University of Wisconsin–Madison

Session Codes and Curricular Weeks

The main 15-week A1 (Regular) session in the fall and spring terms begins on the first day of instruction as determined by the Faculty Senate in the Academic Calendar.

All other sessions are named with a three-letter code (e.g., CHE) representing the schedule and duration of the session, where A = 1; B = 2; C = 3; etc. Sessions that begin before the official first week of term use X = 3 weeks before (-3); Y = 2 weeks before (-2); and Z = 1 week before (-1):

  • begins in week of term: 3 (C)
  • spans across # of weeks: 8 (H)
  • weeks of instruction: 5 (E).

Note: Spring Recess week is not counted as a week of instruction, but is counted in the spans-across-#-weeks total.

Note: In summer, codes are not tailored to reflect the weeks of instruction. For example, if a summer class begins week one, spans three weeks, but only has two weeks of instruction, it should use ACC. We would not build ACB.

*Session codes specific to a student career, such as MEDS or GRAD, are not shown below but are available in SIS.

Students looking for enrollment deadline information should refer to the Dates & Deadlines page or the Session Dates page for session-specific deadlines.

Resources

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