BS in Construction
Management -
Advising
Frequently Asked Questions
Who do I see for advising?
Do I need to see a faculty advisor?
Can I ask my faculty advisor about other things, like job searches, career options & graduate
school?
Can I change advisors?
What is Senior Checkout?
Is it important to set / regularly update my expected graduation date in PAWS?
I can't register for a class because of a prerequisite problem.
What is a Degree Audit, and where can I get a copy?
What is the Flowchart, and where can I find
it?
I'm on an older catalog. Do I follow that
catalog's flowchart, or the latest flowchart? Do I need to meet
the latest prerequisites?
Which General Education classes can I take?
What happens to my Gen Ed classes if I change catalogs?
Why would I change my catalog? How do I
change my catalog year?
What is a minor? How do I get a minor?
Should I do an internship or COOP? How do I get one?
When should I sign up with Career Services?
How important is participation in student
organizations?
Are there any CM-related student
organizations?
I'm not
receiving department emails
Submit questions concerning
CM undergraduate advising to Dr.
Les Rosso (llrosso@lsu.edu).
.................
Who do I see for advising?
For regular course advising
related to the CM program, see your assigned faculty advisor.
Click
here to find out who your assigned CM faculty advisor will
be. You can always ask at the
CMIE office to find out who your advisor is as well.
For questions on course transfers, course substitutions,
and Senior Checkout, please see the
CM Undergraduate Coordinator (Dr. Les Rosso).
Do I need to see a faculty advisor?
A flag is placed on all
construction management students prior to the start of registration. You will not be able to register until the flag is lifted. The flag is only lifted after you have met with your
assigned faculty advisor and reached an agreement on coursework for the
upcoming semester.
Students who have declared CM but are still classified UCFY or UCAC are
not required to see an assigned CM faculty advisor, but are strongly encouraged
to see Dr. Rosso for scheduling advice.
During Fall advising, you will need to meet with your faculty advisor to plan your Spring
semester
and Winter Intersession coursework. You may also wish to
discuss your Summer and Intersession plans.
During Spring advising, you will need to meet with your faculty advisor to plan
Spring Intersession, Summer Session, Summer Intersession, and Fall coursework.
Can I ask my faculty advisor about other things, like job searches, career options & graduate school?
Yes!! In addition to course advising, your faculty advisor is there to provide mentoring and career planning for you. Please feel free to discuss career
options and goals, graduate school, and other academic related questions with your advisor.
Can I change advisors?
Initial assignment of
students to faculty advisors is done alphabetically and with an effort to keep the number of students assigned to each faculty fairly equal. You can ask for a new advisor if you would prefer to work with another faculty advisor due to sharing similar interests with another faculty or a personality conflict with your current advisor. However, we may decline your request or assign you to someone other than your first choice if it would cause a significant imbalance in advising loads.
What is Senior Checkout?
The purpose of Senior
Checkout is to make sure that a student graduating in the next
semester is taking all the necessary courses, and to uncover &
resolve any potential problems that may prevent graduation.
For students graduating in Spring or Summer, Senior Checkout is performed in the Fall semester prior to graduation. For Fall graduates, Senior Checkout is done the prior Spring semester. You will receive a email from the College of Engineering Dean's Office when it is time to do Senior Checkout.
To checkout, you must
first meet with the CM Undergraduate Coordinator to plan out all remaining coursework and insure its possible to graduate. The Undergraduate Coordinator then signs off on your checkout audit.
You then complete an exit survey. Once that is completed, bring the signed audit to
the counselors in the Engineering Dean's office. At that time, your Senior Checkout flag is lifted (allowing you to register) and you are put on the graduation list.
Is it important to set / regularly update my expected graduation date in PAWS?
Yes. If you have not set your graduation date yet, a flag is set on your account that will prevent you from registering. Also, if you set a graduation date a while back that is now gone by or is coming up and you have not done senior checkout, the date will be cleared and a
registration flag set until you update it or go through senior checkout.
I can't register for a class because of
a prerequisite problem.
You will no longer be able to register for any of the
CM courses if you have not already completed the necessary prerequisites, or completed / enrolled in required co-requisites.
What is a Degree Audit, and where can I get a copy?
The Degree Audit shows what coursework you have completed and not completed towards your degree requirements, as well as any minors you are registered for. It shows officially what you've been given credit for, what substitutions / transfers have been accepted, and what minors you are registered for,
and what coursework is not applying to the degree.
You can get a copy of your degree audit in PAWS, under "Student Services",
or got to the CMIE office located in 3128 PFT Hall and request a
copy.
What
is the Flowchart, and where can I get it?
The flowchart is a visual
representation of the curriculum requirements for each Catalog
year. It shows what courses you need to take, the
prerequisite/co-requisite constraints between classes, and
approximately when in your program you should take each course.
If a student follows the flowchart exactly, they can complete
the curriculum in four years. If, however, the student takes
fewer credit hours (because of a job or other issues), or must
repeat courses, or does not place into the preliminary courses
in Math and Physics, or does an academic year internship/COOP,
then summer courses and/or additional semesters may be required
to complete the degree.
The CM flowcharts can be
found by clicking on the "Flowcharts" link at the top of this
page.
I'm on
an older catalog. Do I follow that catalog's flowchart, or the
latest flowchart? Do I need to meet the latest prerequisites?
