Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Advising FAQ

Note: This page will be frequently updated.  Please e-mail any questions or suggestions to tmillen@iastate.edu

 1.)  How do I sign up for a co-op, internship, or summer work experience?

 By downloading and completing the employment acceptance form available at the following web site.  

http://www.eng.iastate.edu/ecs/students/accepting%20a%20coop.html

 2.)  Where do I take my completed add/drop slip (schedule change form) to be processed?

 To Room 10 Alumni Hall (in the basement).

 3.a.)  Will courses I took previously at my community college apply to my degree?

 It depends on the course or courses.  If it has an established equivalent at ISU that is required by or applies to your degree program, then it should be applied automatically.  In some cases it may require a “transfer course review” by appropriate faculty to determine if it can be substituted for one of your degree program courses.  If the transfer grade is less than a “C,” engineering college rules will not allow it to be applied to your degree without approval by your department’s curriculum committee.  Please see Ted Millen in 302 Town for additional information and course review forms.

 3.b.) Can I enroll for a course at a community college during the summer and transfer it later?

 Yes, but make arrangements to have a certified transcript from the community college forwarded directly to the ISU registrar as soon as your summer grades are posted.

 3.c.) Do I need to get pre-approval for the above mentioned courses?

 If the transfer course has already been established as equivalent to an ISU course that applies to your program, no approval is needed.  If such an equivalency has not been established and  you want to explore whether it may be substituted for a course you need, you should assemble all the information you can on the proposed transfer course and have a preliminary review by an ISU faculty member in the department teaching the course you want substituted by the transfer course.  Formal approval, however, will wait until the course has been completed and transferred.  ISU has course equivalency guides already established with many community colleges in Iowa and the surrounding states:

 http://www.admissions.iastate.edu/equiv/index.php

 4.) How long may I stay on my current catalog?

 Students may graduate under the catalog currently in effect, or either of the prior two catalogs, with the requirement that they must have been enrolled during the time the catalog under which they are graduating was in effect.  Thus, to graduate under a given catalog, you must graduate within four years after that catalog expired.  (For example, the 99-01 catalog will expire when the 05-07 catalog goes into effect.)

 5.) If I can’t get into a course I need, what do I do?  How do I get into a class that is full?

 If all sections of the course are full or closed, put yourself on the wait list for the course.  You do this by attempting to add it to your schedule even though it is full.  You can try to get signed into the course as an “add-over” using an add/drop slip, but most departments won’t approve such forms during the active registration period (while registration access numbers are still being activated).  Registration is a “process” and not an “event,” and many departments do not initially release all openings for a given course.  That is why it is important to continue to regularly check for openings via web registration.  Most students that do this, eventually get the courses they need.  If you are concerned it may be a problem, check with Ted Millen in 302 Town.

 6.) May I attend only ½ of a two hour lab or recitation so that I can enroll in another course that overlaps?

 It is always a good idea to try to avoid schedule conflicts if at all possible.  Ultimately, however, it is up to the two instructors whether you will be allowed to try to work around the conflict.  They should be informed up front and it should not be attempted without the permission of both.

 7.) How can I extend my eligibility for a scholarship if my GPA has dropped below 2.00?

 There is no simple answer, since eligibility requirements may vary considerably from one scholarship to another.  The two best resources to explore your options might be the Office of Student Financial Aid (0210 Beardshear Hall - 294-2223) or the office that administers the scholarship in question.

 8.a.) What courses should I take during study abroad?

 Which courses might work best will depend greatly on where you are in your degree program and what courses are offered at your chosen school during the term you will be studying abroad.  With engineering students, it is generally true that the sooner you can schedule your study abroad experience the better.

 8.b.) What do I need to do if I want to study abroad?

 The two primary resource centers are the Study Abroad Center and the Engineering College ’s International Programs Office (101 Marston – 294-5090).