Planning your curriculum

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stevens Institute of Technology
1

<p>Freshmen: Get to know your curriculum. You should have an initial schedule at this point. Review it. Then go here </p>

<p><a href="http://www.stevens.edu/ses/undergrad/curriculum"&gt;http://www.stevens.edu/ses/undergrad/curriculum&lt;/a> Click on the tab that matches your major and see if the classes you have correspond to the recommendations. Do you have AP credits? See what classes you can bypass and what you still need. </p>

<p>You are the one ultimately responsible for your schedule. Do not depend on advisors and deans: some are good, but some are less than helpful. </p>

<p>It is up to you to know what classes you need/want and advocate for yourself when you meet your advisor during freshman orientation. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

2

<p>So what is the process if you’re not happy with your schedule? </p>

<p>In my child’s case, he does not have the math class he is required to have for his major. It has been very hard to find anyone to help explain how this happened or how to correct it. Everyone says to just wait until he meets with his advisor, but that meeting is at the end of the day next Friday, so I imagine it will be too late to change it before classes start on Monday morning.</p>

<p>I hate the idea that I just wrote the largest check of my life for his first semester of college, and now it appears he is going to be starting his first day of college with a schedule that he doesn’t feel good about. </p>

3

<p>They like the student to meet with their advisor rather than do anything beforehand. </p>

<p>It will not be too late to change. The advisor should be able to get the correct math class in place. Even if there isn’t any room in the class (which doesn’t happen too often, except for the gym classes) one of the academic deans should be able to override and get him into the appropriate class.</p>

<p>I think everything will be fine. If your son tells you it isn’t, then I would get on the phone to the deans at undergraduate academics. I would recommend EC or RD over KT. see link <a href=“http://www.stevens.edu/provost/academics/undergraduate/index”>http://www.stevens.edu/provost/academics/undergraduate/index&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I agree: I am paying for private so that my sons can get the classes they need. I really don’t have patience if they tell me that a class that is needed for a major is ‘unavailable’. </p>

<p>In the meantime, don’t let it get you down. It is exciting to be going to college and I’m sure he will love Stevens. </p>

4

<p>btw, if you want to see what courses are available when, your son can go into his mystevens account. Look at ‘course selector’. It will show times for the class and how many spots are left out of the total available. It may make you feel better if you see that there are many spots open for his course. </p>

<p>I think the freshmen schedules were messed up this year for some reason. My older son did not have this problem. Hopefully they will be able to fix his schedule. If not, I would then call myself. </p>

<p>Here is another link for your son. If he is so inclined, he can try planning his schedule himself <a href=“http://web.stevens.edu/scheduler/”>http://web.stevens.edu/scheduler/&lt;/a&gt; look up his class and it will tell him what sections are still available. Click on the one you want. Double click on the box on the grid to save that choice. (likewise, double click to ‘undo’ the choice. it is just a planner. it is not actually changing his schedule) He can see how his ‘ideal schedule’ would look. </p>

<p>The advisor may not need this but it is good for your son to know ‘what is possible’ so that he can advocate for himself. For example the advisor may put him in a section that is early Friday morning. He might be able to say, “look, this is a better time for me”, if he has looked over his options and planned it himself. </p>

<p>Freshmen fall students do not make their own schedules but I don’t see why he can’t look things over and see what is available, in order to better communicate with his advisor during his appointment. </p>

<p>Good luck to your son!</p>

5

<p>FYI, the Dean of Engineering discourages engineering students from taking AP credits for core classes (e.g. Calc, physics, chem). The reasons given are that these courses serve as the foundation of your degree, the Stevens methodology carries through to other classes, and also that Stevens professors are generally much better than HS teachers.</p>

<p>My 2018 was automatically given credit for at least half a dozen APs. He’s trying to decide how to proceed.</p>

6

<p>My son wasn’t given that advice. As an engineering student he used all of his AP credits toward his schedule and he is doing fabulously. </p>

<p>They do advise you on which math to take (this comes in a summer email), based on your AP score, your performance on the summer Stevens math test, and generally, how confident you feel about your math abilities. I think they give good suggestions on which Calc to take, based on those factors. </p>

<p>I can’t see giving up 8 credits worth of AP Chem, <em>maybe</em> if you are a Chem E major, and even then, I would discuss it with an advisor if there was a doubt. </p>

