This document provides tips and information to help students successfully register for classes at Mason, including:
- Taking general education courses in the first two years and important first year courses like MATH 108, ECON 103, and ENGH 101.
- Understanding pre-requisite requirements and the application process for admission to the School of Management.
- Using the degree evaluation to create a class schedule that fulfills requirements for graduation.
- Considering course balances, prerequisites, and application deadlines when registering.
2. 0-15
• It is a good idea to take most of your general
education courses during your first two years
at Mason
– MATH 108, ECON 103, and ENGH 101 are
important courses to take in your first year
• Keep in mind you are currently Business-Pre
Status and there is an application into the
School of Management
• You will not be able to register for 300 level
courses until you have 30 graded credits
12. Accessing the Degree Evaluation
• If your Curriculum Information does not say
School of Management
– You will need to click on “What-If Analysis”
instead of Generating a New Evaluation and
follow the directions of selecting a different
degree program
– You can also use a “What-if Analysis” if you
intend to do a double major within the School of
Management
• Dual degrees should see their academic
advisor
15. Accessing the Degree Evaluation
• Remember this evaluation is real time.
You should print your degree evaluation
once a semester and put it in a safe place.
You may need verification of your degree
requirements if a discrepancy occurs at a
later date.
17. Reading Your Degree Evaluation
These are your General Education Courses.
If you have the Gen Ed Waiver, you will
only have ENGH 302 to complete
18. Reading Your Degree Evaluation
Must have 8 credits of
natural science with labs
Not Met means requirement
is still needed
19. Reading Your Degree Evaluation
All School of Management majors must complete
CORE courses with a grade of C or better. Accounting
majors need a B- in ACCT 301 and Finance majors
need a B- in FNAN 301 *All core courses must be
completed with a C or better BEFORE taking SOM
498
Click on course to see
prerequisites required to register
20. Reading Your Degree Evaluation
All School of Management Majors are
18 credits and must be passed with a
C or better
21. Reading Your Degree Evaluation
If electives not met student will need extra courses to
reach 120 required credits. These electives are
different than your major course electives
22. Reading Your Degree Evaluation
If you need instructions on how
to read your Degree Evaluation
click here
24. Before You Register
• Check PatriotWeb for the day and time
you are able to register
• Review your Degree Evaluation and Long
Range Plan to see what classes you need
to complete a degree at Mason
• Check Pre-requisites so you don’t fall
behind
• Register early as classes fill up quickly
25. Balance Your Classes
• Heavy Writing Classes:
ENGH 302 & SOM 301
• Math Intensive Classes:
ACCT 203/301 & MATH 108 & OM 210 & FNAN
301
• Heavy Reading Class:
BULE 302 (a lot of new vocabulary/terminology)
26. Meeting Requirements
• General Education
– Review the list of approved
General Education Courses to fill each requirement
• General Electives
– 120 credits are needed to graduate and your electives
are what make you reach that required amount
– Consider a Minor to fill up your General Electives
– Consider a double major when you are admitted to
Bachelor of Science status
– Review a list of all courses at Mason in the
Course Catalog
27. School of Management Application
• Keep in mind you are currently Business-Pre Status
• Think about registering for your application courses:
– MATH 108 or 113, OM 210 or 211, ACCT 203 or 204, and
SOM 301
– You may only apply to the school if you have 48 completed
credits, 9 of them at completed at Mason
– Full requirements and application are here
• Be sure to register for the 301 core course in your
intended major before or in the semester of application
to the school since it is a pre-requisite to your major
courses
28. School of Management Application
Math
Placement Test
School of
Management
Application
MATH Course Sequence
108
ECON 103
OM ACCT
210 203
SOM
301
29. Prerequisites
• Prerequisite - course required with a
certain grade before you may move on
and register for another course
• List of all prerequisites – degree
evaluation or catalog.gmu.edu
• Prerequisites do change and students
must make sure they are aware of any
changes
30. Prerequisites
• ACCT 203 Survey of Accounting
– Prerequisite: C or better in ECON 103
• ACCT 301 Financial Accounting & Managerial Decision Making
– Prerequisites: C or better in ACCT 203, and sophomore standing
