Checksheets, Advising Guides, & Roadmaps (Program Requirements)
Understanding the requirements necessary to complete each program (major or minor) at Virginia Tech is a crucial step in determining what courses to register for, pre-requisites and co-requisites, and the policies that need to be followed.
Terminology:
- Undergraduate Catalog: Covers all requirements and policies applicable to students.
- Catalog Year: The specific graduation requirements a student is pursuing. The specific catalog students should use is based on their first term of enrollment (e.g., students beginning in summer 2024, fall 2024, or spring 2025 are on the 2024-2025 catalog year). Students who started prior to the current catalog year should view the previous catalog year that aligns with their first term of enrollment.
- Catalog Rights: A student has the right to pursue the curriculum associated with the year they begin attending Virginia Tech or a subsequent year. Students who defer their attendance forfeit their initial catalog rights. A student's catalog year may be altered by the university due to a period of non-enrollment.
- Program Requirements: The official course and policy requirements necessary to complete a specific minor or major at Virginia Tech.
- Roadmap: A sample semester-by-semester plan for when to take each course and found with the program requirements. Roadmaps are designed to be used as a general guide, all students are highly encouraged to complete a personalized academic plan.
- Checksheets: Students who entered Virginia Tech prior to summer 2024 use "checksheets" instead of program requirements to see the official course and policy requirements necessary to complete a specific minor or major at Virginia Tech.
- Advising Guides: These reflect some (but not all) information in program requirements and are designed to be a printable option for orientation purposes.
- Degree Audit Report System (DARS): The program requirements are coded into the DARS to allow students to determine which program requirements they have met through transfer credits, completed VT courses, and currently enrolled courses. This is the graduation clearance report that will be used to determine completion of all program requirements and award a degree. Located in Hokie Spa under 'DARS and Hokie GPS - Graduation Plan of Success'
- What-If DARS: Similar to a regular DARS, but allows students to determine their progress in a major they are not currently enrolled in. This is a great tool when students are thinking about changing their major or if they are in a non-degree major (i.e., General Engineering).
What do I need to do?
- Review the program requirements for your declared or intended major.
- Run a DARS (or a what-if DARS if you are in General Engineering) -- you should do this multiple times a semester (preparing for registration for an upcoming term, adding a course, dropping a course, withdrawing from a course, etc.)
- Create an academic plan and meet with your academic advisor to discuss it (academic planning meetings should be scheduled after the second week of classes in any term). Update your academic plan each semester as necessary with any changes you've made.
- Apply for your degree, this will allow you to select an intended graduation term (e.g., spring 2028). You can change your intended graduation date at any time. Students in General Engineering will do this once they change their major out of GE.