Dave's general advising and admission notes

Quick links

Getting set up as advisor

Program entry (application, registration, prior learning assessment)

Transfer credit

Course pre-requisites

Degree requirements/policies

Declaring minors, majors, switching faculties

Graduation process

Progress letters for Saudi students

General

Keep a hardcopy file on each student (paper trail for alums), currently this lives in a filing cabinet in the advisor's office, alphabetical by last name, covering all students who have come in for advising since roughly 2010.
Remind students that THEY are responsible for the final check of their requirements, we ADVISE ONLY.
General VIU regulations

Getting set up as advisor
Access needs to be obtained for
- administration of graduation applications (contact Carrie Johns)
- accessing student records (might be included in grad app access)
Notification of the change of advisor should be sent to (at least):
- The Sci/Tech office staff and the science advisor (Eric Demers)
- Carrie Johns (graduation applications, convocation)
- Cathy Cameron, Sandra Galloway, and Kate Jennings at International Advising
- Julie Chapman (international transfer credit)
- Donna Linkletter (domestic transfer credit/articulation)
- advising@viu.ca for getting the VIU degree advisors page updated
- possibly Fred Jacklin (registrar)
Application
See application processes (www.viu.ca/apply) in particular the 8 steps to becoming a student and the Canadian/international online application process. For international students, a much better breakdown (including the transfer credit process) is given at international.viu.ca/admissions
Registration dates
Dates of enrolment vary by student type, here's a typical breakdown:
Outstanding + disabilities: May 15th
Continuing students: May 16-23
New students: May 24-28
Suspended/late registrants: May 31-June 4
Program Entry
Entry requirements are a minimum of a C in ENGL 12 and a minimum of C+ in pre-calculus 12 (formerly foundations of math 12)
Students entering without the high school math pre-req can proceed with 160/161 but will need to get their pre-req math cleared before they can begin any of the math courses required for cs degrees/diplomas
VIU upgrading options: www.viu.ca/advising/newstudents/OptionsforCompletingPre-requisites.asp
Prior learning assessment procedures are available at www.viu.ca/advising/newstudents/pla.asp with faculty forms and procedures located at www2.viu.ca/facultyhelp/PLA.asp
As of 2015, costs for single courses are $250 for 3-credit, $333.34 for 4,
costs for multiple courses are $500 for first 9 credits, plus $15 per additional credit
Transfer credit within BC can be looked up through the BC Transfer Guide (bctransferguide.ca)
Math 123 equivalents: TRU Math 1380+1390, Capilano Math 124, Kwantlen Math 2410, Northern Lights Math 152, U. Fraser Valley Math 125
Transferring to/from UVic after first year
CSCI 160 = CSC 110, CSCI 161 = CSC 115
ENGL 115 = ENGL 115
MATH 121 (VIU) = MATH 100 (UVic), MATH 122 (VIU) = MATH 101 (UVic), MATH 123 (VIU) = MATH 122 (UVic)
Transfer credit for local students is arranged through Admissions / Registration (or email questions to transfer.credit@viu.ca), often after requesting recommendations from the respective advisors.
Transfer credit and articulation for domestic students is handled by Donna Linkletter, while for international students it is handled by Julie Chapman (it might also be wise to cc Sandra Galloway).
Letters of permission for study at other institutions while already a VIU student:
To be eligible (procedure 32.08.001 in VIU policies/procedures):
- at least 12 credits must already have been completed at VIU
- a gpa of at least 3.0 (B) in most recent 12 credits at VIU
- no F's due to academic misconduct in the past 4 semesters at VIU
Who writes the letter:
- for international students: International Admissions
- for lower level domestic students: Registrar/Associate Registrar
- for upper level domestic students: the area advisor (us for CS)
  I last obtained hardcopies of the letter from the Associate Registrar, Admissions and Registration
Note that students who are currently suspended from VIU do not need a letter of permission to study elsewhere, their credit will be reassessed if they re-apply with us following the lifting of the suspension. (That clarification came from Andrew Armour regarding a case in 2016/17.)
Advisors at other institutions:
UVic undergrad: Jane Guy (jguy@csc.uvic.ca)
UVIc grad school: gradsec@csc.uvic.ca

Chitkara course articulation
The course-to-course matching from the Chitkara program is given here.

