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TIPS AND HINTS FOR ALL ECE STUDENTS
GENERAL TIPS-N-HINTS ADVISING STUDY GROUPS
COOPERATIVE EDUCATION and INTERNSHIPS
SCHOLARSHIPS and FINANCIAL AID
REGISTRATION WARNING/SUSPENSION CREDIT HOUR LIMIT
FORCE ADD CLOSED CLASS OVERLOAD DROPPING A COURSE
COURSES AT OTHER UNIVERSITIES TRANSFER COURSES EQUIVALENCIES
ENGLISH EXEMPTION AMERICAN HISTORY EXEMPTION
HONOR SOCIETIES and ANNUAL ACADEMIC AWARDS
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS GRADUATION
Listen to friends, believe faculty.
Math is vital: get understanding, not merely grades.
Plan on spending about three hours of time "studying" for each hour of time you spend in class. To succeed in engineering courses you MUST do assigned homework (as a minimum!). This means putting pencil to paper and writing out the total problem solution, not merely looking at the problem and thinking "I know how to do that one." "Reading" the textbook is not "studying".
Most faculty only assign enough homework to "acquaint" you with the types of material you must know and understand, not necessarily enough homework for you to "master" the material. Hence, you should do more problems than are assigned. Use study groups to get support with doing extra problems.
Take Probability (STAT 346) just before ECE 410, ECE 460, ECE 542 or CS 455 (whichever you do first.) These are the courses that use probability. If you take the math too early you will not have the facility with it that is needed for success in them.
Take ECE 491, Senior Seminar, during the semester just prior to your graduation semester. Among the many topics discussed, are Resume, Cover Letter and Interviewing preparation. By taking the course at this time you will be prepared to participate in On Campus Interviewing at the start of your “graduation” semester.
The lab course associated with a lecture/lab courses pair may be taken after taking the lecture course. This includes Physics lecture/lab pairs.
Do not take ENGL 302 until after completing ECE 280 or 286, and ECE 331. In ENGL 302 you will learn to write and critique writing “in the technology” of your major. Completing the above courses will allow you to read basic electrical or computer engineering technical journal articles.
Plan on checking the ECE Department
Bulletin Board regularly. Notices of changes in class offerings and locations,
jobs, off-site visits, changes in degree requirements, student organizations
events, and much other useful information is available.
Toward the end of September or
February of your first semester at George Mason, an advisor from the ECE
Department will be assigned. This assignment is shown in the listing on the
bulletin board across from the Department office (room 230, Science and Tech
II). Advisors have office hours during which you may just walk-in for
counseling. Office hours each semester, phone and office numbers, and email
addresses are posted on the bulletin boards across from the Department office.
If your classes or work conflict with posted office hours, phone or email your
advisor or leave a note explaining your needs in your advisor's box in the ECE
Department office, and special appointment times can be arranged. If for any
reason you have a problem with your advisor, please let us know in the
Department office and we will help you. You are required to see your advisor
prior to registration each semester that you are in ECE. Be sure to get with
your advisor early. Do not wait until the last minute as your professor
may not be on campus on your registration date.
Very useful for technical courses
(Math, Physics, CS, ECE) “survival”. Three to five students who want to
assist each other in one or more classes. “Psychologically” helpful. Helps a
student realize others also find material difficult. “Academically” helpful.
The Group can do extra problems and share answers. Group members learn by
teaching other members or being assisted by other group members.
Group members can go “as a group” to instructor for course help.
COOPERATIVE EDUCATION and INTERNSHIPS
The requirements for the degree may be
satisfied on a part-time or co-op basis. Recruiters are strongly and positively
influenced by co-op or internship experiences. Students should seriously
consider obtaining this experience. Cooperative Education, coordinated by the
Career Services Office at GMU, provides students with the opportunity to
integrate paid, career-related work experience with classroom learning. The
Career Services Office co-op liaison visits sophomore and junior ECE classes to
discuss co-op. Internships are paid (normally) or non-paid (unusual in technical
positions) work experience related to the student’s major. I.e. working in a
“junior” electrical or computer engineering position in industry. The Career
Services Office is an excellent source of internship listings.
