This page holds answers to frequently asked questions about advising and class enrollment. I will try to update it as frequently as possible.
All major and minor students are assigned an advisor, and it is their job to help you make sure you are signing up for the right classes to help you meet your graduation goals. To be sure you check in with us, the registrar has placed an advising hold on your account to prevent you from registering for classes without first consulting us. In most circumstances, only your advisor can release this hold. Please be sure to meet with your advisor well ahead of the date you are assigned to register for classes so that we can lift your hold.
After you declare a computer science major or minor, one of the current faculty members is randomly assigned as your academic advisor. To figure out who your advisor is, please log on to myuniverse and go to your student center. On the right side of the screen in a box marked "Advisor", you will see your academic advisor's name and contact information listed.
If you have never before met with your advisor, please email him or her to set up a time to meet a few weeks before you need to register for classes. Often, you can also stop by during open office hours. To get your advisor's contact information and office hours, please visit their website. Here is a list of computer science faculty with direct links to their personal websites.
Sometimes, if you have already met with your advisor, you can send them an email instead of meeting with them. (Note: Your particular advisor may have a different policy on this, so be sure to ask.) If it is ok for you to send them an email instead of meeting with them in person, be sure your email contains at least the following information:
This date changes each semester and is dependent on how many credits you have. To get your particular date, please log on to myuniverse and go to your student center. You will find a box on the right labeled "Enrollment Dates" that should have this information.
It is important that you meet with your advisor to clear your advising hold well before your enrollment date! You will also want to clear up any other holds you might have (such as a financial hold). To see what holds you have, go to your student center and look for a box on the right labeled "Holds".
Once your enrollment date comes around, enroll in classes right away! Don't make the mistake of waiting too long and not being able to add the class you need because it is already full. This happens to students every semester and is preventable by taking action early. You can enroll in classes through the student center.
The answer to this question is unique to your situation. In traditional fall and spring semesters, you will need a minimum of 12 credit hours to be considered a full-time student. Many students can handle taking 15 credit hours at a time, and a select few can handle taking 18 credit hours. (If you want to take more than 18 credit hours per semester, you must get special permission before registration.) The number of credit hours must be balanced with a number of factors, such as if you have a job, or if you are participating in extra curricular activities like sports or marching band that take up a significant amount of time. You also need to consider having enough time to yourself to not become overwhelmed and risk burn out.
Here is a rule of thumb: If you are signing up for a n credit hour course, the amount of hours per week you need to devote to that course should be n x 4. In other words, if you sign up for a 3 credit hour course, expect to spend around 12 hours per week on that course (3 hours in class, 9 hours reading the material, working on homework, studying, etc. outside of class). This formula might change depending on your familiarity with the class material and what is expected in the class.
This date changes every semester and is listed on the registrar's website. Go to the website, select "Calendars" on the left menu, and click "Dates to Observe". The last day to drop without an F grade should be listed.