<p>My comments were made for all students rather than just engineers. Every student is different, with different strengths, high school history, and motivation. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t say that, “Stevens professors are generally much better” than HS teachers. In all schools, there are good professors and less effective professors. ymmv</p>

<p>Hopefully your son will feel more confident after speaking with his academic advisor this week.</p>

7

<p>I am going to comment further on the statement: </p>

<p>Posted by Fast505 : “FYI, the Dean of Engineering discourages engineering students from taking AP credits for core classes (e.g. Calc, physics, chem). The reasons given are that these courses serve as the foundation of your degree, the Stevens methodology carries through to other classes, and also that Stevens professors are generally much better than HS teachers.”</p>

<p>Alert! **Students do not have to take AP courses. It is optional. The benefit is that you may be able to skip over the classes in college that you have apparently mastered in high school. </p>

<p>AP classes are hard. Getting a 4 or 5 on the exam is hard. It means you have paid attention in class, and most likely earned As and A+s in these classes. Then you pay $80 or so to take each test, and an impartial scorer determines if you have mastered this course or not.</p>

<p>Why would you not want to skip over those classes if the college allows it?</p>

<p>If Stevens feels that AP courses do not show that a student has been adequately instructed in a course, <em>they should not accept AP credit for that course</em>. Full stop. They should not say, “oh yeah, you scored a 5 on AP Chem, and we accept that in lieu of you taking Chem and lab for 2 semesters at Stevens, but you know what? We think you should take Chem and lab 1 & 2 anyway”. What kind of bull is that? </p>

<p>I would start thinking about what kind of benefit it is to Stevens for a student to get a 5 on an AP, and then retake the class at Stevens. </p>

<p>Too many times, I have heard my sons’ friends complain about having to spend an extra semester or 2 at college because they didn’t have enough credits to graduate in their major, or they couldn’t get the classes they wanted at the time, or they weren’t advised on prerequisites, etc etc etc. </p>

<p>This is why I am telling students to get familiar with the requirements of their curriculum and advocate for themselves. Colleges don’t care if you need another semester (or two!) to graduate. I can see that it might even be beneficial for a college to delay your graduation. </p>

<p>Do what you want, but think for yourself and don’t let other people tell you what ‘they think’ you should do. </p>

8

<p>Thanks for the advice. I will keep my fingers crossed that his advisor can fix his schedule and get him in the correct math class. My main concern is that this will cause issues down the road (e.g. he won’t have the pre-requisites he needs to take other required classes on the correct timing.) And I don;t want him needing an extra semester of college because he didn’t take the right math class his first semester!</p>

9

<p>So, my son’s advisor agreed he should be moved to the required Math class for his major and wrote him a slip approving the change. My son went to the Registrar’s office to make the change, but there was not an open section that fit in his schedule, so they scheduled him in a section that conflicts with an Engineering Lab that he is also required to take.</p>

<p>I am perplexed and frustrated that they would hand a kid a new schedule with an obvious conflict at 4:30 pm on Friday the week before classes start? </p>

<p>Will someone be addressing the conflicts on his schedule? In the meantime, which class is he supposed to attend? Any suggestions as to how he should proceed?</p>

<p>Also - can someone explain the difference between Calculus Lecture and Calculus Recitation? His Calculus class meets 5x per week, and 3 of the days are Lecture and 2 are Recitation. (And it’s the Recitation portion of the class that is causing a conflict.)</p>

10

<p>My son met with his advisor who also believed that retaking calculus was the proper course of action for engineering majors. Coincidentally, this is also the opinion of other professors at Stevens that I spoke with. My son had a 4 on Calc BC test - so good but not “mastered”. Either way, it was still the student’s decision whether to take the AP credit or not. If he was going into a science major that wasn’t heavy on math then I’d recommend taking the calc AP credit. In this case, I think it’s the right decision. So, I think the school is doing it the right way - accept the credit but defer to the student.</p>

11

<p>Fresh2014 did you get your answer? Recitations are review classes usually with a grad student. They generally don’t cover any new material, just review what was taught in a large lecture class in a more intimate setting.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the explanation on what Recitation is. I’m still unclear as to why they would put him in a Recitation that conflicts with another class. </p>

