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Home Academics Freshman Academic Advising Program My Schedule: How is it Developed?
MY SCHEDULE: HOW IS IT DEVELOPED?

MY SCHEDULE: HOW IS IT DEVELOPED?
Here are some points to remove the mystery from how we develop freshman schedules for the fall semester.
  • First, most freshmen take five (5) academic courses—some do take only four—in their first semester, anywhere from 15-18 credits. We will select most of them—required Core courses/Major courses.

  • Our faculty places freshmen at the appropriate level in Math as a result of your HS Math record and your performance on our Math Placement Exam.

  • Freshmen are placed either in one of our FY__ 125 (First Year Seminar) courses or in our FLO 125 (The Art of Thinking) course. That’s each student’s first course—everyone takes one or the other.

  • The second course for our freshmen is one of our Common Core courses--either HICC 101 or ENCC 102. That’s course # 2—again for everyone.

  • Most—actually almost all—freshmen then take a Math course based on placement and on the major indicated. That makes three courses.

  • If freshmen indicate a major area of interest and/or a pre-professional program, we will place those students in the appropriate course (s) for those areas/programs. That usually means one (1) more course, sometimes two (2). That will now total either four or five courses.

  • In many cases, there may now be room for one or two Elective Core courses, and here there is LITTLE CHOICE on the part of the student. Here we offer a preference of Elective Areas only:
a) Foreign Language;
b) Humanities;
c) Social/Behavioral Sciences;
d) Science (non-majors);
e) Philosophy/Religious Studies.

This last course(s) is selected by availability and student scheduling needs. Students are NOT guaranteed their first choice for this elective course.
  • Some typical schedules might look something like this:

FY_125 or FYO 125 FYO 125 or FY_125
ENCC 102 or HICC 101   HICC 101 or ENCC 102
MATH (by placement)   MATH (by placement)
MAJOR COURSE MAJOR COURSE
ELECTIVE CORE COURSE  ELECTIVE CORE COURSE
(IL 101)   (IL 101)
TOTAL: 15, 16, 17 CREDITS  TOTAL: 15, 16, 17, 18 CREDITS

  • Students should refer to our Major Checksheets for a “suggested” sequence for each major—remember the word is “suggested”; there are many different paths to the major.

  • Let’s use one major (Biology) as an example of a typical freshman schedule:
FYE 125  (3 credits) FLO 125  (3 credits)
HICC 101  (3 credits)    ENCC 102  (3 credits)   
MA 140  (4 credits)     MA 106 (3 credits)  
BI 111/113  (4 credits) BI 111/BI 113  (4 credits)
RS 101  (3 credits) MU 104  (3 credits)
TOTAL: 17 CREDITS 
TOTAL: 16 CREDITS


In these examples, the BI 111/113 is required for the major; the RS 101 and the MU 104 are courses from our Elective Core.

  • What if a freshman is Undecided about a major area of interest? In general, that simply means that he/she would take two (2) courses from the Elective Core instead of just one. Here are two possible examples:
FY_125  (3 credits)     FLO 125    (3 credits)
ENCC 102  (3 credits)  HICC 101 (3 credits)
MA 106  (3 credits)  MA 109    (3 credits)
SO FAR, NO REAL DIFFERENCE SO FAR, NO REAL DIFFERENCE
SP 151     (3 credits)   SO 110    (3 credits)
PS 110     (3 credits) PH 101    (3 credits)
TOTAL: 15 CREDITS TOTAL: 15 CREDITS

In these examples, the SP 151, SO 110, PS 110, and PH 101 are courses from our Elective Core.

  • Freshman classes meet at all times during the week—including at 8:00 AM!!!!—and schedules can often feature large gaps between classes. We even have some freshman courses in the early evenings. So schedules vary widely.

  • As much as is possible, we do consider students’ other needs (varsity sports practices, choir classes, for example) in building our schedules, but we are unable to consider personal preferences.

  • We will factor in and make adjustments if needed for prior college credit and/or AP Credit if and when we receive the transcripts and/or scores. 

  • So if you have the results of your AP Exams, please make sure that you have sent them to us—we need the Grade Report to award you credit if appropriate. We award AP credit only for scores of 4 or 5.

  • If you have College Credit from a college or community college, in order to award credit and to be sure you are placed correctly, we need an Official Transcript from the College—NOT from your high school.

  • You can look forward to more choice, both of courses and times, as you move into subsequent semesters.

  • And finally, welcome to Sacred Heart; we welcome your questions.
 

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