Advising Handbook for Faculty

Table of Contents

Academic Requirements

A degree is made of up the following:

  1. general education requirement
  2. major requirements
  3. additional courses taken to reach the minimum requirement of 120 credits

Elective credits may include courses taken to fulfill requirements for one or more minors or for certification requirements. See the minor requirements.

Graduation Requirements

A great deal of information useful to seniors can be found at: https://advising.camden.rutgers.edu/students/seniors/

Senior review process: In August, seniors are sent information on reviewing their General and Major Requirements through Degree Navigator. All seniors must meet with their faculty advisors in early September/October to ensure that their major requirements are satisfied and plan their final semester. General requirement questions will be handled by the Office of Academic Advising.

Be sure to remind seniors that 120 credits are required to graduate. All requirements must be complete by May in order to participate in the Commencement Ceremony.

Applying to graduate: To be considered for graduation, seniors must submit an online diploma application to the Registrar’s Office. Final certification of all degrees is done by the Office of Academic Advising in concert with the department chairs. Graduation application periods are:

  • September 4-October 15 for January dated diploma
  • January 2-March 5 for May dated diploma
  • June 1-August 15 for an October dated diploma

Honors College Requirements

See the Honors College Requirements.

Guidelines for Using Degree Navigator

See Diana Keough, Senior Program Coordinator, for assistance. Training is available for departments or individual faculty members.

The following features of Degree Navigator allow students and faculty advisors to track a student’s academic progress and to determine the effect of taking various courses.

  • My Course List: All courses and grades are shown with GPA and placement test scores at the end.
  • Notes: All advisors can write special instructions here; these are not exceptions. They are a good record of a meeting and can be viewed by the student and other advisors. Be sure to initial all notes; dates given automatically. Notes are accessible by students, so do not write something you would not want a student to read.
  • My Program of Study: can view general education and major requirements separately or together. Long or short reports available.
  • Search by degrees to see requirements of other majors. Useful when student is considering another major or minor or major has options.
  • Exceptions: Department chairs, program directors, and assistant deans have authorization to grant exceptions. Editing a student’s record customizes the individual’s degree requirements without changing requirements for the institution as a whole. Courses can be added or credits changed. Always initial your changes.
  • My Planned Courses: may add courses to see how they meet requirements. Be sure students delete planned courses after they register for them.
  • Options: Art, Computer Science, Chemistry, Liberal Studies, Math, Music, and Nursing have different tracks within the major. Search by major for appropriate audit or use curriculum worksheets.
  • Credit checks: always be sure to compare to a student’s transcript, which is the official record of credits earned

Registering for Class

Advance registration takes place roughly in the middle of the semester previous to the one being enrolled for (early April for fall and summer, early November for Spring and Winterim).

Drop/add week is the first week of classes – see the Academic Calendar for specific dates – and allows students to drop and add courses without financial or academic penalty during the first week of school.

To register for classes: The schedule of classes offered for each semester is available online. You can see what courses are available at various times and obtain the information you need to register. Students can search by subject and time of course (morning, afternoon, evening) – green is open, red is closed. Online registration is available. Links to each are included on the other page.

The times for class meetings are also on the web.

Transfer Students

Transcript Evaluations

Transcript evaluations are conducted as part of the admissions and enrollment process by the Office of New Student Programs. Questions about these evaluations should be directed to Megan Zeller at (856) 225-6689. The New Student Programs office is located on the third floor of the Campus Center.

A maximum of 60 credits transfer from two-year colleges. There is no limit on the number of credits accepted from a four-year college, but students must earn a minimum of 30 credits from Rutgers Camden and meet all of our general education and major requirements for a degree.

The NJ TRANSFER website provides information about courses that transfer from community colleges in New Jersey to four-year colleges.

Placement Testing

Students sign up for placement tests (with dates) at https://newstudents.camden.rutgers.edu/placement-test-instructions

Placement tests ensure that students are enrolled in the appropriate level of English composition, mathematics, and foreign language course.