Pre-reqs

Math 122/123: require Math 121
Math 223: requires Math 123
Math 241: requires Math 122

CSCI 160: principles/foundations of math 12
CSCI 161: minimum C- in 160
CSCI 162: minimum C- in 160
CSCI 251: 161/162 as co-requisites
CSCI 260: 161, Math 123
CSCI 261: 161 as a co-requisite
CSCI 265: 161
CSCI 307: B average in 1st year CSCI/MATH
CSCI 308: 370, plus B average
CSCI 309: 308, plus B average
CSCI 310: 161, 162
CSCI 311: 265, 310
CSCI 320: 260, Math 123
CSCI 330: 162, 260, 261, 265
CSCI 331: 260, 265
CSCI 355: 162, 261, Math 123
CSCI 360: 260, 261, 265
CSCI 370: 260, 265
CSCI 375: 162, 265
CSCI 400: 3 credits of Computer Science
CSCI 405: 260, 360, Math 241, one additional upper level CSCI
CSCI 408: 309, plus B average
CSCI 409: 408, plus B average
CSCI 460: 355, 360
CSCI 485: topic dependent

Pre-req policies
for students
for faculty
Third year standing: means completed at least 54 credits
(0-23 credits = 1st year, 24-53 = 2nd, 54-83 = 3rd, 84+ = 4th)

Pre-req waivers

if a pre-requisite waiver is needed then the advisor needs to send an email to Andrew.Armour@viu.ca with the appropriate information and approval (or to Sophia Hilbert for international students)
Course checklists and sample programs for Computing Science at VIU
The lists below are provided as an unofficial planning aid only, students are required to ensure they meet the graduation requirements for their chosen degree/diploma.
- BSc Major in Computing Science
- *Diploma in Computing Science
- BSc Major in Computing Science with a Minor in Mathematics
- BSc Double Minor: Computing Science and Mathematics
- BA Double Minor: Computing Science and Business
*Note that for the students who are "backing out of" a BSc attempt into the Diploma, particularly international students running out of time/money, I recommend flexibility about accepting other CSCI courses in lieu of 112, and of accepting other courses from the Faculty of Management in lieu of Acct 100 or Mgmt 192/292.
Official calendar requirements pages
- Diploma
- BSc Major/Minor
- BA Minor
English policies
Need Engl 204, and one of
(a) Engl 115, or (b) Engl 111 and 112, or (c) Intr 100
Math policies
Since Math 121 is required, cannot get credit for any of Math 100, 141, 151, 152, 191
For programs requiring Math 122 (i.e. BScs in CS), cannot get credit for Math 101 or 192
Courses completed at VIU
At least 60 credits must be completed at VIU
At least half of the upper level courses must be completed at VIU
(this also applies for minors, e.g. for a business minor at least 9 of the 18 upper level business electives must be taken at VIU)
Breadth electives can be taken from Acct, Anth, Crim, Geog, Econ, Fnce, Glst, Mark, Mgmt, Phil, Poli, Psyc, Reli, Soci with the following exceptions:
Anth 111, 213, 214
Geog 211, 212, 221, 226, 228
Psyc 200, 204, 205, 206
For students wishing to complete a second major, a minimum of 60 additional credits is required, with at least 42 at upper level, plus meeting all of the required courses for the specific degree.
For students who wish to do the two degrees concurrently, the student must submit a graduation application for each of the two degrees (i.e. two applications) and at the point of convocating with the first degree they must have completed at least 30 of the credits towards the second degree.
Students can do a double-minor: either a BSc double-minor with another science minor, or a BA double-minor with a minor outside science.
For students wishing to complete a B.Sc. Associate Degree (two-year degree) the requirements are:
- 60+ credits total, with a C average
- 6 credits of english
- 6 credits of arts other than english
- 6 credits of math, with at least 3 of calculus
- 3 credits of lab science (astr, biol, chem, geol, phys, geog 211/222)
- 33 additional science credits
- 6 elective credits
Declaring Minors/Majors
when a student wants to declare a major/minor you meet with them, go over what they'll need to take to get it, and send an email to gara containing Student name, student number, and choice of
- Science major without/with coop: S-CSCI-MJ, S-CSCI-MJC
- Science/arts minor: S-CSCI-MN, A-CSCI-MN
- Diploma: DIP-CSCI
To change a student's goal go to: https://isweb.viu.ca/srs/stuupdate.htm
Once there, enter the student name or number, then pick Student Goals from the menu on the left. A list of goals will appear, enter their new goal (e.g. S-CSCI-MJ) in the empty spot at the top of the list and select "Update Goal" on the right.
For students who wish to declare their major or minor in another area, see the list of degree advisors
(www.viu.ca/advising/currentstudents/degreeadvisors.asp)
For science in general see Eric Demers (359 rm 207)
(Erick Groot? Bldg 380 room 207, local 6365)
Switching faculties
If a student wishes to switch between BA/BSc the best contact point is Andrew Armour, associate registrar

