Card to Degree Progress. Advisors can change a student's catalogue of enrollment through the STARS exception process. Refer to the “Academic Policies” section in the USC Catalogue [Undergraduate and Graduate Degree Requirements].
Change/Correction of Address - A change or correction to a student’s local address. Students may use OASIS, send an email requesting the address update (please send from your USC email account and provide your USC ID number) submit a Change of Address Form in John Hubbard Hall Lobby (JHH), or mail to submit requests. Mail and in-person requests must be accompanied by a valid form of identification (USC ID card or government-issued ID). Fax requests should be sent to (213) 740-5986. Mail requests should be sent to:
University of Southern California
Verification Department
JHH Building B10
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0912
Change Grade Option - Before the deadline to add classes, students may change the grade option for their registered courses on Web Registration. Students who wish to change from Pass/No Pass to Letter grade may do so before the 45 % deadline for the course. Please visit the Schedule of Classes and click the calendar icon next to the course in question to determine the deadline to change the grade option.
Class Level - A calculation of a student’s standing, based on academic course work completed or in progress. There are five (main) categories of class level: Undergraduate, Graduate, Law, Dental and Other.
The calculation of undergraduate class level is based on all USC units plus any transfer units available for degree credit. Undergraduate class levels include Freshman (0-31.5 units earned); Sophomore (32-63.5 units earned); Junior (64-95.5 units earned) and Senior (96 units earned or greater).
A graduate class level is composed of any course work attempted while enrolled in a master’s and/or doctoral degree program.
Law is composed of any course work attempted while enrolled in a juris doctor program.
Dental is composed of any course work attempted while enrolled in a dental school program.
Other is composed of any course work attempted while not admitted to a degree program, or course work not available for degree credit.
Combined Programs - A single-degree program that combines two majors, with an organized set of requirements from two academic units. Examples include: Linguistics/Psychology, Physics/Computer Science and Biomedical/Electrical Engineering. See Dual Degrees.
Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures (CAPP) - See CAPP.
Concurrent Registration - Two courses that must be taken at the same time (in the same semester). Such courses will be listed in the catalogue as requiring "concurrent enrollment." Do not confuse concurrent enrollment with corequisites. See Corequisite.
Conduct (Student) - Standards of behavior and academic rules and policies that all students are expected to meet or abide by while they are enrolled at USC. Regulations pertaining to the academic integrity review process are administered by the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards, a unit within the Division of Student Affairs. A complete description of the student conduct system can be found in SCampus under the heading "University Governance."
Core - See USC Core.
Corequisite - Corequisites are courses that must be taken at the same time as, or passed prior to, the designated course. The department offering the course may waive the corequisite.
Correction of Grade (COG) - A change made to a student’s course grade, when the initial grade assigned by the instructor was given in error. A student who believes his or her grade is incorrect must contact the instructor of the course. The Correction of Grade process is monitored by the Grades Department. If the Correction of Grade request is approved, the Grades Department assigns the corrected grade to the student's academic record.
See Grade Reports, Incomplete Grade (IN); Missing Grade (MG), Academic Review.
Course Descriptions - A basic summary or overview of an academic course. Students and alums can obtain course descriptions for USC courses from the USC Catalogue. USC keeps archive copies of the Catalogue dating back to 1995.
Course Numbering - USC's three-digit system for indicating the year level of a course:
000: preparatory courses (non-credit)
100 and 200: lower-division courses primarily for freshmen and sophomores
300 and 400: upper-division courses primarily for juniors and seniors (graduate credit available for 400-level courses)
500, 600, and 700: graduate.
See the "Classification and Numbering of Courses" section in the USC Catalogue, under "Academic Policies" and "Registration."
Credit/No Credit Registration (CR/NC) - Certain courses authorized by the University Curriculum Committee to be automatically graded as Credit/No Credit. This differs from the student's option to take a class as Pass/No Pass. A student who enrolls in course designated as Credit/No Credit in the USC Catalogue will receive either the Credit or No Credit grade mark, not a letter grade.
Cross-listing, Cross-listed Course - A course offered by one department and cross-listed in another department as a way of drawing the attention of students in the second department to that course. Students from the second department must register in the course via the offering department. Cross-listed courses count as major courses in both departments.
Cross-Registration (USC-UCLA) - As part of an academic resource sharing program, USC graduate students may take a portion of their program at UCLA. This cross-registration opportunity is available only for courses or seminars not offered at USC, and only to selected students. For further information about requirements, contact the Resource Sharing Coordinator in the USC Graduate School. Refer to the "Academic Policies" section in the USC Catalogue [Registration].