Academic Advisement Plan

 

The goal of academic advising at Midwestern Career College is to support students in achieving their academic objectives. The Student Services Department serves as the primary point of contact, working closely with faculty, staff, and other resources to promote student success.

Each campus has a designated representative to assist with academic advising needs:

• 203 N LaSalle: Dr. Shirley Beaver, Academic Manager – sbeaver@mccollege.edu
• 100 S Wacker & Naperville Campuses: Joyce Gaa, Associate Director of Academic Operations – jgaa@mccollege.edu
• Evergreen Park Campus: Jennifer Green, Academic Manager – jgreen@mccollege.edu
• Ohio Campuses: Dr. James Holland, Campus Advisor – jholland@mccollege.edu

Students are encouraged to reach out to their respective representatives for any academic advising needs.

Academic Policies

 

Lockstep Programs 

MCC’s Allied Health associate-level and certificate-level programs and AAS in Information Technology program are lockstep academic programs.  It means that all courses within the program and the course sequence and schedule within each term of the program are pre-determined by the college. In lockstep programs: 

• All program courses are required unless the student receives transfer credit, or the class is noted as elective or optional in the catalog.
• Because all courses are required and the course sequence is predetermined, students enrolled in the program generally cannot add or drop individual courses during their program’s add/drop period.
• Students who decide to cease enrollment and formally request to withdraw from the program after the term has started, can drop all of their courses in the term. The grade for each of the dropped courses reflected on the final transcript will be determined based on the timing of the withdrawal request in accordance with the Add/Drop Policy.
• Students are generally required to pass all core courses in the term to move forward in the program.
• Students who fail any of the core program courses must contact their Program Director or Academic Dean to determine whether they can continue to remain enrolled in the program.

Cohort programs 

In addition to being lockstep, MCC’s Allied Health certificate-level programs are cohort academic programs. A cohort program is one in which the students within that cohort all start and finish at the same time. In a cohort program, all students progress through the program together as a group, at the same pace. In cohort programs:

• All program courses are required unless the student receives transfer credit, or the class is noted as elective or optional in the catalog.
• Because all courses are required and the course sequence is predetermined, students cannot add or drop individual courses during their program’s add/drop period.
• Students who decide to cease enrollment and formally request to withdraw from the program after the term has started, can drop all of their courses in the term. The grade for each of the dropped courses reflected on the final transcript will be determined based on the timing of the withdrawal request in accordance with the Add/Drop Policy.
• Students are generally required to pass all the courses in the term to move forward in the program with their cohort;
• Students who fail any of the courses within the term will be formally withdrawn from their program and will be required to re-enroll with a different cohort if they would like to continue in the program.

Add/Drop Period

Add/Drop period is the period at the beginning of each term when students can sign up for new courses and drop courses for which they were previously registered, if adding and dropping individual courses is allowed by their program of study. Adding and dropping individual courses is not allowed in lockstep and/or cohort-based programs.

Unless noted otherwise in the program’s academic calendar, Add/Drop period is five (5) calendar days from the start of each term or, for the programs offered in modules, five (5) calendar days from the start of each module within the term. The deadline for adding courses ensures that students will not join a course too late in the term to complete it successfully.

Add/Drop period is also the period when students who are withdrawing from their program after starting the term, can drop all of their courses without receiving F/FD grades on their permanent record/transcript. The classes the student has not started will be removed from the student’s record.

When a student is withdrawn from the program after starting the term:

• If a student requests to withdraw from the program within the add/drop period, the student will receive a grade of WD on the transcript for all the courses that they have started but have not completed in the term.
• If a student requests to withdraw from the program after the add/drop period, the student will receive a grade of FD on the transcript for all the courses that they have started but have not completed in the term.
• Students who cease attendance during the term without formally withdrawing from the program will be administratively withdrawn according to the college’s withdrawal policy and will receive a grade of FD on the transcript for all the courses that they have started but have not completed in the term.

Add/Drop Period policy does not determine tuition charged to the student’s account in case of withdrawal from the program after starting the term. Tuition charges are determined by the Tuition Refund Policy.

 

At-Risk Report Process

The Academics Department generates a weekly "at-risk" report to identify students with running grades below 70%. Students flagged in the report will be contacted by the Program Director or the Student Services Department to conduct a wellness check and assess the reasons for their low performance.

The Student Services Department will act as the primary point of contact, coordinating with both the student and their instructor to arrange additional support services, such as tutoring, if necessary.

Tutoring Form is required to be completed for any tutoring requests