Advising Questions

Acceptable scores and the credits issued can be viewed in the current catalog. It is important to note that the credits earned may change, so always refer to the catalog that was in place during your first year of matriculation.

AP Score reports are sent electronically and are usually posted to SIS within a week or so of being received by the Registrar. IB score reports take a little longer to post. Please note that score reports must come officially from the testing organization; notations on your high school transcripts are not accepted. If you do not see some or all of your scores in SIS –> Registration –> My Grades –> External Course Summary, first contact your testing organization and verify that all scores were sent. If your testing organization confirms that all scores were sent to the university yet you do not see them posted in SIS, you may speak with the Engineering Advising Office for assistance.

As stated in the catalog, other types of foreign exams are treated on a case-by-case basis. There is no guarantee that they will be deemed acceptable to receive credit at JHU. Please consult your professional academic advisor if you have questions.

The assigned credits and appropriate designator can be used to fulfill the requirements for your degree. For example, getting a score of 5 on the AP BC Calculus exam means that you have 8 credits of math, equivalent to 110.108 and 110.109, and Q distribution credit. If the math requirement for your major is 20 credits including 110.108 and 110.109, then you need to complete the remaining 12 credits required for your major.

Receiving credit based upon an acceptable exam and score means that those credits are part of your Hopkins academic record. If you took the Math Department’s placement exam, and did well enough to begin with Calculus II, but do not have exam-based credit, your Hopkins transcript would say Calculus I waived. No credit is awarded for a course that is waived. If the requirement for your major is 22 math credits, beginning with Calculus II would mean that you received no credit for Calculus I. It is likely that you would have to take additional math credits at a higher level.

Yes, but if we do not already have the score report for that exam on file, you must contact the testing organization directly to have that report sent to the university so that those credits can be added.

Students who enter the university from high school may transfer up to 12 credits from approved courses taken at other institutions. The courses will have to be evaluated for transferability and equivalency. If deemed transferable, the grades earned in these courses do not appear on the Hopkins record and therefore do not contribute to the Hopkins grade point average. The 12-credit limit on transfer credits does not include credits from Hopkins summer courses, Advanced Placement examinations, British General Certificate of Education courses, International Baccalaureate courses, or other foreign certificate courses. To have courses evaluated for transfer, students will need to complete the External Course Request form, which is located under the “Online Forms” in SIS.

All students, including graduating seniors, should request that an official electronic transcript be sent directly to [email protected] immediately after your grade has been posted by the other institution. If the other institution does not offer their official transcripts to be sent via secure email transmission,  please provide the postal address for the paper transcript below:

Johns Hopkins University

Office of the Registrar

3400 N. Charles Street

Garland Hall, Suite 75

Baltimore, MD 21218

No, it is only possible to transfer the credits. Only courses with a grade of C or better will be transferred. The grade earned will not factor into your GPA at Hopkins.

Current students who want to take a class elsewhere over the summer (or another time), should have the course vetted prior to taking it. You will need to complete the External Course Request form, which is located under “Online Forms” in SIS. Students need to remember that they are allowed to transfer only 12 external college credits (not including collegiate-level exam earned credits) during their undergraduate careers at JHU.

JHU will only transfer in the credits in the amount offered at the host institution (quarter units are converted to equivalent semester credits). If the credits differ, you need to discuss any implications this may have on your degree completion with your faculty advisor when seeking his/her approval to take the class.

The course must be taken for a letter grade. No credit will be transferred for S/U or pass/fail courses unless the other school states in writing that the mark represents a grade of C or better.

Log into SIS. Under the Registration tab, click on Online Forms and then follow the directions listed for either Add a new Major/Minor or Swap/Drop Current Program of Student. Please note that although the process to change a major is very simple, before doing so, you should make sure you are fully informed about the major and the department. Therefore, it is recommended that you make an appointment to speak with the department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies or Academic Program Staff before declaring/changing the major.

You can follow the same steps as mentioned in the previous response. If you are adding a second major within KSAS, a list of their DUSs can be found here.  

Prior to switching your major, make an appointment with the department’s DUS to learn the new major’s requirements. During this appointment, discuss how your current coursework will satisfy the new major’s requirements. The department may require the completion of missed courses or may allow course substitutes.

No, if you have multiple majors, some of your courses will be able to be double-counted. You will need to make sure, however, that you are completing the core major requirements for the secondary major. It will be important to speak with your faculty advisors from both departments to make sure you are on track to completing the majors. Please note that students earn only one degree even if they complete two majors. The degree will be based upon their primary major. In relation to this, EN students who double major with their secondary major in KSAS are only bound to fulfilling the degree requirements of WSE. (E.g., BS EN primary majors have to complete 6 credits of writing-intensive (W) courses and 18 credits of humanities (H) or social science (S) courses.

Changing your faculty advisor is handled through your department. Please contact the academic program staff for your department regarding how changes can be made.

It is possible in this particular situation to make the change from S/U to graded. Please visit WSE Undergraduate Academic Advising for assistance.

