CSE Information Guide Enrollment Guidelines for CSE Majors

Normal Progress

The Department is committed to ensuring that students succeed in their studies and graduate in a timely manner. The Departmental resources do not allow us to assist or to encourage individual students to complete their degrees in accelerated or compressed mode. On the other hand, students who attempt to catch up after they allowed their progress to slow down can only be accommodated if space permits. The "normal progress rate" allows a 120 credits degree to have the expected completion time of four years, and a 90 credits degree to have the expected completion time of three years, assuming full-time mode of study in each case.

Note. The phrase "permission of the course director" is being used in various university publications with a variety of meanings. In the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, this phrase conveys a consultative process between the instructor and the undergraduate office. However, at the conclusion of such consultation, permission is granted or denied at the sole discretion of the undergraduate office.

Enrollment procedure - Fall and Winter terms

• Please use REM (Registration and Enrollment Module) to enroll.

• However, if due to lack of space you have not succeeded in enrolling in the number of courses needed for normal progress (see the heading "Limits" below for the allowable maximum numbers), then
  1. Fill out a Normal Progress form. These forms will typically be available two weeks before the beginning of the term both in a downloadable form from this page, and also as hard copy from the undergraduate office. Students use the form to apply to enroll in sufficiently many courses (up to the maxima that the Department allows) towards achieving normal progress in their studies. Exceptionally, one may also use the form and apply to enroll in more courses than needed for normal progress. However, such requests are not granted automatically and are only considered if there is space, and if the applicant has presented on the form a well documented and compelling case in support of the application.
  2. Submit the form by the deadline specified on it.
  3. The undergraduate office will collect the forms and try to solve as many problems as possible to have students progressing at a normal rate.
  4. Important: If you have been granted access, then you must use REM to actually enroll.

• The Department does not have the resources needed to micromanage student enrollment, and as a result it will deny requests from students to switch courses or sections.

Course Removals by the Department

• Students are responsible to enroll only in courses for which they fulfill both the prerequisite and credit exclusion requirements. Computer Science prerequisites include a minimum GPA requirement over CSE major courses (including CSE1019 3.0 in the calculation).

  The Department will monitor enrollment and will remove students from courses for which they are in conflict with exclusions or lack the prerequisites. This involves a manual and time consuming process. Therefore any resulting de-enrollment action may occur at any time before or during the term the course is offered.

• If students are enrolled in more CSE courses than allowed for normal progress rate, then the Department will remove them from any such course or combination of courses, at its discretion, in order to reduce their enrollment to the normal progress maxima.

• Students who take a course for the third time will be de-enrolled unless they have been granted a petition by their home Faculty to take the course for a third time.

Limits on Course Enrollment

Note: Fall and Winter are normal progress terms. Summer is not a normal progress term.

The following are the maximum number of CSE courses allowed per term, and are consistent with the definition of normal progress. The count includes courses taken on letters of permission.

1. 1000-level CSE courses -- maximum of 1 per term.

2. 2000/3000/4000-level CSE courses -- combined maximum of 3 in each of Fall and Winter terms.

3. The Summer term maximum is 2 courses.
But remember that prerequisites must be met in all cases!

Additional Selection Criteria

The Department uses the following criteria to select amongst applications for enrollment in courses during the Normal Progress Exercise:

• The closer to graduation the higher the priority you have. However high priority does not mean that you automatically get more courses than the normal progress limits.

• Grades in computer science and mathematics courses.

• Departmental resource limitations -- instructors, teaching assistants, equipment, etc.

• Unusual situation the applicant may be in.