COE Undergraduate Policy Manual

Introduction

Process

Majors

Policy

Questions

Revised: July 30, 2008
The following policies are applicable to all undergraduate students in the College of Engineering.

Pre-Engineering Programs

  • Any student admitted to the Oregon State University may select any pre-engineering major.
  • Students may enroll in most courses in the College of Engineering only if they are in a major, minor or option that requires the course. Engineering students may enroll in most upper division engineering courses only if they are in the professional program.
  • Engineering orientation courses are available to all students and is a good opportunity for non- engineering majors to better understand the engineering profession. Computer literacy and skills courses and Baccalaureate Core courses are also available to any student.

Professional Programs

  • Students must apply and be accepted in the Professional Program in a given program.
  • Students are only admitted to the Professional Programs for Fall and Winter terms.
  • Admission is competitive and the number of students admitted is resource dependent.

Application Deadlines

  • April 10 for Fall term admission (application available March 1)
  • November 1 for Winter term admission (application available October 1)

Minimum Qualifications to Apply to the Professional Program

  • Students must have applied to OSU and be in good academic standing with the University.
  • Pre-engineering Core (Pre-Core) GPA of 2.25.  Pre-Core courses are identified by a superscript “E” in the OSU catalog.
  • All Pre-Core courses must be completed with a C- or better (C or better beginning Fall, 2008) before the beginning of the term of admission to the Professional Program. S/U grading may not be elected.
  • A cumulative GPA of 2.25 for all college level courses

Admission Process

  • The Pre-Core GPA is calculated for all students applying to a given program that meet the minimum qualifications described above.
  • Applicants are rank ordered by Pre-Core GPA. 
  • The number of students admitted to the program is determined based on available resources.  Students meeting the minimum Pre-Core of 2.25 may or may not be admitted depending on available resources.
  • Students may apply for admission to a Professional program with one missing Pre-Core course; however students who have completed all Pre-Core courses will be given priority when resource-based capacity limits are in place.

Pre-Core GPA Calculation (see http://engr.oregonstate.edu/students/advising/gpatrackingtool.html)

  • The College follows University policy on repeated coursework (effective Fall, 2008).  Courses may be repeated once for grade replacement. Both grades will appear on the academic record, but only the second grade will be counted in the cumulative grade point average and toward graduation requirements.  For more detail: http://engr.oregonstate.edu/students/advising/newpolicy_f08.html
  • All OSU and transfer grades will be included.
  • All Pre-Core courses must be taken for a letter grade (P, S, etc. only acceptable only for AP or IB credit).

Late Submission of Application

  • The student submits a COE petition describing the reasons for the late submission along with a paper professional program application. The petition must be submitted for approval to the program Head Advisor with final approval by the College Dean.

Pro-Core Courses for Pre-Engineering Students
Under special circumstances, pre-engineering students may take pro-engineering courses.  Students may file petitions to take a maximum of four pro-engineering courses over a maximum of two terms.  Petitions will only be considered if students;

  • Meet all prerequisites for the courses and
  • Have a calculated Pre-Core GPA at or above the previous cut-off for admission to the professional program for the previous admission term.

Adding or Changing Engineering Majors in the Professional Program
Students currently in the Professional Program may petition to add an additional engineering major or to change their engineering major.

  • The student must meet all of the qualifications for admission to the professional program of the new major.
  • Approval is at the discretion of the Head Advisor of the new major and can be based on many factors including capacity.
  • A copy of the approved COE petition must be included along with the OSU Change of Major form for the College to process the change of major.