13

<p>Scheduling is always a stressful time. </p>

<p>I am surprised that all engineering advisors/professors seem to be recommending that everyone (??) retake Calc 1? I know they give you guidelines about math, but it seems to be a very individual course of action. As I said before, no student is the same. </p>

<p>Before my son entered Stevens, I was also concerned about which math he should take (because of that email or letter that they send in the summer). However, after personally talking to one of the academic deans, I was assured that Calc 2 was where he should be, and he had absolutely no problems. He had a 5 on AP; a 4 might be a case for retaking Calc 1.</p>

<p>In regards to scheduling conflicts: Has your son checked his myStevens account today? I know that my son had a scheduling conflict and added a class on Friday, but it was not corrected on his schedule until yesterday afternoon. They may be working overtime to work out scheduling conflicts. </p>

<p>If you are still seeing a conflict today, then he may need to contact his advisor again (I would do it in person since it needs immediate attention) or go to the office of the academic deans if the advisor cannot be reached. If a section is closed, and he needs it, they may be able to override it and let him in the class. This may have already been done, so check his schedule now.</p>

<p>Btw Calc is usually 3 lecture days and 2 recitation days (where they review homework and answer questions). The lectures and the recitations are booked independently and so there are many combinations available. </p>

14

<p>To answer this specifically: “Will someone be addressing the conflicts on his schedule? In the meantime, which class is he supposed to attend? Any suggestions as to how he should proceed?”</p>

<p>Yes, someone should be addressing this conflict, if it has not been resolved already, but it is up to the student to follow up with someone: his advisor, or the academic deans. I would tell him to attend the Engineering lab and speak to the calc recitation teacher at some point to let he/she know what is going on.</p>

<p>This should be resolved soon, but keep on top of it. They won’t let him continue with a schedule that has conflicts.</p>

<p>Also: your son or daughter has been assigned a peer mentor. This is a student who has volunteered to help/support new students. He may want to send an email to them for advice on who to talk to first. </p>

15

<p>If you have questions, Jannine in the Registrar’s office is very helpful and nice. 201 216 8376</p>

<p>But like I said, have him check his schedule again. My son had a conflict that was corrected without him doing anything. He went to his advisor expecting to work out the problem and it had already been fixed.</p>

16

<p>Thanks for the response. He checked his schedule on-line just now and the conflict is still there. It’s actually called out at the bottom of the schedule as a course with a conflict. </p>

<p>I just wish someone had listened to me a week ago when I asked them to put him in correct Math class for his major. At that time, there were plenty of open spots at multiple times that would have fit into his schedule. Now, all 4 sections of the class that would fit his schedule are Full/Closed.</p>

<p>Fortunately, this has been our only issue. Move-in went great. Pre-orientation was great. He’s very happy with his dorm room and roommate. So I suppose I should count my blessings! </p>

17

<p>I would definitely have him go to academic advising tomorrow and speak to one of the academic deans. Have him bring a list of the sections that would fit his schedule. </p>

<p>They should be able to fix it for him as he has spoken to his advisor and his advisor has approved the change. They may need to get one of the deans to sign off on it if he needs to get into a class that is currently full.</p>

18

<p>Thanks - that’s what I’ll tell him to do.</p>

19

<p>I was looking very closely at my son’s schedule and now I have another question:</p>

<p>Based on the links in one of the earlier posts, it appears that a 1st term Engineering student should be taking BOTH MA121 and MA122. My son’s schedule only lists MA121. Is that an issue? </p>

<p>When I go to the online list of course sections though, it shows that MA121 is pre-requesite for MA122, so I’m wondering if it’s possible that a student take both of these courses at the same time.</p>

20

<p>It is probably MA121 first half of the semester and then MA122 second half of the semester.</p>

<p>Is the MA 122 showing at the bottom of the schedule as a conflict? If so, it may be that he will be taking MA122 second half of the semester in the same time period as his MA121. So it shows as a conflict, even though it’s not.</p>

<p>And it may be that only his recitation is conflicting. He should confirm with his advisor or a dean if he is unsure. They may have corrected the conflict so have him check his schedule again on myStevens. </p>

<p>Scheduling is not always this rocky. My older son never had any problems working out his schedule with his advisor. I think there was some kind of scheduling glitch this year, and there were many more freshmen admitted this year, which I think compounded the problem. Everyone I spoke to at move-in day had some kind of scheduling problem. </p>