New Student Advising

There are two resources to help you know and understand what courses you will need to complete for your major:

The Find Your Program section of the Catalog lists all majors, minors, and certificates currently available at George Mason. Each program page has a tab for Requirements, which lists all the requirements and course options.

Each major also has a four-year plan available. The 4-Year Plans are guidelines to show you an example of how your courses might be completed in a traditional four years. They are not meant to be prescriptive since many of you are starting at Mason with several requirements already completed. Click on the link to the 4-Year Plans to find the one for your major, and review the courses recommended for your first year. If you already have most of the recommended first year courses completed, you can look at the second year, and so on.

If you are an Exploratory student or Undecided, you can review any of the 4-year plans for the majors you are considering or interested in. You may see some common courses among them. Your advisor will assist you with which courses to prioritize based on your major interests.

Your Virtual Advising Session is your time to work with an advisor to register for your classes, and it helps to come prepared with a list of options. Some or all of the courses you may have seen recommended on the 4-year plan were specific courses for your major, while some courses may have been general education categories or electives.

For general education, most students will be completing Mason Core requirements; Honors students will complete Honors College curriculum instead. Some transfer students may have their Mason Core already completed or waived; you can verify this with your advisor.

Mason Core: Use the Mason Core section of the Catalog to see the different courses you can choose from to complete the Mason Core requirements. Some majors have courses that fulfill Mason Core requirements, which you can review in the previous section regarding the program pages in the catalog and the 4-year plans. For example, if your major requires you to complete MATH 113, then you would complete this course for your Quantitative Reasoning rather than choosing one of the other course options listed. You can learn more about the Mason Core at the Mason Core Website.

Honors Curriculum: To learn more about the course requirements for Honors students, you can review the Honors Curriculum in the Catalog and the Curriculum page on the Honors College Website.

Pre-Health Courses: If you are planning to pursue a graduate health professional program (e.g. medicine, dentistry, physician assistant, etc.), you can take a look at the recommended prerequisite courses for your chosen profession. Click on the “Prerequisite Courses by Profession” button on the Academic Preparation page on the Health Professions Advising website. You may or may not be recommended to start these courses in your first semester, but it is helpful to at least know what they are and start planning.

Completion of the Math Placement Test is required for the following math courses: MATH 105, 108, 113, 123, and 125.

• If your major requires any of those math courses, then you need to complete the test.
• If you are considering any major or program that requires any of those math courses but have not yet decided, you are encouraged to complete the test.
• If you already have credit for the math course or pre-requisite course you need, then you do not need to complete the test.

Completion of the Math Placement Test prior to registration is especially important if several of the courses you need to enroll in depend on your score.

For more information about which majors/programs may require math placement testing and the scores needed, see this Math Placement Test handout.

If your major does not have any foreign language requirements, you can skip this section.

If you are completing a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, then you must satisfy the foreign language requirement of a 202 or 212 course or equivalent or get a waiver by test or other procedure. Your language proficiency, AP or other test scores, or transfer credit might place you into a higher level course, reducing the number of foreign language courses you’ll need to take. A few majors and minors may have foreign language requirements beyond the intermediate level, which you cannot test out of or waive.

If you are seeking a foreign language waiver or want to place in a level above 101 or 110, see the Foreign Language Testing website for more information.

Admissions processes your transcripts from other colleges as well as any credits or pre-requisites you may have earned from your AP, IB, or other test scores. These credits will show up on your unofficial transcript, which you can access on Patriot Web, and your degree audit, which you can access on DegreeWorks (also accessed through Patriot Web).

If your test credits have not yet been processed, see the Academic Credit by Exam website to find out which credits you can expect to receive based on your test scores.

If your transfer or dual enrollment credits have not yet been processed or you want them re-evaluated, see the Transfer Credits page. More information about the Transfer Credit Re-Evaluation Appeal Form is near the bottom of the page.

Some majors have an introductory college experience course built into their curriculum that is taken in the first semester. If your major does not but you’re interested in taking a course that will help you transition to college, connect you to valuable resources, and give you the tools to make the most of your time at Mason, then we highly recommend adding one of the Transition to Mason courses offered by University Studies to your schedule. There are transition courses for both first-years and transfer students.