Graduation
Students apply to graduate through the online registration system, applications should be in by the beginning of October (Oct. 12th in 2015) if they want to convocate in February, and by mid-February (Feb. 14th in 2016) if they want to convocate in June.
Students can participate in the ceremony as long as they can complete their degree requirements within 5 weeks of the ceremony.
If a student does not meet the requirements please email Carrie.Johns@viu.ca so she knows what to expect at convocation.
the advisor needs to logon and approve a student's graduation request for CS majors and diploma students.
To check the students have met their requirements, unofficial transcripts can be generated by going to the records page at
https://isweb.viu.ca/srs/mystudentrecord.htm#findstudent clicking on Student Record Information, entering the student number, and selecting "Generate unoffical transcript" from the menu on the left.
The goal planning system (GPS) can also be brought up through this screen. It is useful in general, but has some quirks and flaws so take its advice with a grain of salt.
I check it against the following home-made checklist for the BSC or checklist for the diploma.
Graduation applications for bachelors programs can be viewed and processed from the site: https://isapp.viu.ca/VIUWEB/main.asp
Under "VIU Apps" select "GradApp Admin" and you'll find a list of all the science graduation applications. Double-click to bring up an application, and the fields to fill in are pretty self-explanatory: set yourself as the advisor, set their gpa, mark as approved, etc.
Upon reviewing their transcript and computing their gpa, you enter the gpa, select whether or not it has been approved, and submit the updated application.
Up to Feb. 2015 'with distinction' in Faculty of Science means a gpa of at least 4.07, but that will be identified automatically once you enter their gpa.
The grade scale and gpa calculation values are given below, and gpa calculation is implemented in ~wesselsd/gpa as per gpa.C and checked against the values calculated in GPS.
```
90-100  A+  4.33          64-67   C+   2.33
85-89   A   4.00          60-63   C    2.00
80-84   A-  3.67          55-59   C-   1.67

76-79   B+  3.33          50-54   D    1.00 
72-75   B   3.00        
68-71   B-  2.67           0-49   F    0.00
```
Note that fractions are rounded, i.e. 79.5 => 80 whereas 79.49 => 79

Progress letters for Saudi students
To maintain their funding, the Saudi government requires their students to obtain regular official progress letters stating their gpa, credits complete/to go, estimated completion date, etc.
Sandra Galloway is the person who writes these letters, but she usually asks the advisor to look up all the pertinent facts. The process is the same as checking degree requirements: pull up their transcripts and go through them manually - don't trust GPS for this.