Course Abbreviations

Texas Common Course Numbering System

Academic Advising

The University views sound academic advising as a significant responsibility in educating students. Academic advisors assist students in developing intellectual potential and exploring educational opportunities and life goals. Many people in the campus community contribute to the advising process, including faculty, staff, student, and professional advisors. Through the relationship established between advisor and student within a friendly, helpful, and professional atmosphere, a student has the opportunity to learn about educational options, degree requirements, and academic policies and procedures; to clarify educational objectives; to plan and pursue programs consistent with abilities, interests, and life goals; and to use all resources of the University to his or her best advantage.

Ultimately, the student is responsible for seeking adequate academic advice, for knowing and meeting degree requirements, and for enrolling in appropriate courses to ensure orderly and timely progress toward a degree. Frequent advisor contact provides students with current academic information and promotes progress toward educational goals. The University supports that progress and encourages effective academic advising campus-wide.

The advising systems are described in the college/school sections of this catalog.

Student Responsibility

While University faculty and staff members give students academic advice and assistance, each student is expected to take responsibility for his or her education and personal development. The student must know and abide by the academic and disciplinary policies given in this catalog and in General Information, including rules governing quantity of work, the standard of work required to continue in the University, academic warning and dismissal, and enforced withdrawal. The student must also know and meet the requirements of his or her degree program, including the University’s basic education requirements; must enroll in courses appropriate to the program; must meet prerequisites and take courses in the proper sequence to ensure orderly and timely progress; and must seek advice about degree requirements and other University policies when necessary.

The student must give correct local and permanent postal addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail address to the Office of the Registrar and to the offices of the student’s deans and must notify these offices immediately of any changes. Official correspondence is sent to the postal or e-mail address last given to the registrar; if the student has failed to correct this address, he or she will not be relieved of responsibility on the grounds that the correspondence was not delivered.

The student must verify his or her schedule of classes each semester, must see that necessary corrections are made, and must keep documentation of all schedule changes and other transactions.

All students should be familiar with the following sources of information:

The University Catalog

Information about the University catalog is found in General Information.

The Course Schedule

The Course Schedule is published by the Office of the Registrar and is available before registration for each semester at http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/. It includes information about registration procedures; times, locations, instructors, prerequisites, and special fees of classes offered; and advising locations.

Dean’s Offices

In each college, the office of the assistant or associate dean for student affairs serves as a central source of information about academic affairs and student services. The student should consult the dean’s office staff for information not provided in the publications listed above; a student who is in doubt about any University regulation should always seek clarification in the dean’s office before proceeding.

Petitions for Exceptions

Petitions for exceptions to degree requirements, other than the University-wide core curriculum, are handled through an online petition system. Academic advisors initiate petitions on the student’s behalf and route them through departmental faculty advisors. The most common reason for petitioning is to request the substitution of transfer coursework for a specific degree requirement. Final decisions on all petitions are made by the dean’s office. Degree requirements are very rarely waived outright.

English as a Second Language

Honors

Honors programs and organizations are described in college/school sections of this catalog. General Information gives the requirements for recognition as a College Scholar or Distinguished College Scholar, inclusion on the University Honors list, and graduation with University honors.

Interdisciplinary Opportunities

Several of the majors listed in the section “Degree Programs” are interdisciplinary in nature. The Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, for example, is offered by the Cockrell School of Engineering but involves substantial coursework in the life and physical sciences; in the various area studies programs in the College of Liberal Arts, such as Latin American studies and Middle Eastern studies, students examine a geographic area from the viewpoints of several traditional disciplines.

In addition to interdisciplinary majors, the simultaneous major option, and the formal dual degree programs described later in this catalog, the University provides various ways for students to add breadth and diversity to their studies. These include the minor and transcript-recognized certificate programs; other concentrations, not reflected on the graduate’s transcript, are described in the later chapters of this catalog. The Education Abroad program, described in General Information, allows students to consider their own field from the unique viewpoint of another culture. The Bridging Disciplines Programs and other initiatives of the School of Undergraduate Studies help students traverse the traditional boundaries between colleges and disciplines.

Cross-disciplinary initiatives of the colleges and schools are often described on their websites, which may be reached via http://www.utexas.edu/academics/areas-of-study.

Simultaneous Majors

With proper approval, an undergraduate may pursue two majors simultaneously. The two majors may lead either to a single degree or to two degrees. For example, a student who majors simultaneously in history and government is awarded a single Bachelor of Arts degree; a student who majors simultaneously in journalism and government receives the Bachelor of Journalism and the Bachelor of Arts.

Students are admitted to the University with a single major. They may choose a second major after completing 30 semester hours of coursework in residence at the University. A student must follow any application procedures and meet any admission requirements that have been established for the second major; information about these and other relevant college policies is available from the dean. Approval of the student's application for simultaneous major will take into account the student's ability to graduate within four years¹ of entering the University.

Students with simultaneous majors must pay all applicable major-related fees for both fields, and they have the right to use the advising and student services provided by both colleges. Decisions about admission to programs, honors, academic warning, and dismissal are based independently on the criteria for each major.

A student who chooses to pursue two majors simultaneously is expected to take responsibility for their educational development. The student must know and abide by all policies of each of the colleges in which the student is enrolled. The student must also know and meet the requirements of both degree programs, enroll in courses appropriate to both, meet prerequisites and take courses in the proper sequence, and seek advice from both colleges about degree requirements and other University policies when necessary.

For programs requiring more than four years, the projected length of the program will be used instead of the four-year standard.