When creating a schedule for the Fall or Spring semesters, if you are a full-time student, you need to enroll in a minimum of 12 credits. All degree programs require a minimum of 120 credits, which equates to about 15 credits per semester for a traditional four year plan; however, the amount of credits you enroll in can vary each semester depending on your own circumstances and the types of courses you enroll in.

• It is recommended that you plan two hours of study time for every credit hour. For example, if you enroll in 15 credits, you would need to plan for 30 hours of studying outside of your class time.
• If you enroll in science labs, keep in mind that though the lab is only one additional credit, it is more equivalent to three credits worth of time and study.
• Make sure you give yourself enough time for additional events outside of class and study time like meals, sleep, meetings with professors and advisors, rest, extracurricular activities, naps, work, etc.

Here is a general example of what a weekly schedule may look like:

Advisors, other staff, and your peers may give you advice and information about building your schedule, but ultimately you know yourself and your needs best, and creating a proper schedule to fit those needs is your responsibility.

If you are a new first-year student, your registration time ticket opens on your Virtual Advising Session day, but you can still browse the schedule of courses ahead of time. Log into Patriot Web, go to the Student Services tab, click on Registration and then Registration and Planning.

Next you should see the following on your screen:

Browse Classes: Click on Browse Classes to see if the course options you selected are being offered. You can also view the course dates, times, and other information. Be mindful that Mason offers courses on multiple campuses including Korea, so make sure you are picking out the courses for the campus you want.

Plan Ahead: Click on Plan Ahead to create course schedules ahead of registration.

Prepare for Registration: Click on Prepare for Registration to complete any pre-registration requirements, so that you are ready to enroll when your time ticket opens.

We also recommend watching the Patriot Web tutorial on “How to Register for Classes”. The video length is under four minutes.

If you already know that the major you applied to is not the major you want to pursue and you need to change your major or switch to Exploratory, you will need to fill out and submit the “Change/Declaration of Academic Program” form, which can be found on the Undergraduate Student Forms page.

Please note that some majors have selective criteria that you need to meet before you can declare. You can find which programs and criteria these are on the Selective Majors section of the Majors and Minors: Explore, Change, Add page.

During your Virtual Advising Session, you will meet with an advisor, but this person may or may not be your assigned academic advisor. Each department has a different system for advisor assignments, and you might not know your official advisor until the semester begins. If you have questions and are unsure of the person to contact, use the Advisor Locator. There are links to each of the college/school advising pages that have information on how to reach out to an academic advisor for your major/program.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is a federal law that governs the education records of students.

Mason does not release non-directory student information unless the student has provided consent to release this information to a parent or guardian.

What does this mean for you regarding academic advising? If you want your parent or guardian to accompany you to an advisement meeting whether it is in person or virtual, you need to first sign the FERPA Consent form. The consent form is also required if you want to allow your academic advisor to discuss your grades or academic progress with your parent or guardian with or without you present. If you do not consent to your parent or guardian having access to this information, then you do not need to sign the form and no further action is required. Also, please note that signing the consent form does not entitle a parent or guardian to information on your education records.

FERPA Consent to Release Student Information – online form (student must log-in with NetID and password)

It is your responsibility to know and be aware of university policies and academic deadlines.

The University Catalog is the official source of information about university policies and program requirements. We recommend taking some time to review the Policies section of the Catalog, so you are aware of the policies you have already agreed to.

The Academic Calendars are made available for each term as the dates change from year to year. It is a good practice to add important dates and deadlines to your Mason or personal calendar and take care of any tasks in advance. Keep in mind that, for example, if a form you need to submit requires multiple signatures, you need to obtain those signatures before the submission deadline of the form.

Be aware of the following dates and deadlines:

• First day of classes
• Last day to add a class; last day to drop
• Last days to drop with tiered tuition reimbursement
• Last day to withdraw or selective withdraw

One of the benefits of attending George Mason is all of the resources, support, and opportunities available to students, and we encourage you to start exploring them. A good place to begin is the Mason Student Resources page on the advising website.

If at any point you aren’t sure where to go for support, you can start with your Academic Advisor or your Success Coach, and they will be able to assist you with finding the right person or office to assist.