SCHOLARSHIPS and FINANCIAL AID
In addition to the usual financial aid
available to all students through the Office of Student Financial Planning and
Resources, CpE and EE majors are eligible to apply at the ECE Department for
several scholarships provided by professional societies and industrial
organizations, such as the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics
Association, the Washington Telecommunications Society, the Association of Old
Crows, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and Rockwell
International. Application forms are available in the ECE Department Office in
April each year.
You will be required to register
before each semester. Be on the lookout for the schedule of classes booklet that
is available in several buildings (Enterprise, Krug, Finley, Library) in October
and February, and see your advisor as soon as possible. Do not wait until the
week before you register, you may not be able to contact your advisor in time.
This will delay your registration and hence you may not get into the
courses/sections you want. Take advantage of registering as soon as possible
after your assigned "phone-in" time in order to get maximum advantage
from your "priority" which is based on completed and in-process
courses. It is your responsibility to check (i.e. a day or two after your
“request”) to make sure you are enrolled in all the courses you want and no
courses that you do not want.
WARNING/SUSPENSION CREDIT HOUR LIMIT
All students in a Warning Status (from having earned less than a 2.0 semester GPA the prior
semester) and all students returning from Suspension are limited to no more than 13 credit
hours. Be careful, any IN grade counts like an "F" for this calculation!
This GMU policy will be implemented by the Registrar 2 weeks before the first day of
classes of each semester by automatically dropping the last course a student enrolled in to
try to drop the total hours down to 13. If necessary, additional "last course enrolled in"
courses will be dropped. The automatic process does not look for 1 credit courses, it just
looks at the date/time a class was enrolled in. Thus it is possible that the automatic
drop could drop a student below 12 hours and trigger a potential financial aid, visa,
insurance, etc, problem. I.e. if such a student is enrolled for 14 hours (ECE 331[3], ECE
332[1], ECE 333[3], ECE 334[1], STAT 346[3] and ECE 320[3]) and the last course they
enrolled in was ECE 320, the automatic drop would drop ECE 320[3], bringing the student
down to 11 hours. Once a course is dropped the student loses all "rights" to the course.
Other students can add and cause the course to close and the student who was dropped will
not get back in.
When the GMU computer shows
that a class is full you may ask if it is possible to be added above the limit shown in the
computer system by using a "force add" (Course Permit) option. Under certain exceptional
circumstances the instructor can allow additional students into the class by force adding
them. This can be done prior to, or at, the first meeting of the class. The instructor may
allow you in at that time if it is possible. The instructor will have (or can get) the
needed "Course Permit" form. The action may require the Chair's approval also.
Class sizes are determined
primarily by academic considerations, and also by the room size limit. Whenever a
class(section) has been enrolled to the maximum, it becomes a closed class(section). The
ECE Department and many other departments also maintain "wait lists" for selected
closed classes. If you find a section is closed, be sure to use appropriate 4GMU options to
see if other "unpublished", open, sections might exist, or check with the
department offering the course for possible actions. In some cases it may be possible to
add a student above the limit by using the "force add" option, but this is an
exceptional action.
If you wish to take more than 17
hours, it is considered an OVERLOAD. You will have to obtain permission from the
Dean's office. Pick up the forms and instructions at room 160, Science and Tech II,
the office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs.
If you want to drop a course you can
only do so within the first 5 weeks of the Fall and Spring semesters. If
you do so, it will not appear on your transcript. It is your responsibility to
check (i.e. next day) and make sure any “dropped” course is actually
“dropped” by the GMU computer system. After the 5th week, you can not
"drop" a course, you may petition through the IT&E Dean's office
to "withdraw" from courses. Academic reasons ("I'm not doing
well." "I did not have the prerequisites." etc.) can not be
submitted as reasons for withdrawal. Pick up the forms and instructions at room
160, Science and Tech II, the office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student
Affairs.
If you need to take a course away from
George Mason (i.e. summers if you live elsewhere; if your work or other
commitments conflict with a needed course) you need special permission from the
Dean’s office before registering at the other school or the course will
not be allowed as a transfer course. Pick up the forms and instructions at room
160, Science and Tech II, the office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student
Affairs.
TRANSFER COURSES EQUIVALENCIES
If you feel your transfer evaluation
sheet does not indicate that you have received transfer credit for courses that
would be applicable to the your EE or CpE degree program, or if only
"elective" credit is shown for a course you feel meets a specific
degree requirement, then you should contact Dr. Sutton in the Department office.
