Advising Guide for Freshman Registration

Please follow these steps to prepare for orientation:

• Become familiar with degree requirements.
• Explore requirements for educational goals in pre-professional fields.
• Check your placement test results.
• Review course options.
• Consider the number of credit hours you will take.
• Activate your Netid, Enterprise ID and passwords.

• Become Familiar With Degree Requirements:
  Upon entering UIC, you may or may not have an idea about your major area of study. We suggest that all freshmen begin by focusing on college and general education requirements, and use these courses to explore various areas of interest.
  
  College Requirements
  All students must complete Academic Writing, Foreign Language, and Quantitative Reasoning requirements. Placement tests should be taken in each of these areas before attending orientation.
  
  
  • Academic Writing
    Students must start where their placement test or ACT scores dictate. Students must continue the Academic Writing sequence until successfully completing English 161.
  • Foreign Language
    Students must complete the equivalent of the fourth semester of college-level foreign language. If you have a background in a foreign language, you should take a placement test in that language prior to attending orientation. If placement tests are not offered in your language, speak with an advisor at orientation.
  • Quantitative Reasoning
  Students must start where their placement test scores dictate and must complete a certain level of math, statistics or logic in order to satisfy this requirement. The appropriate course will depend on your major or educational goal.
  Students who fail to take the placement tests prior to attending orientation will find themselves unable to register for university writing, math, chemistry, or foreign language.  Unless you have AP or other college level credit that determines your placement, you will not be able to register at orientation for some of your most important and required courses for fall.  Please take the time to respond accurately to the questionnaire regarding testing in my.UIC and then take both the math placement test (ALEKS in my.UIC) and the remaining placement tests in person on the UIC campus PRIOR to attending your orientation date. 
  
  
  General Education Requirements
  All students must fulfill the general education requirements in order to graduate. General education courses include the following categories: analyzing the natural world, understanding the individual and society, understanding the past, understanding the creative arts, exploring world cultures, and understanding U.S. society. Nine courses in these areas are required, with at least two from the analyzing the natural world category.
  
  These areas will be discussed in greater detail at orientation, so just familiarize yourself with the requirements at this time by looking in the Undergraduate Catalog.
  
  
• Explore requirements for Educational Goals in Pre-professional Fields:
  If you have already determined that you wish to be a doctor, dentist, occupational therapist, lawyer, etc., please visit the section of the catalog which lists the course requirements for each of these pre-professional programs.  These course requirements will not replace the need for a major. All LAS graduation and major requirements must still be met, in addition to completion of required preprofessional courses. You will find that many of these required courses fall into one or more of the general education categories and may fulfill major requirements.
  
  
• Check your placement test results:
  After you have completed your placement testing, you can access your test results, obtain information on how to interpret the results, and learn how to prepare for your first semester at UIC through UIC Connect.  You will find orientation and planning for your first semester to be much easier if you review the following web sites prior to orientation.
  • To check placement test results, go to https://my.uic.edu and log in.  Follow the instructions on the page if you haven't activated your portal account.  Otherwise, click on login under Existing Portal Users to access my.UIC.   Go to the My College page on the UIC Connect tab.  In the My Links section, click the Placement Test Reservations link to access the Testing Services page.  Click on view your placement test results.  Once you have this information, you may begin planning your course schedule for fall prior to registration at orientation.
  
  
• Review course options:
  While your academic writing, foreign language, math, and chemistry (if needed) courses will be dictated by your placement test results and choice of major and/or educational goal, you have many choices when it comes to your general education courses. Take a look at the section of the Undergraduate Catalog which lists general education requirements and courses and choose two or three that interest you from each area: natural world (science classes with lab, 2 are required), individual and society, the past, creative arts, world cultures, and U.S. society. Once you have found a couple of courses from each category that sound interesting, check the Course Descriptions for prerequisites (courses you must take first in order to be properly prepared). Most courses designed for first year students will be at the 100 level such as Psch 100, Econ 120, and Hist 103. Not all courses will be available or open every semester.  To see what is offered in a particular semester, go to Course Descriptions, select Schedule of Classes and then select Schedule of Classes Search.
  
  
• Consider the number of credit hours you will take:
  A semester hour is the University’s unit of academic credit. Typical courses are three credit hours.   Many science or math courses are four or five because they include a discussion or lab component. A minimum of 120 hours are needed for graduation. In order to be a full-time student, you must register for at least 12 credit hours in Fall and in Spring. We do not recommend registering for more than 15 or 16 credit hours in your first semester at UIC. If you take fewer than 12 credit hours in fall or spring, you will be considered a part-time student. Students are expected to study at least 2 hours outside of class for every hour of class. For example, if you register for 15 credit hours, you should plan on a minimum of 30 additional hours of study time per week in addition to class time. It is important to balance any outside work and other commitments with your academic load.
  
  
• Activate your Netid, Enterprise ID and passwords:
  Prior to registering for classes in my.UIC, you are required to activate your portal account (Netid and Enterprise ID).  Go to https://my.uic.edu.  Please follow the instructions for "First Time Portal Users".