Advising Information

The Faculty and Staff in the ECE Department very much want your experience here at Cal Poly Pomona to be both productive and enjoyable. But for this to happen you have to come by and get to know us - you have to come get advice for your small problems before they turn into big ones. The goal of these notes is to outline the basics of our advising policies and to indicate where you can get more information when you need it. More detailed information is in the University Catalog.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND HELP

• Your advisor is your main source of information about the curriculum and graduation requirements. Note that you must see your advisor at least once a year (during the Winter Quarter) or a hold will be placed on your registration. Be sure to bring an updated copy of your curriculum flowchart with you when you see your advisor.
• Other excellent sources of information are your Evaluator in the Records Office and the Student Services home page. This page gives you access to much useful information including class schedules, grades and information on holds.
• In addition you should make sure to note that Jan Jette in the College of Engineering Student Success Center is an excellent source of information and advice. You should get to know Jan.
• And last but not least you can always come to the ECE Department Office, Room 9-407 if you are not sure who to see.
• Here is a first draft copy of Electrical & Computer Engineering Department Student Information Packet in PDF format, This will answer many of your questions.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR NEW FRESHMEN

• All entering Freshmen who score less than 550 on the English part of the SAT must take the English Placement Test (EPT). If you do not pass the EPT you must take and complete within your first year remedial English classes that do not count towards your degree. This policy is the same at all CSU campuses.
• All entering Freshmen who score less than 560 on the Math part of the SAT must take the Entry Level Math Test (ELM). If you do not pass the ELM your chances of successfully completing the engineering program are very small.
• After you pass the ELM test you must then take the Math Diagnostic Placement Test (MDPT). This test is a placement test for those who do not have a score of at least 3 in AP Calculus. You would be foolish not to study for it. Sample questions are at this site. If you pass this test high enough you will be able to enroll in Math 114 - the first quarter of calculus. If you do not pass high enough you will be put in an appropriate remedial class that does not count towards graduation in engineering.
• In Cal Poly Pomona, the LRC provides free, comprehensive Math Test preparation for the CBEST (math), ELM, the MDPT Pre-calculus, and the MDPT Math Analysis tests.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR NEW TRANSFER STUDENTS

• Once you are admitted to Cal Poly Pomona, an Evaluator in the Records Office will go through your transcripts and give you credit for those courses you took at Community Colleges that are listed in the Articulation Agreements between Cal Poly Pomona and the Community Colleges. You will be mailed the results of your Evaluation. In some cases the admissions office will indicate that you need to talk to a particular department about getting transfer credit for one of their courses. See your academic advisor for information about filing a general petition for this purpose.
• You can transfer at most 105 quarter units (70 semester units) from classes taken at community colleges. You can transfer more units from four year universities but to get a degree from Cal Poly Pomona you must take at least 50 units in residence - of which 36 units must be in upper division courses, 18 units must be in the major core and 12 units must be in general education courses.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE ECE CURRICULUM

1. The ECE Curriculum is printed on flowcharts available in the ECE Department office. It's very important to be aware of how the courses are linked by prerequisites. Note in particular that you need to take ECE 109, ECE 114, Math 216, and Physics 133 before you take the Networks class ECE 207. And then you must take ECE 209 and then ECE 307 before you can move on to courses like ECE 308, ECE 309, ECE 315 and so on.
2. Freshmen should follow the flowchart of the academic year in which they enter Cal Poly. Transfer students should follow the flowchart for the academic year determined by the evaluations office. In either case you can petition to make deviations.
3. There are 72 units of General Education. A number of the courses are spelled out as indicated on your flowchart. General Education classes that satisfy the various Area Requirements are listed in the Schedule of Classes. Twelve of the General Education units are upper division requirements that must be satisfied here at Cal Poly Pomona or another 4 year institution.
4. The ECE Curriculum contains 20 units of upper division electives. At least 12 of these units must be at the 400 level. And at least two of these classes must be taken with their labs.
5. The Senior Project is the capstone requirement of the ECE Curriculum. It's where you pull together what you've been learning and apply it to a project of your choice. You can do an individual project, a group project or a clinic project. It's not only a great experience but also something that prospective employers are invariably interested in. The prerequisites for starting Senior Project are completion of all 100-200 level classes, completion of all but 12 units of required 300 level classes and satisfactory completion of the Graduate Writing Test.