(For accounting majors you must have a B- or higher in ACCT 301)
• BULE 302 Legal Environment of Business
– Prerequisite: sophomore standing
• OM 210 Statistical Analysis for Management
– Prerequisites: C or better in MATH 108 or MATH 113; corequisite of
MIS 102
• OM 301 Operations Management
– Prerequisites: C or better in OM 210, and sophomore standing
31. Prerequisites
• FNAN 301 Financial Management
– Prerequisites: C or better in ECON 103, ACCT 203 and OM 210,
and sophomore standing (Finance majors must have a B- or
higher in FNAN 301)
• MGMT 301 Managing People and Organizations
– Prerequisites: sophomore standing
• MIS 102 Spreadsheet Applications for Business
– Prerequisite: none
• MIS 301 Introduction to Business Information Systems
– Prerequisite: sophomore standing
32. Prerequisites
• MKTG 301 Principles of Marketing
– Prerequisites: C or better in ECON 103 and ACCT 203, and
sophomore standing
• –SOM 301 Business Models: A Communication Approach
– Prerequisite: sophomore standing; corequisite ACCT 203 and
OM 210
• –SOM 498 Capstone Course: Advanced Business Models
– Prerequisites: ACCT 301, BULE 302, OM 301, FNAN 301,
MGMT 301, MIS 301 and MKTG 301, and senior standing
Core courses needed to apply to BS standing include ACCT 203, OM
210 and SOM 301. In addition, MATH 108 is required for application to
the School of Management. For more info on application criteria,
click here
35. Special Issues
Special issues that you should be aware of
while registering are:
•Linked Courses – Register for the lecture the lab or
recitation at the same time
•Class Location – Fairfax, Prince William
•Waitlists – Check the registrar’s site for the
university waitlist instructions. The School of Management
has a separate waitlist policy, to review click here
•Add and/or Drop Dates – Permission to add/drop courses
after the deadline is rarely given
37. Registration Services
• For more information about registration
services please visit:
registrar.gmu.edu/registration
• All students are responsible for knowing
add/drop course deadlines each semester,
click here for an updated calendar
Registering for Classes Tips to help you with Registration
This slide is unique to those of you completing your first semester in the School of Management at George Mason University. It will provide you with some up front tips to consider before registering for courses for next semester. Students in their first couple of years usually take General Education courses. If you are considering Study Abroad in the future, you may want to save some of your general education courses for that particular semester such as your Global Understanding, Western Civilization, or Fine Arts. If you have not taken Math 108 or another calculus course yet, it is a good idea to register for that course next semester. You will not be able to register for MATH until you take the Math Placement test Keep in mind you are currently Business Pre-Status and there is an application into the School of Management. This is kind of like being pre-med or pre-law. Students don’t apply to the School of Management until the end of their sophomore year or beginning of their junior year. More on the application into the School of Management will be discussed later in this presentation. Many of the School of Management courses are junior level courses. You will not be able to register for 300-level courses until you have 30 GRADED credits
Degree evaluation How to access How to interpret Create your schedule Decide what you need to take next Registration How to register for your courses using Patriot Web Please familiarize yourself with each section of this PowerPoint. If you need more careful attention on one of the sections, you can click on the title of the section and it will bring you to that section within this PowerPoint
Degree Evaluation
The degree evaluation is your academic road map letting you know what courses you have left to take and can be found on your Patriot Web account You will need to access your degree evaluation if you want to graduate on time with no surprises Your degree evaluation is unique to your own degree because it compiles all the courses YOU have taken at Mason as well as any credit received elsewhere and inserts those classes into the correct slots according to your major.
To access your degree evaluation, go to patriotweb.gmu.edu
Login to Patriot Web with your Mason ID and password. If you are having trouble you can contact ITU Support
Under the Student Services Tab, Select Student Records
Click on Degree Evaluation
Select the Current Term if it prompts you to do so and click on Submit
Make sure your Curriculum Information says School of Management For all students entering Mason Fall 2000 and later Click on Generate New Evaluation at the bottom of the screen.
