Advising Frequently Asked Questions for ChE Undergraduates

In no particular order.

Last updated October 15, 2004

• When does advising occur?
• Advising week is held every quarter during the academic year for the upcoming quarter. You must see your advisor to get your DARS (Degree Audit Reporting System) report which contains your Registration Access Code (RAC).  The RAC changes from quarter to quarter, so the RAC listed on your previous DARS report will not be valid.  Most faculty post a sign-up sheet for advising during the week before advising week.  Make your advisor happy:  sign up AHEAD of time for an appointment, and then SHOW UP on time.  Make your advisor even happier:  come to the advising session having thought at least somewhat about what courses you will be taking next quarter.
• How often are ChE courses offered in a single year?
  • Most ChE courses are offered once per year. If you miss the offering of a course, you will have to wait until the following year. However, some courses are offered twice per year. ChE 101 is offered in both spring and fall quarters. CHE 200, CHE 201 CHE 331, and CHE 418, may, from time to time, be offered during the summer, but this is not guaranteed and should not be counted on when formulating a schedule.
• How do I use manual registration?
• Obtain a pink slip from the departmental secretary (Stocker 172). Fill it out and have it signed by the instructor. The secretary can register you for ChE classes right in her office.
• How do I know which technical electives are preapproved?
• Preapproved technical electives are here. 
• Whom do I contact for thorny issues that my advisor cannot solve?
• You should first contact the department chair. For unsolved problems such as transfer credit, probation and dismissal, beginning-of-quarter registration and close-outs, etc. you may see Associate Dean for Academics Ken Sampson (himself a former ChE faculty member who still teaches from time to time—say hello to him for us!). Contact one of the secretaries in the Dean's office to schedule an appointment.  
• If TRIPS allows me into a class, do I worry about prerequisites?
• TRIPS isn't perfect (yet). Most of the time, it will not let you register for a course unless you have met the prerequisite(s), but it's possible to slip through.  This does not absolve you of the responsibility to see that you have met the prerequisites.  If you do not meet the prerequisite(s), your grade will not necessarily count.  Check with the professor in charge of the class.
• There are many sections of English 305J. Which one should I select?
• Select one of the sections labeld "ENT majors."  
• Can I delay Math 340 (Differential Equations) until my junior year?
• No. You must take it no later than the spring of your sophomore year because Math 340 is required for fall quarter junior year chemical engineering courses.  Math 263D, however, can be delayed somewhat. It is a prerequisite for CE 301, so you cannot put Math 263D off until your last quarter at OU. 
• When should I ask for a graduation check?
• You are encouraged to see the department chair two or three quarters before you expect to graduate. Knowing exactly what classes you need to take for graduation gives peace of mind.  
• When should I apply for graduation?
• The deadline for application is usually very early in the quarter. This information is always posted on the bulletin board outside Stocker 172.  You apply for graduation at Chubb Hall.
• How should I prepare for graduate school?
• Most graduate schools require the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), which is a graduate school version of the SAT or ACT. A good GPA (3.0 or above) and a good GRE score will normally ensure you a full tuition waiver and a salary (stipend) in graduate school. In order to be competitive in graduate school, it is recommended that you take a computer language course (Fortran or C or C++) and the ChE transport phenomena technical elective (CHE 452).  
• Can I retake a course to improve my GPA?
  • "A regular course with fixed content can be retaken to affect your GPA  Retaking the course removes the hours and the effect of the earlier grade from the calculation of the GPA. However, all grades are printed on your permanent record (transcript). The later grade is the one used in calculation of the GPA, even if it is lower than the first, and duplicated credit hours are not accepted toward the credit-hour requirement for graduation.........As a rule, a course designated as a prerequisite may not be retaken to affect the GPA after you have completed higher-level coursework in the same subject area........"
    What this means is, once you have continued on in a chain of courses (what we call a "prerequisite sequence"), you have forever forfeited the right to go back and retake a previous course. As an example, once you have taken our senior design courses, the junior unit operations sequence, as well as thermodynamics and reaction engineering, are closed off to you.  
• Can I take a summer course elsewhere and transfer the credit to OU?
• You need the departmental chair's approval to transfer credit. Please make an appointment with Dr. Prudich AHEAD of taking the course.See the departmental secretary in Stocker 172 to make an appointment with Dr. Prudich.  To determine if a course taken elsewhere will equate to OU coursework, it helps greatly to have with you when you see Dr. Prudich a course catalog description of the course, and, if possible, a syllabus.