English placement testing is required of all first-year students who received an SAT-CR (formerly verbal) score of less than 500. English placement testing is required of all transfer students who have not successfully completed a transferable college-level English composition course or have not received a minimum score of 500 on their SAT-CR (formerly verbal).

Math placement testing is required for all freshmen students unless we have awarded credit through the Advanced Placement Program (AP) for pre-calculus or calculus. Math placement testing is required for all transfer students who have not successfully completed a transferable college-level mathematics course with a 640-course prefix (not statistics or computer science).

The foreign language exam in Spanish, French, or German is required for Arts and Sciences majors who will continue to study the language they studied in high school. Information about exemptions from the exam can be found at: https://newstudents.camden.rutgers.edu/placement-test-instructions.

Policies & Procedures

Drop/add week is the first week of classes – see Academic Calendar for specific dates – and allows students to drop and add courses without academic penalty during the first week of school. Special note: in order to receive a 100 percent refund, all courses must be dropped PRIOR to the start of classes.

Dropping/withdrawing from a course: Students may withdraw from an individual course and receive a W for the course up until the 10th week of the semester. Note: Students dropping between the eighth and 10th week must do so in person in the registrar’s office. While there is no academic penalty, patterns of many W’s over time can affect academic progress and financial aid as well as have an effect on graduate school applications.

Course Overload Policy: students must have approval to register for 18 or more credits; the requirements vary depending on the number of credits sought. Students must complete the appropriate form and have it signed before they will be able to enroll in additional courses.

Withdrawal from Classes: if a student wishes to withdraw from all of her/his classes, s/he completes and signs a withdrawal form and takes it either to the Office of Academic Advising (second floor of Armitage Hall) or to Associate Provost Mary Beth Daisey for discussion and signature. The form is also signed by the Financial Aid office so that they have the opportunity to explain potential financial aid implications. The deadline to withdraw from all courses is the 12th week of the semester. Withdrawals after the deadline are appealed through the Arts & Sciences Scholastic Standing Committee. Further information can be found in the catalog.

Scholastic Standing

The scholastic standing of all students is computed at the end of each term. The records of all students whose cumulative grade-point averages are less than 2.0 are referred to the Committee on Scholastic Standing. This committee reviews the work of all deficient students at the close of each term and may warn a student, place him/her on academic probation, or dismiss the student. Further information about these procedures can be found in the catalog.

Repeat Option: students receiving a D or F in a course designated may repeat the course. All attempts at a course will be shown on a student’s transcript.

Pass/Fail: Students who have completed 63 credits may be permitted to register for a maximum of one course per term, outside the general curricular requirements and outside courses in the major field, for credit on a Pass/No Credit basis. Permission to take a course on this basis rests with the instructor of the course and the student’s adviser.

Transient Credit

Matriculated students at Rutgers-Camden are expected to take all their courses at Rutgers–Camden unless they receive permission in advance to take a course at another institution. Exceptions will not normally be given for courses needed to meet general curricular requirements. Exceptions may be granted if a student has only one term before graduation and needs a course that is not offered during that term, or when a student’s major department authorizes taking an advanced or specialized course not available at Rutgers Camden.

Lower tuition, scheduling convenience, or traveling distance are not sufficient causes for taking courses elsewhere. Prior to enrollment, students should fill out a transient application form. It must be approved by the chair of the major department, the chair of the department in which the course is offered, and the associate dean of the college. Please submit completed forms to the Associate Dean’s Office on the third floor of Armitage Hall. Approval will not be granted retroactively.

Academic Integrity

Violations of academic integrity may include: cheating (the use of inappropriate and unacknowledged materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise); fabrication (the falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise); facilitating academic dishonesty (when students knowingly or negligently allow their work to be used by other students or who otherwise aid others in academic dishonesty); plagiarism (the representation of the words or ideas of another as one’s own in any academic exercise); and denying others access to information or material. The full version of the Academic Integrity Policy, the reporting form, and related materials can be found at: https://fas.camden.rutgers.edu/student-experience/academic-integrity-policy/.