FREQUENTLY MADE MISTAKES

1. Not paying close enough attention to deadlines - particularly the one for dropping classes without getting an F. The only way to drop a class after the third week and not get an F is if there are extenuating circumstance like a documented illness that prevents you from attending school. You cannot drop a class after the third week simply because you are failing - or because of a change in your work schedule.
2. Not petitioning to get Cal Poly credit for classes taken elsewhere after being admitted as a Cal Poly student.
3. Not filing a petition for a leave of absence when away from school for more than two consecutive quarters including Summer.
4. Not doing a good job of managing time - trying to take too many units. This is especially a problem for students in academic trouble trying to take a regular schedule plus courses being repeated. On the average you should reduce your load by 3 to 4 units for every ten hours/week of work.
5. Not going to your instructor with your questions until the eighth week after you've gotten a D in the midterm.
6. Not going to see your advisor until you're already on academic probation.
7. Not keeping track of how many units of Community College work you have credit for.
8. Not starting early enough to get help for the Graduation Writing Test (GWT).

PETITIONS

1. Petitions are available in the Department Office, the College of Engineering Student Success Center and the CLA Building.
2. You need to get petitions signed to get credit for classes not covered by the Articulation Agreements and to make deviations from your flowchart. Petititions involving ECE classes must be signed by your advisor, by Professor Massoudi in the Department Office and by the Associate Dean of the College of Engineering.
3. Come right to the point when writing petitions. To substitute one class for another, for example, you should say something like the following:
   Substitute_____for_______. Then state when you took the class, where you took the class and the grade you got.
4. You must include the course description and copy of the grade you received when petitioning a General Education class.

GRADES

1. You must have at least C's in the prerequisites or the permission of the instructor to take an ECE class. To take a math class you must have a grade of C in the prerequisite or obtain the consent of the instructor. Physics requires a grade of C- in the prerequisite.
2. Grades as low as D- count towards graduation but in order to graduate you need a GPA of at least 2.0 in the ECE core classes, a Cal Poly GPA of at least 2.0, and an all college GPA of at least 2.0.
3. If your name is on the roll sheet of a class that you are not attending the instructor will give you a grade of U. A grade which counts in your GPA like an F. So be make sure your study list agrees with the classes you are actually taking. You can check to see your study list from the Student Services Home Page.
4. Be sure to sign a contact with your instructor if you are getting an incomplete or I grade in a class so you know exactly what you have to do to meet the requirements of the class. I grades automatically turn into F grades if the work is not completed within one year of the class.
5. You are considered to be on academic probation if your Cal Poly GPA falls below 2.0.
6. Students on academic probation will be automatically disqualified at the end of a quarter if their Cal Poly Pomona or overall GPA is below a 2.0 by the following number of grade points:
   

   Units Taken	Grade Points
   less than 90 quarter units	22.5
   90 to 134 quarter units	13.5
   135 or more quarter units	9

   If you are on academic probation you can calculate the number of grade points you are down from the information on your grade sheet as follows:

   Grade Points Down = 2 (Earned Hours) - (Quality Points) Note that you get 4 grade points for each unit of A, 3.7 for every unit of A-, 3.3 for every unit of B+, 3 for every unit of B and so forth.

7. You can replace up to 16 units of C, C-, D+, D, D-, F or U grades with the grades you get when you repeat a class. But the substitution won't be done automatically. It is up to the student to complete and file a repeated course notification form in the records office after retaking the class. Note, however, that your original grade on your transcript will not be erased - only lined out. Also note the following: (1) you can still repeat classes even after using up these 16 units but the old classes will stay and average into your GPA; (2) you cannot go back and repeat a class after taking the next class in the sequence; and (3) it's usually best to use your substitution units on ECE core classes.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

1. Your GPA in the ECE core classes must be at least 2.0, your Cal Poly GPA must be at least 2.0, and your all college work GPA must be at least 2.0.
2. You must take at least 50 units in residence - of which 36 units must be in upper division courses, 18 units must be in the major core and 12 units must be in general education courses
3. You must complete an individual or be part of a group Senior Project.
4. You must pass the Graduate Writing Test (GWT).
5. You must apply in the Records Office for a preliminary grad check. The purpose of the grad check is to make sure you know what graduation requirements you have met and which ones you still need to meet. You can sign up for a grad check when you have no more than 10 classes (40 units) to go before graduation. Sign up for graduation as soon as possible. It will take 6-8 weeks to receive your completed preliminary grad check. Don't procrastinate.
6. You must apply in your last quarter of study for graduation in the evaluation office prior to the deadline listed in the academic calendar of the class schedule.
7. You may participate in the graduation ceremony if you are within 8 units of graduating and have passed the GWT.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Don't get discouraged if you don't turn out to be good at engineering - there's plenty of other opportunities - plenty of other important and useful work that needs to be done. But beware - you need an overall GPA of 2.0 before you can change majors.