FAQs for Undergraduate Advising

How do I meet with my adviser?

Log on to Starfish and sign up for a time to meet. Find your adviser under “My Success Network.”

What, how, when do I petition?

How do I petition?

What can I petition?

Transfer credits that satisfy Penn State requirements

Substitutions and Recording Elective Choices

All requests to make substitutions for required courses are to be submitted through the coursesub.psu.edu system. Some Professional Elective choices need to be submitted through this system to have the course recorded in LionPATH as your choice as a Professional Elective. Many Professional Electives, and most Chemical Engineering and Engineering Electives are automatically moved to count towards these requirements in your LionPATH record. If a course is not appearing in the correct location on your "Academic Requirements" (also known as "degree audit") record in LinPATh, you should submit a petition to have the course moved through the coursesub system.

Typical petitions include:

FYS: Substituting any 1 credit course toward the FYS credit if you already received credit for a FYS. You may have received this credit from ENGL 137 or 138 (from SHC) or EDSGN from another campus.
MATH 230 for MATH 231: If you took MATH 230 (4 credits), you can petition this to count as MATH231 (2 credits) plus 2 credits of professional elective. No explanation necessary.
MATH 250 + MATH 252 for MATH 251: You can petition MATH 250 (3 credits) + MATH 251 (1 credit) for MATH 251. No explanation necessary.
Professional elective: Counting a 200-level course or above for a professional elective. Please provide a description of how this course contributed to your development as a student and/or as a professional.
Engineering elective: Counting a technical course for an engineering elective. You must describe how this course fits the following description of an engineering sciences course:
- Engineering sciences are based on mathematics and basic sciences but carry knowledge further toward creative application needed to solve engineering problems. These studies provide a bridge between mathematics and basic sciences on the one hand and engineering practice on the other.
General Education courses: You may want to petition a course that you took to count as a GA, GH, GS, GHW, IL, US or ID. These requests will go to the Dean's office in the College of Engineering. When making these requests please do the following:
- Attach the syllabus of the course.
- Describe how the course meets the requirements as found here for Knowledge Domains (GA, GH, GS: bulletins.psu.edu/undergraduate/general-education/domains.
- Here for interdomains (ID): bulletins.psu.edu/undergraduate/general-education/integrative-studies.
- Here for FYS, US, IL and GWS: bulletins.psu.edu/undergraduate/general-education/other-university-requirements.
- Be as specific as possible and include the assignments that satisfied the learning objectives.

When should I petition my classes?

After you have signed up for the course but before you graduate.
Note that some petitions require University approval. Please submit these as soon as possible for longer approval period.

What Professional Elective should I take?

You can count most 200-level courses as long as it will help your professionally. This is a chance to explore other interests that you might have.
If you are pursuing a minor, you may use 6 credits of the minor as professional electives.
Typically not a GA/GH/GS or GHA.
ENGR courses will only count as a professional elective.

How do I look at my degree audit?

Log on to Lionpath and find academic requirements.
The courses that you have taken will be collapsed (arrow to the right). The other courses that you need will be expanded (arrow down).
Also, at the top of each section Lionpath will state how many credits you have left in that section.

How should I take my 300-level courses?

First take 320 and 330, then 340 and 350.
You may take 330 and 350 concurrently but it is a bad idea to take 350 before 330.
You can take either CHE 330 or CHE 350 as a pre-req for CHE 410.

Are prerequisites taken seriously?

YES.

Should I do a minor?

If you have a special interest in an area and available space in your schedule, then the answer is yes. Review the ChE undergraduate handbook for more information.

How do co-ops and internships count?

ENGR 195, 295 and 395 can count as a professional elective. It can also count as an engineering elective under UPC approval based in your reports.
Your co-op reports may also give you credit for ENG 202C. This credit by examination is administered by the English department. More information is available on the Engineering Career Resources website.