If you suspect a student of violating the campus academic integrity policy, you should report that violation (using the appropriate form and providing documentation of the alleged violation) to the Dean’s Office (third floor Armitage Hall). Students may continue to participate in a course or research activities until the case has been adjudicated. Under no circumstances should a student be offered a choice of either dropping a course or facing disciplinary action. A grade of TZ should be assigned, pending resolution of this matter, and no penalties should be imposed until this complaint is resolved.

FERPA

Rutgers complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which affords students certain rights with respect to their education records, including the right to inspect and review those education records and the right to request amendment of education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading.

According to university guidelines, “Rutgers shall obtain the prior consent of the student before disclosing personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.” Moreover, “there are a number of exceptions to the general rule prohibiting disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records without prior consent of the student.”

Generally, this means that a student’s academic records or progress can only be discussed with that student, or with that student accompanied by others with their approval. Inquiring parents should be reminded about FERPA. Questions about the application of FERPA can be directed to Associate Provost for Student Affairs Mary Beth Daisey (856) 225-6050 or daisey@camden.rutgers.edu).

Some common exceptions used by Rutgers include disclosure to Rutgers officials with a legitimate educational interest in the records being sought and the release of student directory information. More details from the University Policy can be obtained from the Office of Compliance, Student Policy, and Judicial Affairs.

Academic Honors

Phi Beta Kappa

To be considered for Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest honor society for undergraduates in the United States, students must have: a liberal arts major, grade-point averages of 3.5 for seniors and 3.8 for juniors, one year of foreign language study at or above the Intermediate level, 60 credits at Rutgers. Transfer students may be nominated in their senior year if at the end of the fall semester of that year, they have earned 54 or more credits at Rutgers. Students are qualified through a careful screening process, then contacted to invite them to join the Rutgers chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

Athenaeum

The members of Athenaeum are elected from among the best scholars in the College of Arts and Sciences. Membership is limited to seniors who have earned at least 60 credits at the college with a cumulative grade-point average of no less than 3.5 and juniors who have earned at least 80 credits at the college with a cumulative grade-point average of no less than 3.7. Transfer students who will have at least 60 Rutgers credits by graduation may be considered for membership in their senior year if, at the beginning of the spring semester of that year, they have earned 54 or more credits at Rutgers.

Alpha Sigma Lambda

Membership is open by invitation to students who have earned at least 75 credits, including a minimum of 45 credits at Rutgers-Camden. Students must have a 3.5 or better cumulative grade-point average. There is a fee to join this national honor society. Generally, only the students attending the Rutgers-Camden satellite campuses (School 64) are eligible.

Departmental Honor Societies

See the departmental honor societies information.

Dean’s List

The dean’s list recognizes current academic achievement. The list is published at the end of each term for full-time students and in August for part-time students. Full-time students are eligible if they have completed 12 or more credits for numerical grade credit with a term grade-point average of 3.5 or better. Part-time students are eligible if during the previous academic year they have completed 12 or more credits for numerical grade credit with a grade-point average of 3.5 or better.

Graduating with Honors

The bachelor’s degree is conferred with Honors on all degree candidates with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.5. The requirement for High Honors is a cumulative grade-point average of 3.75. The minimum requirement for Highest Honors is 3.9. To be eligible for an honors degree, a student must successfully complete at least 45 credits within Rutgers as a matriculated student. These averages are precise; there is no rounding up.

General Honors from the Honors College

To achieve General Honors students must have their successful participation in the Honors College program certified and approved by the Honors College office. Students must have a cumulative 3.0 average on graduation.

Academic Support Services

Learning Center: The Rutgers-Camden Learning Center, located on the second floor of Armitage Hall, provides assistance with study, organizational, and writing skills to students through tutoring, academic coaching, and workshops. Information about their services can be found on the Learning Center site.

Student Support Services (TRIO program): TRiO Student Support Services is a program, supported by the U.S. Department of Education, designed to help Pell-eligible, first-generation college students and students with disabilities graduate from college. At the end of each Fall and Spring semester TRiO SSS Grant Aid will be awarded to eligible program participants. For information, see https://trio.camden.rutgers.edu/.

Expectations for Advisors and Advisees