To access past, current, and future academic calendars, please visit: https://registrar.northeastern.edu/group/calendar/.
Effective the 2025-2026 academic year, the glossary provides definitions for academic activities included on the academic calendar.
Class Sessions
- Full-Semester: Classes that run the entire 15-week academic term.
- Session A: Classes that run during the first half of the semester (7-week duration).
- Session B: Classes that run during the second half of the semester (7-week duration).
- Initial-Third: The first graduate-level 5-week modular session of the semester.
- Middle-Third: The second graduate level 5-week modular session of the semester.
- Final-Third: The third graduate level 5-week modular session of the semester.
University Closures
- Holidays: Official dates when the university observes public holidays and classes are not held.
- Fall Break: An official recess during the fall term when classes are not held, often in late November.
- Spring Break: An official recess during the spring term when classes are not held, often in early March.
Registration Periods
- Class Schedule Availability: Date when classes for a future term are published for preview.
- Registration Period: A designated period when specific groups (i.e., new students, continuing students, undergraduates) may register and modify their class schedule for a future term.
- Add/Drop Period: A designated period at the start of a class session when students can add or drop a class without academic penalty (i.e., transcript notation).
- Withdrawal Period: A designated period following the add/drop period when students may withdraw from a class while receiving a grade of "W" rather than a failing grade.
Other Activities
- I Am Here: Student check-in process at the beginning of each class session to confirm intent to enroll through their Student Hub account. Failure to complete this process results in class enrollments being dropped. Applies to each class session (i.e., full-semester, middle-third, second-half, final-third).
- Last day of full-semester classes without final exams: The final day of instruction for classes that do not administer an on-ground final exam. The 15th week of academic engagement (i.e., take-home final exam, class time) is indicated in the class syllabus.
- Final Exam Period: A designated period at the end of the term reserved for administering final exams.
- Faculty Grade Deadline: The date by which faculty must submit final grades for a given class session, generally two days after the end of a class session by 2:00 p.m. ET.
- Degree Conferral: The official awarding of degrees at the end of an academic term.
- Mid-Semester Degree Conferral: The awarding of degrees at the midpoint of an academic term, generally for students completing requirements outside the standard calendar. By exception only.