Undergraduate Academic Policies & Procedures

Students can view their academic progress in APAS.  

All information, except for recommendation letters which you have waived the right to view and parents’ financial information (most commonly maintained in the financial aid office), is public to you as a student. 

The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of education records; to establish the right of students to inspect and review their education records; and to provide guidelines for the correction of inaccurate and misleading data through informal and formal hearings. This means that, while your student file is available for you to review, it is not available for any third party, including parents, to review without your express consent. You may allow parents or other guests access to your student records by completing a Parent/Guest Access form. 

Registration

To avoid a late fee, you must register for at least one course before the first day of classes. Provided you have registered for at least one course by the start of the term, you are able to make changes to your registration through midnight on the second Monday after classes have begun. Any registration changes after this day will require School of Music and College approval. Registration of 13 credits is required to maintain full-time status.

Meet with a School of Music Undergraduate Advisor. You must meet a SOM Undergraduate Advisor every semester before registering for classes to obtain course permission. Before making an appointment, you should first have an idea of the courses that you would like to take. The course offerings for all departments on campus can be found using either the Class Search or Schedule Builder in the Academics tab of MyU.

Register for courses through the MyU website. 

Registration Holds

If a hold is placed on your record, you may not register until the hold is cleared. Holds may be placed on students’ records for financial indebtedness to the University or for disciplinary or scholastic reasons. In most instances, you will be notified by the department or office authorizing the hold when it is placed on your record. Notice of any holds, including the name of the department or office where it may be cleared, is available online at your MyU page.

Changing Your Registration Within the Designated Drop/Add Period

If you need to make a change to your registration before the petition deadline, you must get new electronic registration permission for ALL courses being added. The course information (Class Number, Subject, Course Number, and Section) must be written down on a signed Registration Cancel/Add form. Once the advisor’s/instructor’s signatures are obtained and the form is submitted to Room 100, new permission numbers may be entered for the new courses. 

Changing Registration After the Drop/Add Period

1. If you want to add a class after the University’s registration deadline and feel that your situation warrants review by the CLA Scholastic Committee, you first must confer with the instructor of the class and obtain his/her approval to add the course.

   • Your discussion with the instructor should include how the delayed entry into his/her class could affect you academically, how your late registration will affect other students, and any other factors unique to the course and your situation. 

   • Complete the “Undergraduate Policy (Undergraduate and Professional Programs)" form and turn it into Room 100 to obtain your advisor’s and the Director of Undergraduate Studies’ signatures. The petition form is available online under “Registration”. 

   • The completed form must include the circumstances that prevented you from registering during the University's official registration period and any other circumstances surrounding your situation that you feel argue for an exception in your case. 

   • Submit your signed form to your college advising office. 

   • The CLA Scholastic Committee will review your documents and make every effort to inform you of its decision within ten (10) working days. The committee's decision is final.

   • If an exception is granted, the CLA office will enter the appropriate registration approval codes into the University's registration database. It is then your responsibility to register.

   • Register. You may register either in person at any of the Student Services Centers or at the MyU website.

 If you want to drop a class after the University’s registration deadline and feel that your situation warrants review by the CLA Scholastic Committee, you must confer with your music advisor and the instructor of the class and obtain their approval to cancel. Please note that dropping a course after the registration deadline may give you a “W” grade on your transcript for that course in that semester.

Your discussion with your advisor should include how canceling the class could affect your degree progress and other factors unique to the course and to your situation. 

Complete the “Undergraduate Policy (Undergraduate and Professional Programs)" form and obtain your advisor’s and the Director of Undergraduate Studies’ signatures. The petition form is available online under “Registration”. 

The completed form must include the circumstances that prevented you from dropping the course during the official registration period and any other circumstances surrounding your situation that you feel argue for an exception. 

Submit your signed form to your college advising office. 

The CLA Scholastic Committee will review your documentation and make every effort to inform you of its decision within ten (10) working days. The committee's decision is final.

If an exception is granted in your case, the CLA office will place the appropriate approval codes on the registration system. It is then your responsibility to make the changes to your registration.

If you want to simultaneously drop and add classes after the University’s registration deadline and feel that your situation warrants review by the CLA Scholastic Committee, you should follow the instructions above for adding and canceling a class, using separate forms for each action.