If your Curriculum Information does not say School of Management You will need to click on “What-If Analysis” instead of Generating a New Evaluation and follow the directions of selecting a different degree program You can also use a “What-if Analysis” if you intend to do a double major within the School of Management If you are receiving Dual degrees, you should see your academic advisor for instructions on how to determine what you have left to graduate
If the information is correct, click the bubble next to the Program. If the program is still not what you are trying to create and evaluation for, click on the What If Analysis at the bottom of the page and choose a different degree program If you check the box next to “Use In-Progress courses” your degree evaluation will include the courses you are currently registered for. When you are ready, click General Request.
You always want to Select the Detail Requirements to get the full explanation of your degree audit. After clicking on Submit, you will have successfully reached your very own Degree Evaluation.
Remember this evaluation is real time. Each time you register for a course, make sure that course is fitting in the right place on your degree evaluation You should print your Degree Evaluation each semester to help you stay on the right path to graduation
This is what your Degree Evaluation will look like. Now I will discuss how to read and interpret the Evaluation you just learned how to access. Every student graduates with 120 credits. As you can see, this student has received 92 out of 120 credits. Sometimes students graduate with more than 120 credits which is perfectly fine, as long as all the requirements for the degree have been met.
The first section is your General Education Foundation. You can find a list of the courses that will fulfill your General Education courses in the Course Catalog at catalog.gmu.edu If you are a transfer student and received the GAA Waiver, this section will only have English 302 listed since every student at Mason takes that course Notice in the right hand column that this student did not receive a grade for their English 101. Instead it has a T for the grade. When you see a T in this column, it means that requirement is being fulfilled by a course you transferred to Mason or other form of credit such as AP/IB credit or from a CLEP exam
Next is your School of Management required General Education. You must have 8 credits of science that included a lab. When you see something in Red, that means you still have not fulfilled that requirement and you have not registered for it. I also want you to be aware that this Synthesis requirement will be automatically met when you take one of our Core Courses - SOM 498
Scroll down further on your Degree Evaluation and you start to get into the School of Management Core Courses. We expose students to all areas of business so even if you are an accounting major you will still take introductory courses of the other majors. It is important to be familiar with all areas of business. If you click on a course that is in green indicating you have not taken that course yet, you will be able to see the course catalog entry that lists the pre-requisites to the course. In order to be an Accounting or Finance Major you need to have a B- or better in the corresponding Core course One more note about the Core courses before we move on. In order to register for SOM 498, you will need to have completed all the Core courses with a C or better
When you are accepted into the School of Management, your degree evaluation will list your Major Courses. If you are still Business-Pre major, these courses will not be listed on your degree evaluation unless you generated a What-If Analysis for the particular degree program. Each of the School of Management majors consist of 6 classes equaling 18 credits. Some majors will include major electives and some will not.
Here we have the last section of the Degree Requirements, your SOM Electives. As mentioned before, each student graduates with 120 credits. Sometimes your General Education credits and transfer credits, plus the School of Management requirements do not equal 120 so you will have to take elective courses to fulfill that requirement. For a list of all Mason courses you can go to catalog.gmu.edu
If you need a more detailed explanation on reading your Degree Evaluation after this presentation you can click on the link provided in this slide for more information.
Creating Your Schedule
Before you register for classes you need to figure out when you can register and which courses you need to register for. Review your Degree Evaluation and your Long Range Plan if you have made one to see what classes you have left to graduate. You may also want to be thinking about some alternate courses to register for in case the courses you choose are closed. To avoid classes being filled by the time you register, check your Registration Time Ticket on your PatriotWeb account and register early!
Be sure to balance your classes. You also don’t want to save all the subjects that aren’t your favorite for last because then you will end up taking them all in one semester toward the end of your academic career making it tough for you to graduate on time. Again be mindful of pre-requisites. We recommend that you don’t take your heavy reading and writing courses in the same semester. Often we recommend you take ENGH 302 to better prepare you for SOM 301. Same goes for the heavy math courses. It may be okay to take OM 210 and ACCT 203 in the same semester as we know those are School of Management application courses and students may want to take those quickly, but we recommend that you take ACCT 301 before you take FNAN 301 and not at the same time or in the reverse order.
