Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Advising

Category: Registration

Why am I getting a “Major Restriction” error when I try to enroll in University Chemistry II lab/recitation?

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In the spring semester there is one section of CH 1161 University Chemistry Lab II and one section of CH 1163 University Chemistry Recitation II that is reserved for only chemistry majors, which is not us.  This section is indicated under “course comments” when you click on the CRN for any of the lab or recitation sections.

You will need to choose a different section of CH 1161 and/or CH 1163.

Note that CH 1163 U Chem II recitation is recommended because of positive feedback we’ve received from students who have taken it.  They tell us that it is even more helpful than U Chem I recitation because U Chem II is more new material and less review of high school chemistry topics than U Chem I.  If you choose to take U Chem II recitation then it can count towards your free elective requirement.

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I got “major restriction” when I tried to register for organic lab; why is that?

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For organic lab CH 2411 you will need to choose a lab section that is not L07 or L09. These two sections are reserved for chemistry major (not chemical engineering). Any seats available in these classes will open up after the initial registration period is over, so if there are still seats, you can try later to register for those restricted sections.

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How do I plan out my chemical engineering degree at Michigan Tech?

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The CM degree at Michigan Tech requires 131 credits plus 3 credits of co-curricular classes (physical education).  What classes are required for you depends on when you started at Michigan Tech, known as your catalog year.  The requirements are all posted on our advising webpages, and we made a video walking you through the process for planning out your degree.

Here’s the basic process.

  1. Go to our advising webpage and select Undergraduate — Advising — Plan Your Schedule
  2. Print out the course requirements (4 year plan or 5 year plan), the General Education Requirements, the co-curricular requirements, and the Technical Elective requirements that go with your catalog year.
  3. On your 4 (0r 5) year plan, cross off any courses for which you already have credit.
  4. Print out a blank Academic Plan worksheet.
  5. Fill in the Academic Plan worksheet with all the remaining courses.

There is a great deal that goes into that step “5” up there, and we’ve made some videos to help you find your way through the process.  Once you have a good rough plan, you may wish to make an appointment with a CM advisor to make sure that you’ve got all the details right.

That’s it!  Welcome to Michigan Tech Chemical Engineering–We’re glad you’re here.

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How can I prepare for registration?

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Registration is always right around the corner, and before it arrives, it’s best to get prepared. Those of you who have tried to make an appointment with Katie near registration time know that her schedule fills up. She has “walk-in” office hours weeks 9-11, so you will not need an appointment, but you may face some lines. With this post I reach out to you with some advice to ensure that you have a good registration season.

Katie’s walk-in office hours schedule is posted here: blogs.mtu.edu/chem-eng-undergrad/

If you are uncertain what classes you need to take, please take a look at our video on Planning your Schedule.

Planning your schedule begins with the planning handout at this link (http://www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/advising/2015MoreAdvisingInfoHandout4SemPlanFAM.pdf), which shows a 4-year plan of how the Chemical Engineering curriculum maps out. I have indicated the classes that cause a bottleneck–these are the classes that are only offered one time per year. Up until the spring of junior year you have flexibility in when you can take classes. The three spring junior classes, however, (transport 2, kinetics, controls) are only offered in the spring. The senior chemical engineering classes (unit and plant operations, plant design, safety and the environment) are only offered once per year as well. This means that you need to be ready for those spring junior classes during the spring that you plan to take them.

The pre-requisites for our classes are summarized on this handout:  www.mtu.edu/chemical/undergraduate/advising/pdfs/prerequisite-map.pdf

To plan out your schedule you should map out which semester you intend to take the fixed classes (spring junior classes, senior classes) and then back-calculate when you will take the pre-requisites for those courses.

On the planning handout I have also indicated when classes are offered on-line, and I’ve highlighted some General Education (GenEd) rules that you should be mindful of as you plan out your GenEd choices.

Finally, once things get close to graduation, every requirement must be met and this can get confusing sometimes. For checking or auditing your compliance with your degree requirements Michigan Tech uses DARS: Degree Audit Reporting System. Go to your Banweb account, log in, and look for Degree audit. You can run your own degree audit. It takes a minute or two for the computer to slot all your courses into the various bins or “buckets” where they satisfy requirements. When it’s finished, you can take a look. Green is good; red is bad. You will see all kinds of lists and requirements that are checked. It is a computer program and online, so hopefully you can poke around a bit and figure out how it’s working. If you are a transfer student or if you transferred in courses, it is very helpful for sorting out what credits count for what.

Please take a look at your DARS and see how your credits earned are stacking up towards getting your CM degree. If you look over the attached sheet, consult the pre-req map, look at your degree audit, and make use of the handouts for minors and technical electives that are on the Advising web page, you will see that registration is a snap.

Thanks for your patience during registration season. We will endeavor to answer all your questions and hopefully we can find a solution that will lead to a smooth path towards your BS in chemical engineering.

More helpful links:

best wishes,

Dr. Morrison

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What does a “Linked Course Required” error mean?

