Faculty Role
Faculty advisors need to be aware of the complexity of the B.S. requirement
in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; they need to be particularly
conscious at the time of the major declaration if the previous course work
completed is applicable to the requirement and to any changes that must be
made if the studenes previous major was one that led to a B.S. degree in
another department within the college or in another college at NIU. If the
advisor has departmental authority to approve substitutions within the sequence,
this should be done as soon as possible after the major declaration; if authority
on these matters is centralized in the department chair or Undergraduate
Studies Director, the faculty advisor should refer the student to that person
in a timely manner. Because the B.S. requirement is a college-wide mandate,
substitutions require both department and college signature.
Student Role
Students find the B.S. requirement one of the most complex elements of the
baccalaureate curricula; from the time of their initial testing on the Mathematics
Placement Examination administered by the Office of Testing Services prior
to or at orientation, students should seek advice from the college advising
office and from their major department regarding the choices available and
the recommended scheduling sequence to address this requirement. Because
the B.S. requirement requires a minimum C-average, students should consider
their options carefully if a grade of D or F is earned in any course in the
sequence (see section on Repeating a Course in this handbook).