The University of Minnesota employs two distinct grading systems on each campus, A-B-C-D-F (with pluses and minuses) and S-N. (There is no A+ nor D- permitted in this system.)

The definitions of these grades are as follows:

A - achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements.

B - achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements.

C - achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect.

D - achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements.

S - achievement that is satisfactory, which is equivalent to a C- or better

F (or N) - Represents failure (or no credit) and signifies that the work was either (1) completed but at a level of achievement that is not worthy of credit or (2) was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and the student that the student would be awarded an I (see also I).

I - (Incomplete) Assigned at the discretion of the instructor when, due to extraordinary circumstances, a student is prevented from completing the work of the course on time. Requires a written agreement between instructor and student.

Music majors must take all courses required in the major on the A-F grading system, and must earn a grade of C- or better in all courses required in the major in order to count those courses toward graduation requirements. 

Academic integrity is essential to a positive teaching and learning environment. All students enrolled in University courses are expected to complete coursework responsibilities with fairness and honesty. Failure to do so by seeking unfair advantage over others or misrepresenting someone else’s work as your own, can result in disciplinary action. The University Student Conduct Code defines scholastic dishonesty as follows:

Scholastic Dishonesty: Scholastic dishonesty means plagiarism; cheating on assignments or examinations; engaging in unauthorized collaboration on academic work; taking, acquiring, or using course materials without faculty permission; submitting false or incomplete records of academic achievement; acting alone or in cooperation with another to falsify records or to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsement; altering, forging, misrepresenting, or misusing a University academic record; or fabricating or falsifying data, research procedures, or data analysis. 

For more information regarding academic integrity and scholastic dishonesty, please consult the Office for Community Standards.

It is the policy of the Theory division that, once a student either: a) enrolls in any of the core theory and/or ear-training courses, or b) takes one of the placement tests (Basic Skills Exam, Theory I-II Exam or Freshman Placement Exam) said student may progress through the core (Mus 1501/1511, Mus 1502/1512) only by enrolling in and passing courses in the correct order (including respecting the co-requisite requirements for theory and ear-training courses outlined below).

Students who have not taken a placement exam and have enrolled only in ear-training courses may still opt to test out of written theory core courses. Likewise, students who have not taken a placement exam and have enrolled only in written theory courses may still opt to test out of ear-training courses. In either case, students would test out by taking a placement exam at the regularly scheduled offerings for placement exams (during Welcome Week for Fall semester and during the first week of class for Spring semester). For more information about the placement exams (times, dates, and preparation materials), please see the placement exam page on the SOM Intranet. 

Students enrolled in the “theory core” sequence, defined as the MUS 1501/1511 and 1502/1512, must complete each course in a pairing with a grade of C- or better before moving on to the next concurrent pairing in the sequence. For example, if a student tests out of two semesters of written music theory (MUS 1501 and 1511), but only one semester of ear-training (MUS 1511), they must complete the second semester of ear-training (MUS 1512) before moving on to the third semester of music theory.

For students who entered the theory curriculum (MUS 1501/1511) in or after Fall 2022, you will complete core prerequisites in Theory and Ear-Training with the conclusion of MUS 1502/1512 (passing with a C-). 

From there, you may proceed to your choice of coursework: 

• MUS4571: Chromatic Harmony and Form in Western Art Music

• MUS4572: Theory and Analysis of Popular Music

• MUS4573: Theory and Analysis of Music After 1900

• MUS4574: Jazz Theory

In Academic Year 2025–2026, MUS 4571 and 4574 will be offered in the Fall. MUS 4572 and 4573 will be offered in the Spring. Each class will meet three times per week with the faculty instructor, and once per with TAs in recitation sections. 

It is the policy of the Musicology/Ethnomusicology division that the core courses in the music history curriculum (MUS 3601W, MUS 3602W, and MUS 3603W) must be taken and passed at the University of Minnesota. Exceptions allowing transfer credits may be granted on a case-by-case basis, subject to the approval of the musicology/ethnomusicology division.

Undergraduate students may report any grievances to the Director of Undergraduate Studies or a School of Music Undergraduate Advisor. In the event the problem cannot be resolved, or the student feels it has not been resolved to their satisfaction, students may report to the Director or to the Student Conflict Resolution Center.