12 credits

Find your faculty advisor and ask him/her to release the hold. The professional academic advisors in the WSE Undergraduate Academic Advising office are unable the release the hold. If you are unable to get in touch with your faculty advisor, contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies in your department to see if the advisor alert can be released.

Students who wish to overload in credits should follow the directions listed on our Canvas site, WSE Academic Advising. Overloads are not guaranteed approval. Please note: No permission will be granted to freshmen for the first semester. After first semester grades have been posted in SIS, freshmen can request overloads for their spring term. Other students can request an overload during the registration process.

Students should follow the directions listed under Exception Request on our Canvas site, WSE Academic Advising. 

Students have until the end of the sixth (6th) week in a regular academic term, fall or spring, to drop a course from their registration as long as they remain in 12 credits to maintain full-time status. If after the sixth week, a student still needs to get out of a course, s/he may withdraw from a course(s) through the end of the eleventh (11th) week of the fall or spring term. The student will first obtain his/her faculty advisor’s permission to withdraw from a course via email. Then the student will open a ticket with the Student Enrollment and Account Management (SEAM) and upload the faculty advisor’s email to the ticket for processing.

Yes, you must be enrolled in 12 credits to be considered a full-time student. Falling below 12 credits is not permitted unless special permission has been granted based upon advice from Student Disability Services or a student has completed eight full-term semesters.

A ‘W’ means that you withdrew from the course after the six week add/drop deadline. Despite campus “mythology” passed between students, having one or two Ws on a transcript should not have long-term negative effects on a student’s post-JHU endeavors (e.g. graduate school, medical/professional school, employment, etc.), especially if the rest of the academic record is strong. A student should, however, investigate if taking a W will have any effect on his/her financial account if s/he receives financial aid.

Review the course description of the next course in SIS. Most sequential courses require a minimum grade of C- in order to continue with the next level. If that is the case, you will need to drop the “next level” course from your schedule. You will need to retake the pre-requisite before taking the next course in the sequence. Retaking a course you got a D in will also improve your GPA (assuming that you earn a higher grade the second time). For more information on the Retake Policy, please visit the catalog.

If you click on the alert in SIS, a dialog box will open and there will be information regarding the alert type and how to resolve it. To learn more about Alerts, visit the Registrar’s Office website. 

There is no official list of available labs; however, there is a faculty and research directory for WSE faculty. Additionally, there is the Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research (HOUR) that can provide students with tips for securing research and other opportunities.

Yes, there are no restrictions on first-year applicants. Participation in a research lab is a selective process in which you are evaluated on the skills and knowledge you can bring to the lab. The needs of the lab will be an important consideration in the decision to accept you as a member of the research team. Please note, however, that there is no need to secure a research position upon entry into JHU. Although research and other Independent Academic Work are great co-curricular endeavors, students should not feel pressure to do something in their first year. Taking the time to get acclimated to campus and the demands of traditional academic work will be beneficial before adding on Independent Academic Work.

If you have a position (research, independent study, or an internship), that you would like to receive credit for, you first need to identify a faculty sponsor. The faculty sponsor will be the person to submit a letter or S/U grade for you. Second, you need to complete the Independent Academic Work form via SIS (Registration→Online Forms) in order for it to be processed and added to your courses for the term.

Your faculty sponsor must be a full-time Homewood faculty member. Check with Undergraduate Academic Affairs/ Engineering Advising or the Registrar if you don’t know whether that is the case.

Yes. The steps to register will be the same as previously mentioned. You still need to identify a Homewood-based faculty sponsor willing to submit a grade for you. The main difference is that your faculty sponsor and your site supervisor must collaborate in terms of assigning a grade. There should be a clear understanding before you register as to how you will be assessed and how the site supervisor will communicate what you earned with the faculty sponsor upon your completion of the experience.

There is a limit of 3 credits per semester, with a maximum of 6 credits per academic year. The academic year begins in June and runs through the following May. Independent Academic Work is all coded as xxx.5xx in SIS.

For every credit of Independent Academic Work (i.e. research, independent study, or internship) you earn, you will work 40 hours. How you and your mentor keep track of the time you spend on the project should be decided when you begin the experience.

Yes. If you’re able to secure an opportunity that is able to pay you, that is fine. Independent work done for academic credit may also be paid or unpaid.

Only grades of C+ or lower (or U and UCR if S/U grading) are eligible to be repeated at Hopkins. You cannot absolve a grade of B-. Retaking a course has to be done in the original grading configuration (i.e. letter grade or S/U). For more information on the grading policies, please see the information in the Catalog.

No. Retaking the course at Hopkins is the only way to absolve a grade and have your GPA recalculated.

Students may retake one course on SIS without any permission from an advisor. If you need to retake multiple courses, or if you need to take the course for the third time, visit the Canvas site, WSE Academic Advising for more information.