Request for Waiver of Engineering Resource Fee
Students may submit a petition for waiver of the engineering resource fee only if the following conditions have been met:

  • None of the courses for which you are registered are required for any part of your engineering degree (core, electives, bac core, etc.).
  • None of the courses for which you are registered satisfy the requirements for a minor/option required as part of degree.
  • Waiver petition and guidelines: http://engr.oregonstate.edu/students/waiver.html

College of Engineering Scholarships

  • Application deadline is February 1
  • Eligibility – Must be current OSU student taking OSU courses OR an incoming transfer student applying for admission to an engineering professional program.
  • Scholarship online application (during open periods):  http://engr.oregonstate.edu/students/apps/

Graduation Requirements for the College of Engineering
In addition to University and School requirements, completion of an undergraduate degree in the College of Engineering requires:

  • Admission to the Professional Program at least three terms and 45 credits before graduation.
  • Completion of at least 30 approved credits in the College of Engineering after admission to the Professional Program. For Engineering Physics majors, completion of at least 15 approved credits in the College of Engineering and 15 approved credits in the Physics Department in the College of Science.
  • C- or better (C or better effective Fall, 2008) in all courses required by the major (Pro-Core) and a cumulative Pro-Core GPA of 2.25 or higher – Pro-Core courses are listed in the advising guide for each major.
  • A cumulative OSU GPA of 2.25 or higher

A student may petition for an exception to the above COE graduation requirements. The COE petition must be approved by (in order): Program Head Advisor, School or Department Head, and Dean (or designee).

Satisfactory Academic Progress
A student in good academic standing satisfies University, College, and Program academic requirements. The University may change a student's status to probation or suspension following guidelines contained in the Schedule of Classes. The College of Engineering has a similar, but independent, process for students in the Professional Program.
At the conclusion of each term, Pro-Core term and cumulative GPA are calculated and academic standings are determined for students according to the criteria outlined below. Students whose standings evidence a lack of satisfactory progress will be warned of this condition and advised to seek help from their academic advisors.

  1. Academic Warning: Students with a term Pro-Core GPA below 2.25 and fewer than 10 credits of Pro-Core coursework will be placed on Academic Warning. The student must meet with their academic program advisor before they will be allowed to register for subsequent terms.
  2. Academic Probation: Students who have completed ten or more credits of Pro-Core coursework and have a cumulative Pro-Core GPA below 2.25 will be placed on Academic Probation. A registration hold (“Dean’s Hold”) will be placed on the student's account until the student meets with an academic program advisor. The student and academic program advisor will prepare an academic success agreement.
  3. Academic Suspension: Students who are on Academic Probation and fail to meet the terms of their academic success agreement will be placed on Academic Suspension. Students who are academically suspended are removed from the Professional Program and are not allowed to take additional upper-division College of Engineering courses.
  4. Reinstatement to the College: Suspended students may be reinstated to the Professional Program after one year or completion of a minimum of 24 quarter credits of acceptable transferable college-level work at an accredited college or university, with a GPA of 2.5 or above. These 24 credits must be pre-approved in writing by the Program Head Advisor.

Reinstatement requests from students will be considered by the College Committee on Reinstatement (CCR) made up of three College of Engineering Head Advisors, the Director of Undergraduate Programs and the Dean (or their designee).
Reinstatement Guidelines (closely follow Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Standing Policy Guidelines):

  1. Academic Suspension cannot be appealed.

Academic Suspension is based on an objective standard applied to a student's academic record. No subjective judgments or evaluations are a part of the decision to suspend. When the GPA's on the student's Academic Record are accurate and they meet the criteria for Academic Suspension, no grounds exist to challenge the decision to suspend.

  1. Academic Suspensions resulting from grading errors will be rescinded.

Since Academic Suspension is based on GPA, the GPA must accurately reflect the student's academic performance. An Academic Suspension based on GPA's derived from erroneous grades submitted by instructors will be rescinded. Students must take the initiative to ensure the accuracy of their grades.

  1. Suspended students who desire reinstatement to the Professional Program must file a "Request for Reinstatement" form with the Dean's Office.

This form initiates the reinstatement process. The information requested is required to complete processing the request. Decisions will not be rendered until all requested information is provided and the form is complete.