The catalog/flowchart for
your catalog year defines what courses you need to take,
and any minimum grade requirements for specific courses and the
program overall (such as the C or better requirement for MATH
1550 and PHYS 2101 for all engineering students)
HOWEVER, course
pre/co-requisites requirements - including minimum grade
requirements on prerequisite courses - are always governed by
the LATEST catalog.
Sometime courses on older
catalogs are dropped or renumbered in more recent catalogs. When
these changes occur, the CM Undergraduate Coordinator and your
faculty advisors will provide you with information on which new
courses are considered equivalent to the old courses.
Contact the CM Undergraduate Coordinator if you have any
questions.
Which
General Education classes can I take? What happens to my Gen Ed
classes if I change catalogs?
You must always use the
General Education list for your catalog year. The list
for each year can be found on the Flowchart page (link at top of
this page) or from the LSU A-Z page. On that page you will also
see a document that provides suggestions on which General
Education courses to take.
If you use the wrong
year's list, you could potentially take courses for which you
will NOT receive credit towards your General Education
requirements.
When you change catalog
years, the catalog year list also changes for your General
Education requirements. Occasionally courses fall off the Gen Ed
list, which means a course that was a Gen Ed on your old catalog
may not be one on your new catalog. Always have a college
counselor review the Gen Ed courses you have taken before
changing catalogs, to make sure there will not be any problems.
Why
would I change my catalog? How do I change my catalog year?
You can change to a newer
catalog year at any time up to graduation. Students who have
left LSU for 2 or more semesters and are re-entering must change
to the latest catalog year at the time of their re-entry.
Changing to a new catalog
may be beneficial. For instance, moving from an older catalog to a
newer one may reduce the number of courses you need to take.
Your degree audit will also more closely align with the current
flowchart, making course planning easier.
To change your catalog
year, see the college counselors (3304 PFT Hall) - they will
make the change (and review your Gen Ed courses first for any
potential problems). It is also recommended that you speak
with the CM Undergraduate Coordinator first to see if the change
will work in your favor.
What is a minor? How do I get a minor?
Which are of interest to CM students?
A minor is a sequence of courses that are taken in addition to or in conjunction with your degree requirements to develop expertise in a particular subarea. Course requirements vary but most minors require between 18 to 36 credit hours of coursework. In addition to further building your expertise in areas of interest to you, minors can be useful in making you more "marketable" when it comes time to graduate and get a job.
A minor is noted on your official LSU transcript.
You must register that you are pursuing a minor with the Engineering Counselors. They will enter into the computer that you are pursuing the minor. It is not enough just to take the courses!! To check your minors, get a copy of your degree audit - it will indicate at the top any minors that have been registered for, and will also have a section for each minor showing the minor requirements. If it isn't on the degree audit, you are not registered.
See the "Minors" link at the top of this page for
information on minors commonly pursued by CMs.
Should I do an internship or COOP? How do I get one?
Having some non-academic
construction management experience has become practically a requirement for getting a job with many companies. It is strongly advised that you get some practical
construction experience outside the university
prior to graduating. This experience can come from part time work, internships or COOP's. Internships are typically done over the Summer. COOPs generally are multi-semester, and generally require the student to take off one or more semesters from school. COOP
and internships arranged through Career Services are formerly noted on a students transcript.
Most internship hiring is done between November and March for the following Summer, so get started early. Register with Career Services and get familiar with their listings for internship and COOP opportunities. Career Services also has a COOP office which you can contact. Attend the LSU Job Fair, the Construction
Interview Day, and talk to the company representatives about job opportunities. You may also consider interviewing with companies even if you are not yet graduating - if they are impressed they may be able to find an internship position for you.
The CM Undergraduate Coordinator will also send out notices on
internship opportunities from time to time, so make sure to
check your email for messages from the department.
Networking is another - and effective - means of getting an internship. Contact alumni, family friends, etc., who are working at companies you are interested in.
When should I sign up with Career Services?
Its never too soon. You can sign up with career services at any point in your program, including as a freshman. Registering early will allow you to participate in
short courses they offer on resume writing, job searches, finding internships & COOPS, as well as so you can get familiar with how to use their job search resources. Career Services is located in the Patrick F. Taylor Hall and their website is
http://www.lsu.edu/career.
How important is participation in student
organizations?
Companies want to hire students who are leaders, self-starters (motivated), and have good people skills. Participation
in student organizations - particularly as an officer - is an excellent way to demonstrate you have these characteristics.
It also shows you have done more than just academics while at LSU. Be aware that many recruiters look at school as a part time
20-30 hour a week job. The obvious question is what did you do with yourself the other
10-20 hours of the work week? Showing initiative and
self-motivation will give you an edge in the job market.
Are
there any CM-related Student Organizations?
Yes - the Construction
Student Association (CSA) is open to all CM students. Their web pages can be found under "Student
Orgs"
on the main menu above.
I'm not receiving department emails
All CM
students should be on our CM email list. We occasionally sent
out information on job/internship opportunities, student
organization meetings, and advising/registration information,
and curriculum changes.
We try to keep this list
up to date, but the email list is only loosely tied to the
campus registration systems and sometime students don't get put
on our list (particularly recently entering / reentering or
transferring students). If you believe you are not receiving
these emails, please contact Dr. Les Rosso to make sure your
name is on the list. |
