MEMORANDUM 

As the fall semester approaches, I invite you to examine the list of courses and the academic calendar that are accessible on this website.  The calendar contains information about critically important deadlines with both academic and financial implications.  Please study it carefully.

Registration

As the calendar indicates, online registration extends from May 18 through June 12 and again from August 10 through August 28. Instructions for online registration appear at the end of this memo. BRGSJS students are urged to avail themselves of this procedure.  We are in the process of enabling RIETS students, who had not been able to register online in the past, to do so, but this process is not yet complete.  Try it and see if it works.  If not, you will have to register in person.

In person registration for the fall semester will take place Wednesday, August 26, 9:30-3, 4:45-5:30, Thursday, August 27 & Monday, August 31, 9:30-5:30.  The registration process starts in the BRGSJS office (206 Belfer Hall). Those students who cannot register online or at the specified time in person should call Ms. Washington at (212) 960-5253 during regular office hours to make alternate arrangements.

Continuous Record

Students should be aware that they must have a continuous record at BRGSJS. MA students who have completed the course work but are making up assignments and/or studying for the comprehensive examinations, or students who wish to take a leave of absence, must register in the appropriate category during the regular registration period.

Comprehensive Written Examinations for the MA Degree

Please note the July 29 deadline for applying for the Comprehensive Examination for the September 2009 degree to be taken on September 16 as well as the October 29 deadline for applying for the Comprehensive Examination for the January 2010 degree to be taken on December 16.

To take the examination a student must be an active student.  In the case of the September examination, this requirement can also be fulfilled by active status in the previous, spring semester.  In addition, the student must have completed all the courses for the MA or, in the case of the December examination, be in the process of completing them during the fall semester.  Students taking 5000 level courses during the fall that are required in their concentration must receive special permission from the office of the Dean to take the December examination; for the Bible concentration, such permission will generally not be granted.  Students with an “Incomplete” on their record are not eligible to take the examination unless they have submitted the work necessary to remove that "Incomplete."

Graduation

Students who expect to graduate in September 2009 must file an application for the degree by July 29.  Students who expect to graduate in January 2010 must file an application for the degree by October 29. They should also check with the office to make sure that their academic record is in order. They must make sure that the final transcript documenting their undergraduate degree is on file in order for them to graduate.

Incompletes

The work for a given semester should normally be completed by the end of that semester, and instructors may require that this procedure be followed.  With the instructor's permission, students may take up to an additional semester and a summer to complete their work.  Late work (two copies) may be filed with the BRGSJS office for transmission to the instructor.  If the work is given directly to the instructor, a copy must nevertheless be filed with the office by the appropriate deadline.  Fellowships will not be renewed and scholarships will not be granted if work is not submitted within this time frame. Recipients of scholarships who do not complete courses by the deadline and have not received an extension from the Dean in writing because of extraordinary circumstances will be liable to full payment for the courses in question.  After the deadline, grades of Incomplete will be converted to F.

Withdrawal from courses

Students who wish to withdraw from a course must file the appropriate form at the Revel office. If the form is submitted by Thursday, September 17, the course will not appear on the student's record.  If it is submitted after this date but before Wednesday, November 11, it will appear on the student's record with a “ W ”.  University policy requires students who drop a course after September 17 to pay tuition for the course.  Consequently, those who have already paid for it will not be eligible for a refund.  Those who were granted a tuition scholarship for it will be billed.

Wednesday, November 11 is the last day to drop a course.  Students who do not file the appropriate form by that date must complete work in the course by the  deadline(s) outlined in the section on Incompletes.  Failure to do so will result in a grade of "F".

Tuition Scholarships and Fellowships

Unless they have a scholarship and/or fellowship award letter that applies to the full 2009-2010 academic year, MA students wishing to receive an award for spring 2010 must submit an application by Monday, November 16. New applicants to the MA program must also file an application by November 16.  Late applications will be considered, but priority for financial assistance will be given to those who file by this date. The applications are available online and in the Revel office.

Doctoral Applications

Applications for admission to the PhD program as of Fall 2010, including applications for scholarships and fellowships, must be submitted by December 31, 2009.  Results of the verbal, quantitative, and analytical GRE must be reported to the school by this deadline.

Parking

Students who need parking arrangements should contact the Security Office at
(212) 960-5200 as soon as possible. Space is limited.

Apologia

As I look at the occasionally harsh formulations in this memo, which purportedly welcomes you to the fall semester at BRGSJS, I am reminded of a cartoon by the renowned political cartoonist Herblock, who wrote in an age that most students will not recall.  In response to a proposal that all immigrants be fingerprinted, he drew an immigration official sitting behind a desk with a big smile on his face and his hand extended to a new immigrant.  In the hand was an open inkpad.  The caption read, “Put ‘er there, pal!”

How do I rectify this rather mixed message?  My first reaction is inspired by the second chapter of the Greek textbook that I used as a YC student in the age of Herblock.  It followed the chapter on the alphabet and dealt with accents.  It began, as I recall all too distinctly, with a paragraph informing the reader that “a word with an acute accent on the ultimate syllable is called an oxytone, on the penultimate syllable—a paroxytone, on the antepenultimate syllable—a proparoxytone; a word with a circumflex accent on the ultimate syllable is a perispomenon, on the penultimate syllable—a properispomenon.”  Even these authors, who were, as the remainder of the book confirmed, among the stellar students of the Marquis de Sade, felt a bit uneasy about this paragraph, and so they tried to make the student-reader feel better with a reassuring concluding sentence.  The best they could do was the following: “These terms, though formidable, will save much laborious periphrasis.”

I am, then, tempted to conclude this memo by saying, “These instructions, deadlines, and dire warnings, though intimidating, will forfend much existential angst.”

Part of me, however, doubts that this is a very good idea, and so I can only say that I and the BRGSJS faculty and staff genuinely welcome you as you begin or continue your studies here.  Put ‘er there, pal!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WEB REGISTRATION

Go to www.yu.edu/myyu

Click on “Faculty, Students and Staff”

Your User ID will begin with the number “8” or “9”.

Your PIN is:
If this is your first time logging on: you should have received an email with your new random pin.  You will be prompted to change your PIN once you access the system. The PIN will need to be 6 numbers. You can not use 123456 or 111111 as a PIN.  If you did not receive an email – please feel free to contact Bannerweb@yu.edu

If you have previously logged on: use whatever numbers you chose your first time logging on.

If you need a new pin: please follow the directions for resetting a pin and one will be emailed to you.

If you forgot your pin: but remember your security question follow those directions under Forgot Pin?

Click on “Student and Financial Aid.”
Click on “Registration.”
Click on “Add/Drop Classes.”
Choose Term

Proceed through the screens. Once you have entered all the CRNs, remember to click the “Submit Changes” button.

Have a GREAT semester!