Fall 2009 Freshman Students

The College of Engineering highly encourages and recommends that all new students attend SOAR (Student, Orientation, Advising and Registration). We have worked hard to coordinate an event that will prepare you for your first quarter at Cal Poly. Students who attend SOAR will be given their assigned Fall 2009 class schedule during their SOAR day. For more information about SOAR please refer to http://www.studentlife.calpoly.edu/ori/soar/. For students who are unable to attend SOAR please read the following carefully:

Getting Started

You will need access to the following materials to prepare for your first quarter:

• A current Cal Poly Catalog (available on-line at http://www.calpoly.edu/~acadprog/) that provides a list of the required courses for your major, course descriptions including prerequisites, and university academic policies.
• Your curriculum sheet and flow chart (you can access these materials on-line at http://www.eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/). Note: You will be following the 09-11 catalog.
• Advanced Placement test scores (see http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_records/Degree_Progress/other_ac_credit.htm to determine how your AP Credit counts for courses at Cal Poly).
• As a high school student, you may have taken courses at a California Community College for credit. To find out how the classes will count at Cal Poly, you can view articulation agreements between your California Community College and Cal Poly on www.assist.org. For information on how to use www.assist.org please read http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_records/Degree_Progress/Assist_help.pdf.
• PASS (Plan a Student Schedule) provides information on registration, the student planning calendar, current GE courses, instructions for registering, and a schedule of courses offered. Before your scheduled registration time, it is important that you use PASS which is available from the "Registration & Enrollment" tab on the www.my.calpoly.edu portal or at www.pass.calpoly.edu.
• Cal Poly Registration (CPReg) available through the "Registration & Enrollment" tab on the www.my.calpoly.edu portal. You will use CPReg to register for your courses. For questions regarding how to register please watch the demo on your my.calpoly.edu portal and carefully read http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_records/registration/add_dropps2.html.

Things to Know

Registration

All new freshman students will automatically be placed in courses for Fall Quarter. Those attending SOAR will receive their schedule during SOAR. Students unable to attend SOAR will receive information about how to find their Fall Schedule during summer. Reminder: Check your www.my.calpoly.edu portal for updates from Cal Poly.

STUDENTS WILL BE PLACED IN 12-16 UNITS. ALL STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE 15-17 UNITS DURING THEIR FIRST QUARTER, IN ORDER TO GRADUATE ON TIME. STUDENTS WHO ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY PLACED IN 15-17 UNITS SHOULD ADD ONE MORE COURSE TO THEIR SCHEDULE.

What Course Should I Add to my Fall Schedule?

Students looking for one more course should look into taking a General Education course under Area D1, D2, D3, D4, or C3. Only courses listed at http://ge.calpoly.edu will count for GE credit. GE courses can also be found on PASS (Plan a Student Schedule).

Students adding a course (to total a maximum of 16 units) to their schedule will need to do so during their assigned registration rotation found at http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_records/registration/RegistrationRotations2098_newstu.html.

Hint: If adding a course will bring your course load to more than 16 units then you will need to wait until August 24th during "Open Enrollment" to register for the remaining course(s).

For more information about registration please refer to http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_records/registration/index.html.

Will I be Given a Schedule for Future Quarters?

NO! This is why it is very important that you familiarize yourself with PASS, CPreg (see above) and your flowchart. You will have to register yourself for courses during future quarters! Use your flowchart to find what courses you will be eligible to take in the Winter Quarter and always keep in mind the "Academic Expectations" as outlined below. Pay close attention to pre-requisites and be flexible with your schedule. You will be competing with all students for courses, so creating a schedule and several alternate schedules in advance will save you time on the day of registration. For detailed information about registration make sure you read http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_records/registration/index.html thoroughly. Keep in mind that campus offices are VERY busy during registration time, be proactive and seek help in advance!

Academic Expectations (Minimum Progress)

In the Cal Poly Catalog, the degree requirements are separated into four categories: major, support, general education, and free electives.

College of Engineering students are required to meet these minimum academic expectations in order to remain in satisfactory administrative standing, student’s schedules are checked every quarter to verify these requirements are met:

• Complete with passing grades a minimum of 45 degree applicable units per academic year (an academic year runs from summer through spring) in order to stay on track for a timely graduation. Degree applicable units are those units required for your major as outlined on your curriculum sheet.
• Complete 15+ degree applicable units per quarter (with the requisite number of major/support units) in order to stay on track for graduation.
• Enroll and complete (with passing grades) a minimum of 6 units of degree applicable major and/or support coursework each quarter with no more than 4 units that are not degree applicable.
• Complete your lower-division math and science courses as early as possible. Engineering students are expected to be enrolled in a math course each quarter until the sequence is completed.

Please refer to http://www.eadvise.calpoly.edu/policy/probation.php for additional progress information.

To determine which courses are major, support, general education, and free electives, you should refer to the Cal Poly Catalog or the major curriculum sheet. Students who keep track of their progress on the curriculum sheets typically do not have any problems determining which courses are major courses, support courses, general education courses, and free electives courses.

Curriculum Sheets

Curriculum sheets contain all the courses you need to complete in order to graduate. These sheets are handy for monitoring your progress especially when used with your flow chart. You can download your curriculum sheet at http://www.eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/.

Flow Charts

You will use this tool as a guide to determine what classes to take, in what order, and how to follow prerequisites. You can download your flowchart at http://www.eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/.

Course Offerings

The list of course offerings is a tentative schedule of what classes your department plans to offer over the next academic year. Refer to http://www.eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/ for tentative course offerings by major.

United States Cultural Pluralism (USCP)

Refer to http://www.catalog.calpoly.edu/2009pubcat/uscp.pdf for a complete description of what this requirement encompasses and a list of Cal Poly GE courses that fulfill this requirement. USCP courses are also designated on PASS. They are also in parentheses next to the title of the courses listed in the GE Requirements Chart at http://ge.calpoly.edu.

Where Can I Get Advice?

The Engineering Advising Center

If you have specific questions, you can call the Engineering Advising Center at 805-756-1461 or email us at eadvise@calpoly.edu. The Engineering Advising Center may not be open during the SOAR (Student, Orientation, Advising and Registration) days: July 29th, 30th, August 4th, 5th, 11th, 12th, 14th, and 17th. For more information about the Advising Center please refer to our website, www.eadvise.calpoly.edu.

CENG Faculty Advisors

• Technical advice
• Course scheduling
• Course content questions
• Career planning
• Graduate schools
• Coops

Please call your department office to determine who your faculty advisor is.