It is possible to "test out"
of ENGL 101 or
ENGL 302. For ENGL 101 there is a free three hour Proficiency
Exam given in the summer and in January. A passing score earns three hours of
credit (no grade) for ENGL 101. For ENGL 302 there is a two part process. The
first part (permitted after you have completed 45 hours of academic course work)
is submission of a portfolio of long and short written works. This is evaluated
and if approved, the second part of the process is scheduled. The second part of
the process is a two hour written exam. Satisfactory completion of both parts of
the process earns 3 hours of credit (no grade) for ENGL 302. See the English
Department (Robinson A487) if you wish to pursue either of these opportunities.
Exam dates and locations.
George Mason University offers students a proficiency test in U.S. history. Students can take the SAT II
U.S. History Test to fulfill the university general education requirement for U.S. history. (HIST 120)
A successful score (530) on the test means that a student does not need to take HIST 120. This
requirement for general education is fulfilled, but no credits are given.
Students may take the SAT II on their own and have the scores sent to George Mason. George
Mason also offers the SAT II U.S. History test on campus, free to George Mason students. This test is
free only once for each student. Any subsequent tests must be paid for by the student.
HONOR SOCIETIES and ANNUAL ACADEMIC AWARDS
Students should strive for academic excellence which can lead to selection for membership in Eta Kappa Nu (HKN), the International Electrical Engineering Honor Society and/or Tau Beta Epsilon (TBE), the Engineering Honor Society of the School of Information Technology and Engineering. (TBE is the GMU “colony” chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society). HKN requires that a student is an electrical or computer engineering major and is in the top 1/3rd of the Senior electrical/computer engineering class or the top 1/4th of the Junior electrical/computer engineering class. TBE requires that a student is in an Engineering degree program and is in the top 1/5th of the Senior Engineering class or the top 1/8th of the Junior Engineering class. Honor society members participate in activities and are recognized by unique stoles worn at gradation and mention in the School of Information Technology and Engineering Convocation program.
Outstanding academic performance is
recognized at graduation via the highest award, the Outstanding Academic
Performance Award, and several Chairman’s Awards. Service to the
ECE Department, student organizations or the School of Information Technology
and Engineering by a student with a notable academic record is recognized by
the Joseph I. Gurfein Service Award. The Outstanding Academic
Performance Award is presented at the School of Information Technology and
Engineering graduation Convocation. All awardees receive personal plaques and
are added to the ECE Department plaques.
One very important capability
recruiters look for, but is difficult to develop in regular academic classes
is teamwork and leadership. Student organizations provide a means to
develop and demonstrate the ability to work in teams/groups, to develop
leadership ability and to develop communication (oral presentation and
written) skills. Technically related student organizations open to students
include student chapters of: the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (IEEE), the Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Association
(AFCEA),
the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the Association of
Computing Machinery (ACM), the Society of Women Engineers
(SWE), the National
Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the Society of Hispanic Professional
Engineers (SHPE). All these organizations are open to any and all
students who want to join.
During your last semester you will receive notice from the GMU Registrar - Graduation Section to initiate your graduation process by filling out a web-based, on-line, form. While doing so, you will be informed that you also need to come to the ECE Department office to pick up the rest of your graduation application material and a Graduation Checklist.
In order to obtain proper graduation application material you must go to Student Records (Enterprise Hall, 4th Floor) and file for a change of Catalog year ASAP but no later than the semester before your graduation semester if you intend to use any Catalog requirements other than the ones that existed at the time you entered GMU. You are allowed to use any set of requirements that are printed in any one Catalog that comes into existence during your first semester at GMU or later. You can also see an "Analysis of Academic Performance"(AAP)/"Degree Progress Report"(DPR) by accessing your records from the GMU homepage (follow the "Students" and then the "Academic Records (Check yours!)” links) using your Web browser. If you agree with the "Requirements Remaining" and "Requirements Completed or in Progress" as shown in the DPR then you are probably OK. If not, see your advisor or Dr. Sutton. Don't get caught missing a degree requirement!
Only 6 semester hours of D grades in ECE, ENGR and CS courses may be submitted for graduation.
Transfer courses marked with an
“L” can be submitted as meeting some of the graduation requirements, but
can not be counted toward the 45 hours of 300 level or above courses which
must be submitted for graduation.