For Olin students interested in cross-registering to Wellesley College, Babson College or Brandeis University:
Olin College participates in cross-registration with Babson College, Brandeis University and Wellesley College (BBW). This mini-consortium is referred to at Olin as BBOW.
Cross-registration is available for Olin students during the traditional fall and spring semesters. Students wishing to take part in an intersession or summer program at a BBW school may do so at their own expense if admitted to the program.
Olin College students (except first semester first-year students) may take Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences or elective courses at other schools with which we have cross-registration policy agreements. Generally, first semester first-year students are not eligible for cross-registration, unless Olin designates specific courses designed for the first semester experience. Students cannot substitute a cross-registered course at another institution for a required course that is routinely offered at Olin.
Taking a course at another school will count toward your total semester degree credit load at Olin. Students cannot exceed twenty (20) total credits in a given semester unless they receive permission from COSAP (Committee on Student Academic Progress).
Eligible Olin students are allowed to take a maximum of one course at each BBW school per semester. You may only have one active request per college at a time. If your initial request is not approved, then you may submit another request for that college. Taking private music lessons for credit counts as a class; you may not take an additional class at the same school unless that school requires a concurrent course.
If you are interested in taking a studio art class, Wellesley's Art department has set aside one seat per studio art class for Olin students.
Students taking courses at another school should be careful to follow all academic policies, deadlines, etc. related to the host school. Consult the calendar section on this website for dates of first day and last day of classes, breaks, and the final exam period. Deadlines are firm, and Babson professors will often deny students admission to their class if they have already missed more than one class meeting, so plan ahead and apply as early as possible. Cross-registered students who need to stay in their Olin dorm at a time when Olin classes are not in session should work with the Director of Residence Life to make arrangements.
Students may petition the CSTB (Course Substitution & Transfer Board) for permission to transfer credit from BBW classes to their Olin records, but such approval is not guaranteed. The list of BBW courses which have previously been evaluated and approved for credit at Olin can be found here. Please note - in some cases there are departmental approvals on the list; any class within some departments has a blanket approval for a specific color credit distribution. If a student enrolls in a class that is not on this list, they should submit a CSTB form via the registrar's office to request evaluation of the class for Olin credit.
Pass/Fail - Olin students must follow the rules of the host institution if they would like to be graded in a cross-registered class on a Pass/Fail basis. Babson - not all Babson classes offer pass/fail as an option; information on Grading Basis options for each Babson class is in Workday. Brandeis - does not permit cross-registered students to take any classes pass/fail. Wellesley - grading can be made pass/fail by emailing registrar@wellesley.edu by the appropriate deadline (see Wellesley's academic calendar).
More information regarding cross-registration can be found in the Course Catalog. Specific instructions for using the Cross-Registration feature of my.Olin can be found here.