  1. Suspended students who comply with the reinstatement rules (1 year absence or 24 credits of pre-approved transferable college-level work at an accredited college or university, with GPA of 2.5 or better) will be reinstated to the College of Engineering professional program.

Upon filing a Request for Reinstatement and verification of compliance with the reinstatement rules, the Dean's Office will institute the necessary steps to reinstate the student without further reference to this committee. It should be noted that the reinstatement rules permit a student who has attained a transfer GPA less than 2.5 to be reinstated if absent 2 years.

  1. The College Committee on Reinstatement will consider requests for exceptions to the Reinstatement Rules only in those rare situations in which all four of the following conditions are met:
    • The poor academic performance was the result of extraordinary circumstances that have been demonstrably corrected or substantially addressed and should no longer adversely influence the student's academic performance. Documentation of these circumstances should be provided. (i.e. medical records, obituaries or death certificates, etc.)
    • The Head Advisor of the student's program is willing and able to argue convincingly that the student has a strong probability of completing the degree program to which the student would be reinstated.
    • In addition to the poor academic performance, there is also evidence in the academic record of an ability to succeed academically and make timely progress toward completion of a degree program.
    • The student provides a proposed schedule for the next two terms and a detailed plan to foster academic improvement, which have been reviewed and endorsed by the Head Advisor

The Committee recognizes that there may be cases which require review and merit exception. Exceptions are imaginable where the term or terms of poor performance are somewhat isolated, and clearly linked to an extraordinary occurrence (such as a health problem) that has been ameliorated, or to unusually challenging circumstances whose impact on the student has been substantially relieved. It must be made clear, however, that exceptions will be granted only rarely. To warrant exception, the academic record should contain evidence that, in the absence of the problem asserted by the student as responsible for the poor performance, the student can succeed; more simply, there should be on record at least one term in which the student performed successfully in courses that contribute to progress toward a degree. Furthermore, the student must present a clear plan of action, endorsed by the Head Advisor, which includes a program of contact with recognized academic support staff. Finally, advocacy, and not mere "approval," by a Head Advisor is a crucial necessary condition for an exception. Students also may submit evidence of support from other representatives of recognized University support services in addition to, but not in lieu of, letters from departmental/school and college advisors.

  1. Students with Senior Standing who meet all four of the following criteria may be granted an exception to the Reinstatement Rules:
    • they are candidates for graduation, with an application on file in the Registrar's office;
    • they expect to graduate within the next 3 terms
    • they have strong support from their Head Advisor
    • they have 2.20 - 2.24 cumulative Pro-Core GPA with one term to graduate; OR
      2.15 - 2.24 GPA with two terms to graduate.
  1. Reinstated students will have a maximum of two academic terms to raise their Pro-Core GPA above 2.25.

Student Conduct

  • The College of Engineering expects all of its students to follow the philosophy for OSU student conduct specified at the following web address and will refer all potential violations to the Office of Student Conduct.
    http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/regs.htm

Academic honesty

The College of Engineering follows the university process in cases that involve a violation of the academic honesty policy. Students that violate the academic honesty policy a second time will be suspended from the College of Engineering for a period of one year.

Academic Dishonesty Process

  • Confidentiality: Academic Dishonesty information is student confidential.  The only College record of Academic Dishonesty by students in the College will be kept in the Dean’s Offfice.

Student Grievance Process
See: http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/rules/OARS_500/OAR_576/576_022.html

Second Baccalaureate Degree
Students wishing to complete a second baccalaureate degree must be admitted to the professional program. Admission may be denied in those programs where there is insufficient space to accommodate all qualified students.

Students who have never been admitted to the professional program follow the same admission process as those who are seeking their first baccalaureate degree. Those who have been admitted to the professional program in one major may be admitted to a second major by petition, but only after completing all pre-engineering courses required by the second major. Petitions for this purpose must be approved by the department offering the second degree and by the college.