The Application for Graduation is available online in SIS self-service. The deadlines for application are July for the Summer term, October for the Fall term, and February for the Spring term. To access it, sign in to your account and go to “Program of Study Info” under “Registration.” In the last column on the right, you will see the link “apply to graduate.” Click on it and follow the directions to submit your application for graduation. When you’ve completed the application, make sure you print a copy for your records (you do not need to submit the paper copy to anyone; just keep it). The link usually becomes available at the beginning of your junior year. If you need to make changes to the application, hard copy applications can be obtained from the Registrar’s Office.

The decision to clear you for graduation is made in your major department. If you also have a second major, a transcript will be sent to that department to clear you for that major. Your department sends over information to Engineering Advising/Undergraduate Academic Affairs during your last term. A professional academic advisor from the office reviews your final term grades and the information to make sure you have met the department’s requirements.

You must have a 2.0 in your major. Check with your department since some departments allow no D credits. No more than 18 credits of D or D+ can be applied toward the degree requirement.

The assigned credits and appropriate designator can be used to fulfill the requirements for your degree. For example, getting a score of 5 on the AP BC Calculus exam means that you have 8 credits of math, equivalent to 110.108 and 110.109, and Q distribution credit. If the math requirement for your major is 20 credits including 110.108 and 110.109, then you need to complete the remaining 12 credits required for your major.

You must be a full-time student in your final (8th) semester at Hopkins. If your final semester is your 9th or 10th, you will be allowed to enroll in fewer than 12 credits and pay per credit.

The WSE Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Academic Advising may allow students to walk in the commencement ceremony if the student and department can show that the student only needs one or two more courses to complete his/her degree and that the student is enrolled in those courses during Summer Session.

Students only receive one diploma for their undergraduate endeavors even if they complete more than one major. According to the Catalog: A student with a double major receives the degree (BA/BS) associated with the student’s primary major. Completing a second major does not entitle the student to a second degree. The completion of additional majors is recorded on the transcript and diploma. When completing a double major, students need only satisfy the distribution requirement affiliated with the school of their primary major.

Students pursuing a double degree with Peabody, however, will receive two diplomas.

From the Catalog: Students who have completed eight or more semesters in college may take an additional course or two after graduation to complete a second major or minor if they have filed an approved plan with their respective advising office before their initial graduation date. The courses, grades, and credits will appear on a new academic record. A notation indicating the additional major or minor will be added to the new academic record, but a new diploma will not be issued. Students must notify their academic advising office when additional courses taken after graduation satisfy another major or minor.

The Registrar’s Office will mail your diploma. Please contact them regarding the process and time frame.

Students who earn a term grade point average of 3.50 or above in a program of at least 14 credits with at least 12 graded credits will be placed on the Dean’s List for academic excellence. An appropriate notation is made on the student’s academic record. Letters are sent to parents/guardians by the student’s respective academic advising office.

Academic probation is a warning that you are not meeting the university’s academic expectations. If your GPA is below 2.0 for a semester, or you complete fewer than 12 credits, you will be placed on academic probation for the following semester. You are restricted to register for no more than 14 credits when on academic probation as an engineering student. During the term you’re on academic probation, you will work closely with your professional academic advisor to try to get back on good academic status. If your term GPA for that semester is a 2.0 or better and you complete at least 12 credits, you will be removed from academic probation and return to good academic standing. If your term GPA is below 2.0 or you complete fewer than 12 credits for a second consecutive semester, you will be academically suspended from the university.

A Leave of Absence is considered to be an interruption in your studies for a specific period of time. There are three types of Leaves of Absence (LOA): 1. an Emergency Leave of Absence (ELOA)  which is handled by the Student Outreach & Support in the Office of the Dean of Student Life, 2. a Medical Leave of Absence (MLOA) which is handled in the Student Outreach & Support in the Office of the Dean of Student Life, 3. a Standard Leave of Absence (SLOA) which Engineering Advising Office handles. For more information, please visit the Canvas site, WSE Academic Advising.  

You can follow the same steps as mentioned above; however, additionally, you will want to speak with the Office of International Services (OIS) to see what, if any, implications there may be to your visa status.

No. Students who are on a Leave of Absence from Hopkins may not take courses at another university to be transferred to their Hopkins academic record.

You will need to complete the Leave of Absence Request Form found on the Canvas site, WSE Academic Advising. 

Prior to your anticipated term of return, please contact the Assistant Director for Undergraduate Academic Advising that you are ready to come back. Then, contact your faculty advisor to lift the Advisor Hold in SIS and to review what courses you should enroll in for the semester as well as what requirements you still need to complete. You should check for the date of registration at the Registrar’s website.

If necessary, contact Financial Aid, Residential Life, and/or the Office of International Services to prepare for the semester.

You should work with the Office of International Services to verify that you meet the requirements for OPT or CPT. Your faculty advisor, not a professional academic advisor from Engineering Advising, will also need to approve.

If your visa and I-20 are specifically related to studying at JHU, then no, you would not be allowed to remain in the U.S. You would need to work with OIS to understand the international implications.

If you decide to transfer, your visa, issued specifically for Hopkins, will no longer be valid. You should work with the Office of International Services to see what you need to do.