LIBERAL STUDIES

ADVISING PROCEDURES, WORKSHOPS, AND GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

ADVISING PROCEDURES

Orientation

All students must attend orientation in order to qualify for individual advising. Students must write their names on the sign-in sheet that is circulated at the end of the orientation. The information provided is crucial if students are to graduate in a timely manner.

New freshmen and transfer students are required to attend summer orientation. Freshmen orientations are typically offered in late July and early August; for 2006-2007 transfer orientations are offered in mid August. Transfer students receive a degree evaluation at orientation. Registration is the first business day after orientation.

Continuing students who wish to change their major to Liberal Studies are also required to attend orientation. They pay to attend one of the summer orientations or attend one of the free orientations offered during the fall or spring semester. The dates and locations of the fall and spring orientations are posted under Workshops on the homepage. Students may call 619 594-0597 to find out when the next orientation will be offered if the date is not posted. Orientations for continuing students are typically offered on Friday afternoons twice each semester.

The web and E-mail advising

Students are encouraged to seek information via the web. When information is not available on the web, they may ask questions via the e-mail link on the Liberal Studies home page. Liberal Studies seniors tell us that they choose e-mail advising for sixty to seventy percent of their advising questions because it is convenient and they have a record of the adviser's recommendations.

Appointments

Once students have attended orientation, they are encouraged to make an appointment to set up an advising file. Freshmen are asked to wait until spring semester to make their appointments unless they have a special need earlier. By asking freshmen to wait until spring, the advisers are better able to meet the needs of transfer students during late summer and fall.

To request an appointment, students should follow the instructions they receive during orientation. When they come to their appointments, they should bring a file folder or notebook with all their pertinent records, including copies of Advanced Placement scores, transcripts, and test results. The adviser will interpret the degree evaluation, complete any necessary petitions for courses that don't quite match the requirements, provide an advising sheet that shows what still needs to be completed, discuss the choice of specializations, and answer any other questions that arise.

Walk-in Advising

Once students have set up their advising files, they qualify for walk-in advising. Walk in advising is currently (summer 2006) available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:00 AM to 2:45 PM. See the schedule on the home page.

SDSU Web Portal

The SDSU Web Portal provides application status, a degree evaluation, registration information, student schedule, unofficial transcript, and the message center. The degree evaluation lists all the requirements for the degree, shows whether or not the student has satisfied them, and, if not, tells what courses may be chosen in order to satisfy a given requirement. Students print a new degree evaluation at the end of each semester and use it to update their personal advising sheet.

Changing to the Liberal Studies Pre-major

If students are in a different major or are undeclared, they need to officially declare the Liberal Studies pre-major. New freshmen may asked to be put into the Liberal Studies pre-major when they attend orientation. Continuing students and transfer students in other majors need to attend orientation and then schedule an appointment to set up an advising file. If they need to register before they attend orientation and set up their files, they should read the requirements in the General Catalog under Liberal Studies and should follow the guidelines under Planning Courses on this web site. They need to check the footnotes in the Class Schedule to determine whether a given course is open to any student or is restricted to Liberal Studies pre-majors or majors.

WORKSHOPS

The SDSU Liberal Studies Program requires that pre-majors and majors attend a sequence of workshops and special sessions designed to help them graduate on time.

Orientation:

All freshmen, transfer, and newly declared Liberal Studies pre-majors are required to attend an orientation session prior to seeing an individual adviser. At orientation, program leaders explain the requirements for graduating with a Liberal Studies major, including how to use the advising sheet and sequence chart, the senior-level assessments, the specialization, and impaction.

Education 200, Teaching as a Profession:

The coordinator visits each section toward the end of the semester to help students plan for their next year.

LS 300 Workshops:

LIB S 498:

Seniors in LIB S 498 are strongly encouraged to take CSET Subtest III during the semester that they complete LIB S 498 and Subtests I and II between their penultimate and final semester. They are also asked to apply for graduation so that they will get their graduation evaluation back prior to registering for their last semester.

Credential Program Workshops:

Near the end of the penultimate or at the beginning of the final semester, seniors are encouraged to attend one of the workshops offered by the School of Teacher Education, Policy Studies, or Special Education Departments. At these workshops, the adviser for the program describes the requirements for admission, how to complete the clearance, how to apply, financial aid, etc. Note that entering a CSU credential program requires a GPA of 2.68 overall or 2.75 in the last 60 units.

Students who wish to attend private credential programs or programs elsewhere in the state are encouraged to check the appropriate web sites and make contact with the chosen program. Contact should be made at least a year prior to enrolling so that appropriate prerequisite courses and tests can be completed.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

The colored pages (approximately pages 80-90)in the front of the General Catalog describe the basic requirements that students need to complete in order to earn their degree. All of these requirements are built into the Liberal Studies major, so Liberal Studies students rarely refer to this section of the catalog. However, since their friends do use this section of the catalog, the following entries describe how Liberal Studies majors satisfy each of these requirements.

I. Freshman Competency Requirements: Mathematics and Writing

Computer registration requires that freshmen register for the correct composition, oral communication, and mathematics classes before they register for anything else. The Personal Information Sheet they receive at orientation tells them which courses they must take depending upon how well they did on the SAT, ACT, Entry Level Mathematics Exam, English Placement Exam, etc. Students should try to do their very best on these important placement exams so that they will be admitted and so they will not have to repeat work that they should have mastered in high school.

II. Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR)

Coninuing students must take this exam during the semester in which they are completing 60 units or the semester immediately following; transfer students must take this exam between the time they are admitted and the end of their first semester. Students who do not complete the exam in the above time frame are not allowed to register for future semesters. Students receive messages via web portal and e-mail reminding them that they need to satisfy the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR).

III. Major and Minor Requirements

The Liberal Studies major has very specific requirements. Students should review the Liberal Studies section of the catalog. They should follow the official Liberal Studies advising sheet. Each block on the advising sheet indicates one requirement; if several courses are listed, the students should choose only one of them.

Liberal Studies majors complete a specialization instead of a minor. Specialization may NOT be converted into minors. Occasionally a student decides he/she wants to complete a minor in addition to the Liberal Studies major. In this case, he/she normally needs more time to graduate. The few elective units available in the Liberal Studies major can be used toward courses required for a minor if the student so desires. The program does not recommend that students do a minor. Instead, it recommends that students work toward a Subject Matter Authorization in the area of specialization. A Subject Matter Authorization allows them to teach at the middle school level.

IX. General Education and IV. American Institutions Requirements

V. Language Requirement

The Liberal Studies language requirement is part of preparation for the major. Students are required to complete the equivalent of two college semesters of a language. They earn the Bachelors Degree in Applied Arts and Sciences, not the BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences that requires the equivalent of three semesters of a language.

VI. Units Requirements and VII. Residency Requirements

Note the "residency requirements" (approximately p. 83); a significant fraction of these units must be completed at SDSU.

VIII. Grade Point Average Requirements

The above GPA's are calculated automatically and reported each semester on the degree evaluation available via web portal.

To move from the pre-major to the major, students must have a 2.5 GPA.
To enter a CSU credential program, they must have a 2.68 GPA.