Degree Planning Tools

The Registration Guide

The Registration Guide is your personalized pathway to get registered for classes which walks you through five steps:

  1. Verify declared academic programs
  2. Schedule advisor meeting
  3. Review course options
  4. Meet with advisor
  5. Register for classes

If you need help, there are FAQ pages and links that will assist you in your navigation.

The Degree Planner

The Degree Planner is a tool to assist you and your advisor in planning courses toward degree completion. Using the degree planner, you can populate information about courses you intend to take over multiple terms. Once you have populated your planner, the courses you have listed show up as “planned” in your degree audit.

You can review your degree audit to see how you should expect to progress toward graduation based on completed courses, courses you are currently taking, and your future plans.

Submit a ticket for any questions about the degree planner

Important Tips For Using the Degree Planner

Before you begin putting courses into your degree planner, you should make sure your major, minor, and certificate information in the system is up to date. If you need to make updates, complete the Declaration or Change of Major Form.

Although you can put courses into your planner for many terms in advance, it is important that you revisit your degree planner regularly to make necessary adjustments and updates. What you plan to take in a given term and the courses you actually complete may change for a variety of reasons, including:
  • Adding or removing a major, minor, or certificate from your academic goals
  • Alternate course selection because you were not able to successfully complete a prerequisite for a course prior to the semester you planned to take it.
  • Making alternate course selections due to scheduling constraints
  • New courses are created and become available which are of interest to you
  • Adjusting your intentions to take advantage of education abroad, internship, research, or work opportunities

For more information on how to update your degree planner, click here.

The requirement term represents the semester in which you entered your academic program. Your degree requirements generally fall under a particular catalog year or term. For example, if you began your studies at UMBC in Fall 2018, course lists will automatically be available in your degree audit, and you can choose “Plan by my Requirements” or “Plan by Catalog” when using the planner. If you began your studies at UMBC prior to Fall 2018, you can use “Plan by Catalog” when using the planner. In addition, if the requirements for your major have not changed since your first term at UMBC, you can request to update your requirement term to Fall 2018. If your major requirements have changed, you will first need to consult with your advisor.

You should review your planner each semester as you prepare to register for upcoming terms and discuss potential changes with your advisor.  The planner does not replace degree audit or consultation with your advisor and is not a guarantee of degree completion. It is a planning tool to use in conjunction with degree audit and advising consultations.

The Degree Donut

 

The Degree Donut provides a simple visual representation of your degree audit, and it includes completed, registered, planned, and unplanned courses. You should try to get your Degree Donut as close to 100% as possible.
Please note that courses being taken at another institution (including study abroad), are not included in
the Degree Donut until after they have been evaluated for credit.

The What-If Degree Audit

The What-If Degree Audit is a planning tool that allows you to see how your existing classes will adapt to a change of major or the addition of a second major and/or minor. The report will identify what additional classes are required to complete different majors.

You can find the What-If Degree Audit in the Degree section of your myUMBC profile.

This is a great tool to use when you are exploring new majors and minors!