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There are a number of classes that have multiple parts (a lecture, recitation, and/or lab), and you must enroll in all of the parts to register for the class.  If you only register for one part you will get a registration error that says “Linked Course Required”.  If you look at the section column when you search for classes (labeled “Sec”), the lecture sections are lettered (0A, 0B, etc.), the recitation sections start with an R (R01, R02, etc.), and the lab sections start with an L (L01, L02, etc.).  All of the parts of a single course will have the same course number.

For example to enroll in CM 3215, Transport Lab, you must register for both the lecture and lab portions:

CM 3215 0A (lecture)

CM 3215 L01 or L02 or etc. (lab)

Classes with multiple parts include:  MA 1160, MA 1161, MA 2160, MA 3160, CM 3215, CM 3310, CM 4110, CM 4120, and CM 4855.

Some classes instead require a “co-requisite”.  This means that you must sign up for both classes (different course numbers) or you will get a “Linked Course Required” error.  Classes that require co-requisites include:  CH 1150/CH 1151, CH 1160/CH 1161, and MA 2321/MA 3521.

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I am an incoming transfer student; how do I register?

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Per the Registrar’s office on 18March2015, students with more than 30 transfer credits can register themselves through Banweb. Visit the Chemical Engineering 24/7 Advising page (blog) and the ChemE Advising Handout page to see Chemical Engineering degree requirements and suggested schedules.  Once you have taken a crack at sorting out a schedule, email the ChemE advisor at  cmadvise@mtu.edu to receive additional advice.

Students with fewer than 30 transfer credits will be registered by the Registrar’s office in July as part of the incoming first-year registration process that puts first-year students into “cohorts”.   See the website for the website for the Waino Wahtera Center for Student Success (Scheduling Information for Engineering Majors) for more information about cohorts and first-year student scheduling.  Some first-year classes are added during orientation and cannot be added ahead of time.

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Can I take PH 2200 and CM 3110 at the same time?

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We recommend that you complete all the first and second year courses, including PH 2200, before beginning your junior chemical engineering courses, especially CM 3110.

Although we recommend that you complete PH 2200 before taking CM 3110, you are permitted to take them at the same time or to defer PH 2200 to a later semester.    In Fall 2014, 44% of the students taking PH 2200 and CM 3110 at the same time failed CM 3110 or earned a D in CM 3110.  Note, also, that PH 2200 is a prerequisite for CM 3310 Process Controls, which is only offered in the spring semester.

If you are not following the standard sequence, please reflect on your capabilities and your academic strengths and weaknesses as  you plan your schedule.  You may wish to discuss your situation with your advisor.  If you are a strong student, you can succeed in CM 3110 even without having completed all your second-year physics.  Even strong students, however, will get more out of CM 3110 if they approach it with the full preparation of all the first and second year courses having been completed with a C or better.

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What is the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS)?

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One of the frustrating things about registering is the uncertainty:  what classed do I need?  Does this class I’m looking at count as tech elective?  as gen ed?

One resource you have to sorting this out (besides seeing Katie) is the DARS tool in Banweb (Degree Audit Reporting System).  This tool checks your records (according to Michigan Tech) against the requirements for your degree.  If you’ve met the requirements, it goes GREEN.  If the requirements are not met, it stays RED.  See our advising video on this subject.  Degree services also have their own tutorial video (March 2018).

I would like to suggest that everyone try it out.

To get to DARS you log onto your Banweb account and under Student in the middle column look for “Degree Audit”.  Click there and run the current year audit.  Sometimes you have to wait – look for the circle above to see if it’s thinking.  It always has to generate the report to get the most current version.

When the DARS opens, you will see some graphics and a long column of red or green “buckets” of courses or requirements.  They are:

1.  Two buckets that check your GPA for both the department and for overall.  Both must be over 2.0 for you to graduate.
2.  Major requirements:  This is all your core math, physics, chemistry, and chem eng courses.
3.  Chemistry option:  here whether you take Organic 1 or Hydro Pyro you chose a different audit path.  In this section you will see the technical electives and the various categories of the electives.  Take a close look to see what classes you may choose from in each category.
4.  Six gen ed buckets that check if you meet all the gen ed requirements.  It checks if you have the freshmen courses, the sophomore courses, the HASS, etc.  It checks that at least 6 credits of HASS are at the 3000 level.
5.  Co curricular bucket – your phys ed courses.

The DARS system is what actually checks you out for graduation.  If it says you graduate, you do.  We have worked long and hard with the programmers in the Admin Building to get this system to accurately check you out for graduation – please use the DARS tool to guide you as you plan for registration.

There are some things that the DARS system will not do right until Katie “touches” your audit and makes an adjustment.  If something you chose or transfered puts you into this situation, you do need to come see Katie.  She’ll be happy to look at DARS adjustments after registration is over.

Hope this eases your registration experience!

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How do I register for classes?

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The Engineering Fundamentals folks have  put together some concise slides about registration that you may find helpful.  They are available at this link:  www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/advising/RegistrationInfoEngAdvisor2014.pdf.  The instructions refer to the Registrar’s page, which is a great resource for up-to-date information on registering with the BanWeb system.

If you continue to have problems, please visit the Student Service Center at the Administration building, and they will take care of you.

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