The drop/add card may be used to make changes in registration until the end of the drop/add period. This period ends at 5:00 p.m. on the last day of classes in the first week for five-week courses and the second week for classes of 10 weeks or more. For anything other than a change from one section to another of a multiple section course, the signature of the instructor(s) involved and the adviser will be required. For a change of course section, only the instructor's signature will be required. However, a student registered for a course for which another section is offered for different credit must switch sections using the drop/add procedure. The adviser's signature is required.

Provided the 12 credit minimum is observed, 10-week non-seminar courses may be dropped until 5:00 p.m. on the last full day of classes of the term. Courses described as seminars may be dropped only with the instructor's permission (which may be withheld). Courses numbered 400 as well as those courses related to the senior integrative exercise may not be dropped. After the two-week drop/add deadline, a drop results in a grade notation "DRP" on the transcript and is identified as "course dropped after the normal drop/add period without penalty." A blue "late-drop" card is provided for this purpose, and both the instructor's and adviser's signatures are needed. Should an instructor believe that a student has missed too much of a course, the instructor can withhold permission to add a course.

No course may be dropped after 5:00 p.m. on the last full day of classes of the term, or after 5:00 p.m. of the day of the final class meeting for courses which are less than 10 weeks in length.

While a pattern of frequent use of this option may be interpreted by graduate schools and employers as an indication of inability to complete academic obligations, an occasional "DRP" notation on a transcript is no cause for concern. The Academic Standing Committee (ASC) regards the DRP as a valid elective option for a student in cases where a course cannot be completed for a variety of reasons as well as in cases where students have simply missed the registration deadline. Petitions to remove a DRP notation from the transcript are not usually granted.

Carleton College off-campus studies seminars may not be dropped.

See also change of course level, change of section, registration, senior integrative exercise.