Registrar's Office COURSE PLACEMENT
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REQUIRED: WRITING DIRECTED SELF-PLACEMENT
The first step to success in college is being in courses where you can thrive.
To help us place you in the right courses, Hartwick requires new students to complete the Directed Self-Placement questionnaire for the Writing Program.
The Hartwick College Writing Program strongly believes in student agency and that students are in the best position to know which writing courses can best support them during their first year of college. Instead of using timed, standardized exams to place students, the Writing Program uses a more personalized process known as Directed Self-Placement in which we invite incoming students to reflect on past and current writing and reading skills and practices. The Writing Program will use your questionnaire responses, along with other relevant information from your academic history, to recommend an appropriate first-year writing course for you.
The Directed Self-Placement Form for Writing is available on your student portal.
Please complete your placement form by June 1, 2025.
If you need assistance with your login credentials, please contact the Admissions Office at [email protected]. If you have any questions about whether credits you’ve earned at another college will count toward the first-year writing requirement, please contact the Office of the Registrar at [email protected]. If you have any other questions about the Directed Self-Placement process or wish to discuss your first-year writing placement, please email Dr. James Cochran, the Director of the Writing Program and Writing Center, at [email protected].
Additional Course Placement Considerations
College offers great opportunities for enhancing foreign language skills. All students prior to enrolling at Hartwick should complete the online placement in the language they wish to study to assist us in planning your courses. Also, be sure to indicate on your Course Planning Guide if you would like to continue studying the language you have had experience in or whether you prefer to branch out to start a new language. Click this link to set up your account:
Students with documented disabilities who require testing adjustments during placement exams should contact AccessAbility Services.
Some transfer students will not need to complete the Writing Placement Exam if they have earned a C or better in a college-level composition course from an accredited collegiate institution. See the full transfer credit policy (“Transfer Credit Policy for Writing Courses”) for more information.
Transfer credit from nationally and regionally accredited colleges is given for courses substantially similar to those offered at Hartwick College, completed with a grade of C or higher. For the purposes of Hartwick College’s Writing Competency Program, students who before entry have attained a grade of C or better in a college-level composition course offered at an accredited collegiate institution will receive college credit for ENGL-110 (“College Writing”). College-level composition courses taken as part of a dual-enrollment program qualify for this allowance. “AP” credit high school courses do not qualify for this allowance. (Note: those meeting this policy are excused from taking the Writing Placement Exam).