General New Student Advising Notes

The general process for advising and registration for new students is as follows:

1. student discusses general course ideas with advisor (phone, email, or at Orientation Session)
2. student uses the New Student Advising Channel to help pick a draft schedule. http://retention.iit.edu/volume_5_files/NewStudentAdvisingChannelTutorial.pdf
3. student sends their draft schedule to advisor for approval
4. advisor releases the advising hold allowing the student to register
5. student officially registers for their courses using Web for Students (or Banner Self Service at end of June 2008). http://retention.iit.edu/volume_5_files/web_for_students.pdf

International Students cannot register themselves until they check in on campus with the International Center. If a student is not coming to campus until later, he/she can still be registered now. After approval of courses by your academic advisor, International Students should email Matthew Bauer, Director of Undergraduate Academic Advising at bauerm@iit.edu who will work with the Registrar to override the "International Office Hold" and add the classes. Once the transaction is completed, they will reply to everyone on the email.

See the Sample Advisor Email, adapted from the School of Architecture. Your department may want to send a similar email to all your students. There is a button on the Online Advisor System to email all the new students in a major, if you would like to communicate a common message to all new students in a major. This will also be databased for future reference

Even if a student is coming to Summer Orientation, it is fine to contact them and start the conversation about advising and registration. Also, you (or someone in your department) can contact any students not scheduled for a Summer Orientation Session to set up a one-on-one advising appointment (in person, email, phone) with you. The students may be contacting you directly about appointments.

Academic Rating - An admissions developed rating for each new freshman student and displayed in the Online Advisor System. The Academic Rating combines many academic data points into a single number. Please reference this information on each new freshman student when advising them to help determine the first semester load.

MyIIT - Admissions sends newly deposited students information about how to log into the myIIT portal (my.iit.edu). Their username (this is also called their UID or Unified ID) is comprised of the first letter of their first name and up to seven letters of their last name, and is the same as a student's IIT email address. For example, Jane Doe could have a UID of jdoe. If students have similar names, numbers are added to distinguish accounts (jdoe234). The initial password is their birthday in MMDD format and the last 4 digits of their CWID (Campus Wide ID). Please email supportdesk@iit.edu if they need their logon reset. Here is a link to the New Student Computing Guide that we provide to incoming students: http://ots.iit.edu/policies/New_Student_Computing_Guide.pdf

Orientation - http://www.iit.edu/orientation/undergrad/

Math Placement - http://iit.placementtester.com/classes/mathplacement/ The first time a student wants to take a placement exam, they create their own login by using the "Register as a student in this class" option. Students must take all three parts of the math placement exam, but it is not necessary to take them all in the same day. If a student has AP/IB or transfer credit for MATH151, he/she is not required to take the math placement exam. If a student is waiting on official AP/IB exam results or on official transfer credit transcripts, we urge the student to take the math placement exam. You (or students) can email bauerm@iit.edu with any questions.

Writing Placement - Students are not necessarily required to submit an essay for the Writing Placement. To evaluate students' writing, the Humanities Dept and Communication Across the Curriculum Program use the following:

• A combination of the Writing Placement Scores from the ACT, and SAT in addition to IB and AP scores, or the writing that students have submitted as part of their applications.
• If it is determined that there is not sufficient writing in the file for placement or review, then we will request an brief essay or short response...once we receive the new writing...then this will be evaluated.

In the Online Advisor System, if you see a "HUM 1XX" or "102" in the Writing Placement, that means the student is not required to take COM101 or COM111. If you see a "101" or "111" in the Writing Placement, that means the student is required to take COM101 or COM111 THIS SEMESTER, before taking any other Humanities or Social Science Electives. If you see a "Not graded yet" or "0" or nothing in the Writing Placement, that means either the student's work is still being processed, or we are waiting for a new essay. We suggest waiting on adding HUM1xx or COM101/111, but the student should be able to register for other classes. Advisors can check the Online Advisor System for the status of a student.