Keep in mind you have general education and elective courses to fulfill If you received the General Education Waiver you will not need to complete this requirement but will take more electives instead 120 credits are needed to graduate and your electives are what make you reach that required amount Sometimes one course will fulfill two general education requirements, for example some upper-level Economics courses fulfill the School of Management Econ requirement as well as the Global Understanding general education requirement. In this case, you will then have to take another elective to reach the required amount of credits to graduate To fill up your electives you may also want to consider a minor from another department at Mason or a double major within the School of Management
Keep in mind you are currently Business-Pre Status and there is an application into the School of Management so you might want to think about registering for your SOM application courses when creating your schedule Also keep in mind that you are only eligible to apply to the School of Management a maximum of 2 times You may only apply to the School of Management if you have 48 completed credits with 9 of them at Mason You can find a list of all the detailed requirements along with the application on our website Make sure to register for the 301 course in your intended major before or in the semester of application to SOM since it is a pre-requisite to your major courses Not sure which major you would like yet? Visit Career Services or talk to the Faculty Mentors
Here is a diagram of the courses required to be admitted into the School of Management with their corresponding Pre-requisites. In order to take MATH 108 you will need to take the Math Placement Test. MATH 108 is a pre-requisite to Operations Management 210 which is a Business Statistics course. You can find more information on the Math Placement Test through the Math Department. ECON 103, Microeconomics is a pre-requisite to Accounting 203. OM 210 and Accounting 203 and are co-requisites to School of Management 301. So you can either take them at the same time or before SOM 301. Students usually apply to the School of Management during the semester they are enrolled in SOM 301.
Be Mindful of Prerequisites ! Most courses have a prerequisite which means another course is required with a certain grade BEFORE you may move on and register for another course. Note that many times you will not be able to register for certain courses until you have the pre-requisite completed so at times you may have to wait until the end of the semester after you get your grade to register for the next course. For a list of all prerequisites students may use their degree evaluation and click on the course or visit catalog.gmu.edu It is the responsibility of the student to check for prerequisites and make sure they are completed. Prerequisites do change and students must make sure they are aware of any changes
The next few slides will list the pre-requisites for the School of Management Core Courses. You must receive a C or better within 3 attempts to avoid having to change your major out of the School of Management. Pre-requisites can change and students are responsible for checking the course catalog and our website for any changes made to requirements.
You must receive a C or better in these Core Courses within 3 attempts to avoid having to change your major out of the School of Management. Pre-requisites can change and students are responsible for checking the course catalog and our website for any changes made to requirements.
You must receive a C or better in these Core courses within 3 attempts to avoid having to change your major out of the School of Management. Pre-requisites can change and students are responsible for checking the course catalog and our website for any changes made to requirements.
Registering for Classes
Now that you know how to review your degree evaluation and know what classes you need to take next, it is time to actually register for your chosen classes. The Office of the Registrar will issue a registration time-ticket via Patriot Web that will give you a specific date and time you may begin the registration process. You may also use Patriot Web to actually Register for your classes.
When registering for a class you may get Registration errors. Before you register, it maybe be helpful to know some special issues that may arise. If you are registering for a linked course (a lecture and lab or recitation) you need to register for the lecture and the lab or recitation at the same time or it will not let you register. Make certain to check which campus the course is being taught. You can not have back-to-back classes if one is on the Fairfax campus and the other at the Prince William campus. Also, it is best to not filter the location while searching for classes as online courses will not appear if the criteria is filtered through a certain location If a class is full, you can put yourself on the waitlist. Check the registrar’s site for the university waitlist instructions. The School of Management has a separate waitlist policy Be aware of the last day to add and/or drop. Trying to adjust your schedule after the deadlines is a time consuming process. Adding/dropping classes after the deadline should only be used when extenuating circumstances beyond your control prevented you from adjusting your schedule by the deadlines. (Translation…permission to add/drop courses after the deadline is rarely given.)
Please watch the following guide on Patriot Web to Register. To access the video, you will need this PowerPoint to be in the presentation mode and you can watch it within the presentation
If you need more information on registering for classes visit the registrar’s office at this website
The Office of Academic and Career Services is committed to helping you succeed on the path to Academic and Career Excellence. If you need additional guidance on anything related to this presentation, visit us in Enterprise Hall Room 008 or visit our website at som.gmu.edu.