Updated October 25, 2018
Advising Week is the time for undergraduate and master’s students to visit their academic advisors to plan and approve classes for the Spring 2019 semester. Also, students can discuss their plans to graduate, career and job questions, graduate school possibilities, study habits, and life, in general.
Please read this entire page and take action!
When Advising Week is in…
All Seniors must send the Excel-version of their updated Checkout Sheets to Mike Bernard by October 29 by e-mail at me-academic@jhu.edu.
He will review all sheets to ensure you are on track to graduate. This “double check” between your advisor and Mike helps the department comply with ABET accreditation goals. Mike will alert you and your advisor with any questions or issues.
Please be aware of the academic policies that will affect your course choices, especially if you are taking a 2nd major or a minor elsewhere. Don’t be surprised in your final semester by some policy you’ve never seen that will affect your eligibility to graduate.
Section 2 of the MechE “Top 12 – Undergraduate Students” and Section 4 of the MechE “Top 12 – Graduate Students” pages provide quick links to specific academic advising and catalog policies.
Check out the Undergraduate and Graduate Course Schedules.
In the schedules in SIS in “Day-Times” section, where there is more than one day/time listed, it usually means one section is a lecture and the other is a lab. SIS does not differentiate between the two, but where a course has multiple sections listed, the “common” time between the sections is the lecture time.
The schedules in the Mechanical Engineering webpage will be updated along with the SIS schedule as changes occur.
You must complete a checkout sheet and take it to your meeting to keep your advisor updated on your degree plan.
You must visit your advisor to release your “Advising Hold” in SIS so you can register. View each tab until your find your advisor so you can schedule your meeting.
Your advisor name is on your SIS record.
On occasion, your advisor might approve a course to substitute for required courses in your degree program.
Part of the approval process is to complete the Course Exception Waiver Form. Please use this form if your advisor approves substitute courses, as it is required for your graduation.
Bring or send the completed form to Mike Bernard (mike.bernard@jhu.edu | Latrobe 230) so he can obtain the appropriate Chair or Whiting School Academic Advising office signature. This form will be kept in your advising file.
Forms are available here:
Though “Degree Audit” is in use for some majors, and though it appears as an option in your SIS record, don’t use it! The system is not ready for use for Mechanical Engineering majors and Engineering Mechanics majors. It will provide incorrect information about your degree plan and create unnecessary anxiety for you.
Until you are told otherwise, please refer your questions about your degree plan to your faculty advisor or to Academic Program Manager Mike Bernard. We are unsure when Degree Audit in SIS will be ready, but we will tell you the moment it is.
The Johns Hopkins E-Catalog section on Program Requirements describes Course Areas, which categorize undergraduate courses into five main areas:
Courses can have up to two course areas.
If a course carries no course area, then it will not count for the sections of the degree that require a course area.
Math courses must have a Q course area but must be a math course. Courses numbered AS.110.xxx (Mathematics), and EN.550.xxx or EN.553.xxx (Applied Mathematics) will have the “Q” course area. Please ask your advisor about Q courses with any other course number before counting and taking them.
Humanities and Social Sciences courses have to have either H or S as one of the course areas. They could have both (HS) or be paired with another course area (e.g., HN or QS or other combination).
Mechanical Engineering electives must have an E course area and be numbered EN.530.3xx or higher, as well as EN.580.451 and EN.580.452 Cell and Tissue Engineering I / II.
Technical Electives must have either an E, N, or Q course area and must be numbered xx.xxx.3xx or higher (upper-undergraduate level). They, too, could be paired with another qualifying course area (e.g. EN, EQ, NQ) or with another course area (e.g. HN or QS or other combination).
Courses with unusual combinations like HN or QS can count for only one course in your degree program. For example, a course with a QS course area cannot simultaneously count for both a Technical Elective and a Humanities/Social Science elective. It can be counted for one elective or the other, but not both.
All students taking courses with experimental labs must now take 990.100 Laboratory Safety for Undergraduates before registering for your courses. This two-hour online course should be completed 24 hours before your registration period begins so the SIS registration system will acknowledge the course’s completion.
Taking the course just one time will cover all of these courses:
To take the course:
Please note that the course EN.990.100 will NOT be visible on your transcript even after you successfully complete it. It is administratively recorded in SIS, and will be read by SIS when pre-requisite checking your selected courses.
Please read Section 5.3 of the Academic Advising Manual about where Humanities and Social Science courses can be taught. Only one can be taught in the Whiting School, which will have courses numbered EN.xxx.xxx. Many students have been tripped-up by this requirement. Don’t be one of them!
Visit the Aerospace and Biomechanics Tracks page for track requirements and eligible courses. Note that the names of these were recently changed from “concentration” to “track.” An explanation is on the page, and the same recognition for the achievement of tracks will occur when they were called “concentrations.”
Be sure to confirm that courses from other departments that count are being offered. Not all of them are offered every semester, and occasionally a course is dropped.
Mike will be able to visit with one or two students per day, depending on his schedule, so contact him early!
If you are considering changing or are ready to change majors to Mechanical Engineering or Engineering Mechanics, please contact Mike Bernard to be assigned an advisor.
If you have questions about changing majors but are not quite ready, contact Mike to arrange a meeting to discuss your concerns.
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