International Students

• "Interational Office Hold" - After the student and advisor agree on classes/sections, please email the choices to Matthew Bauer at bauerm@iit.edu who will work with the Registrar to override the "International Office Hold" and add the classes. Once the transaction is completed, they will reply to everyone on the email.
• Full-Time Load - International students must carry a full-time load each term, at least 12 credit hours. Certain exceptions apply and must be approved by the International Center using the "Less Than Fulltime" eligibility form. The deadline for international students to submit this form to the International Center is one week into the semester. If an international student requests advice on dropping below a full course load, withdrawing from all courses, or taking a leave of absence, please tell that student to come to the International Center PRIOR to taking such an action. (Unauthorized reduction below full course load may cause that student immigration problems, even possible deportation.)
• Change Major - If a student would like to change their declared major (what is in SIS/webfor*), please tell the student to come to the International Center to pick up a new I-20 after IIT advising/educational services has approved the change of major. Under SEVIS regulations the new I20 with the change of major needs to be submitted within 21 days.

Visiting/Exchange Students - For visiting/exchange students, we are requesting that they prepare a list of courses they are interested in (approved by their home university advisor), that can be sent to our advisor, along with any relevant pre-requisite course transcripts/descriptions translated into English (check the scanned admissions file for these also). Educational Services is planning on doing "transfer credit" evaluations for all Visiting/Exchange Students. We do understand how it is difficult to advise until you speak with the student, but please try to start initial conversations via phone/email early.

Scanning of Admissions Folders - Admissions is working on scanning the admissions folder information previously provided to departments in paper form. These scanned "pdfs" are available on the Online Advisor System.

Financial Aid http://finaid.iit.edu/

• Every IIT student has a Financial Aid Counselor who is specifically dedicated to working with them. http://www.enrollment.iit.edu/finaid/information/contact.html
• Standard Response about Financial Aid - If you or your family have any questions about your financial aid award or about Illinois Institute of Technology, please feel free to call our toll-free number, 1-866-901-1866, to speak with a financial aid counselor. We're here to help; let us know how we can assist you. We are available Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 5pm (Central Standard Time).

Assistance with Enrolling in Classes - For any general assistance with finding classes/sections that work for a student, please send an email to Matthew Bauer at bauerm@iit.edu or Educational Services at edsvcs@iit.edu with details. Once the transaction is completed, they will reply to everyone on the email. They have the experience and ability to search for open sections faster and easier than the students can on self-service. Students who wait until the Orientation Days immediately before the semester starts to register will have the most problems with closed classes.

Request Enrollment in a Closed Class

• Biology or Chemistry - Please contact either starkb@iit.edu or panosyan@iit.edu with student name, ID number, desired course section
• Business - Contact twombly@stuart.iit.edu to get on a waiting list for business courses
• Computer Science - Contact bauerm@iit.edu with student name, ID number, desired course section.
• Humanities (COM, LIT, HIST, PHIL) - Contact pulliam@iit.edu with student name, ID number, desired course section.
• Mathematics - Contact fasshauer@iit.edu with student name, ID number, desired course section.
• Physics - The only way to be enrolled in a currently closed Physics section is to place your name on a waiting list for that section. To do so you must fill out and file a form with the BCPS secretary in Room LS-182. A copy of the form is available at http://www.iit.edu/~bcps/admin/physics_waiting_list.pdf You may fax the completed form to (312) 567-3494, Attention: Physics Waiting Lists, or if you're able to complete and save the file you may email it to kersh@iit.edu The waiting lists will be resolved the week before the semester starts, and positions, if any, will be opened in the order requests are received. You will be notified by email when action is taken.

Status/Major Changes

• If a new student tells you they are deferring or cancelling their admission, please email the following departments/people:
• Admissions, Cathy Fuller fuller@iit.edu (who will inform Housing, Financial Aid, Internationl Center)
• Academic Advising, Matthew Bauer bauerm@iit.edu
• Educational Services, Greg Welter welter@iit.edu
• If a new student tells you they want to change their major, give them this form http://www.iit.edu/~edserve/change%20of%20major.pdf and have them contact Academic Advising, Matthew Bauer bauerm@iit.edu who will assign the new advisor and start the change major process.

Bookstore Online - http://iit.bncollege.com/