GPD's Administrative Notes
This page is a combination of current departmental administrative policies and reminders about some of the most important and most often confused Graduate School policies. For full information on Graduate School policies, go to http://www.luc.edu/gradschoool.
Course Registration
After registration opens you can register yourself through Locus for most courses with just your student ID number. New students should get course advising first from the department first, and all others are welcomed to get advising. You cannot register yourself for Comp 490 or 499. See the sections below concerning independent study and internships.
Independent Study
If you are doing and independent project for 490 or 499, you need to find a faculty member to supervise your project and get the faculty supervisor to let the department know to register you. The typical approach is for the student to confirm the details of the agreement in an email to the supervisor, being sure to include the exact course, semester and units your have agreed on. The supervisor then forwards the email with his or her approval to the department administration. These courses are for 1-6 units. See the section below on variable hour courses.
Internships
You need to find a job, first. There are online, searchable listings through the university career center, http://www.luc.edu/career. Some of these listings directed specifically at CS students are duplicated on paper in big folders in the department administrative offices. When you find a job, contact the GPD and get your job description approved. Communicate the number of units desired, and the semester in an email so we have a record, and we can register you. Internships are for 1-6 units. See the section below on variable hour courses.
Separately download, print, and fill out the MOU form linked on the 499 web page. You will also need your job supervisor's signature. Get the finished form to the GPD. The MOU can be turned in just after you start your job. It can be scanned and emailed or turn in paper to the department staff.
There are three related but different terms: job, internship, and CPT (for F-1 visa students - see below). You can have a job and not have it be an internship for academic credit, or you can have a job that goes on longer than an internship. Also if you are doing an academic internship, your job employer does not need to classify your position as "internship". If you are doing an academic internship, the MOU indicates only two small requirements for your employer during your time in the academic internship: The bulk of your duties must be related to doing computer science in the real world, and the supervisor will write a few line email a the end of the time for the academic internship indicating your successful completion of all the hours required for the academic internship.
Curricular Practical Training (CPT) (For F-1 students)
You should consult with the International Center for the full legal details of CPT. Here are a few of the important points. If you get a job on campus, like the considerable number of students who have worked for Loyola's Information Services, you do not need to be doing CPT and no CPT restrictions apply. If you want to work off campus for pay, then you need to be doing CPT, and there are a number of requirements.
First of all, you need to have been a full-time F-1 student for two semesters. If you want to count a summer (as students starting in Spring or Summer are likely to want), it gets tricky: The number of units needed to be full-time to count as leading up to CPT are different than the number of units a student s starting in summer needs to be in full-time status! Be sure to check with the International Office for the exact current details.
The procedure to start CPT:
- You must submit a CPT application, http://www.luc.edu/oip/pdfs/verification.pdf, with the Graduate Secretary and include a written job offer (which can be an email) from the prospective employer.
- The CPT application must be delivered to the International Office, and they will issue the work permit.
Variable Hour Courses
Comp 490 and 499 are for 1-6 units. Up to 6 units total between all the times you register for these two courses can be counted toward graduation. In practice that means 3 or 6 units since all other courses are 3 units. You do not need to take a multiple of three units at a time. What matters is the total when it is time to graduate.
International students on F-1 visas: This is particularly useful for you, who need to be registered for off-campus internships and who need 8 units, not 9, to be considered full time in fall and spring. Examples: You can do a 1-credit internship/CPT in the summer and do a 2-credit independent study in another semester. If you want to extend your work time at the end of your studies and would normally graduate in the spring, you could do two 2-credit independent studies earlier, leaving 2 credits needed in the final summer and do a 1 credit CPT in first summer session, so you can start summer work as soon as possible in the summer, and do another 1 credit CPT in the second summer session, delaying completion, so post-graduation OPT does not need to start until after the second summer session. Some F-1 students also do a unit of CPT beyond the 30 credits needed for graduation, so they are eligible to work.
Graduation
You must do paperwork way in advance of graduation or the official conferral of your degree will be postponed. I will not be able to appeal this for you.
Deadlines: December 1 for Spring/summer graduation, August 1 for fall graduation
Procedure:
- Download, print, and fill out the form at http://www.luc.edu/gradschool/forms/applicationtoreceiveadegree.pdf
- Go to the Bursar's office with the form and $75. Pay and get the form stamped.
- Deliver the stamped form to the Graduate School on the fourth floor of Granada Center (not the CS dept.).
Leave of Absence
Once you start grad school, the default assumption is that you will be enrolled each fall and spring until you sign up for graduation and graduate. If you need to interrupt your studies before that, we ask that you apply for a leave of absence http://www.luc.edu/gradschool/forms/leaveofabsence.pdf. There is no direct penalty for forgetting notification, but there are several reasons to do it.
- "">So we know what is going on. This helps the department.
- As protection. We have had students who somehow got registered for a class they never attended in a semester they were absent. Tuition bills only appear online. If you are not a student you would not think to check your Locus Bursar account to see if you were enrolled in a course! You are still responsible for the bill. This scenario cannot happen if Loyola has officially received a leave of absence!
Dropping a Course, Avoiding Extra Bills
You should always be able to withdraw yourself from the course in Locus, no matter how you got registered for a course: by yourself in Locus, by a request to the department staff, or off of a waiting list, . If you are sure you want to withdraw from a course, do not waste time emailing the department for help, just do it yourself. The date it is entered into Locus affects whether you get a W on your transcript, and whether tuition is still due. Different dates apply. Be sure to look at the Academic Calendar for the given semester. Once you are registered, merely not attending class does NOT extend these dates.
- Withdrawal with no trace: Generally by the end of the first week of Fall and Spring semesters. Generally only through the first Tuesday of the semester for summer session.
- Withdrawal with only a W on the transcript, and no tuition due: Generally during the second week of Fall and Spring semesters. Sometime during the first week in summer sessions. Be sure to check the Academic Calendar.
- Withdrawal later during classes: W on the transcript and a partial or complete tuition penalty. Do not get yourself into this situation just by not paying attention!
Transfer of Credit into the Loyola MS Program from Earlier Graduate Work
During your first semester, you can apply to transfer up to 6 units of previous graduate work relevant to your current program. You need official transcripts of the work showing B or better in relevant courses. International students, read the section below for further requirements. Submit the form http://www.luc.edu/gradschool/forms/transfer_credit.pdf to the GPD, after you have submitted the necessary transcripts. Although official transcripts are needed to forward the request to the Grad School for final approval, you are welcomed to show unofficial transcripts to the GPD to see if you have appropriate courses.Further International transcript credit transfer requirements
International transcripts need only a general evaluation by ECE or WES for admission, but they need a course by course evaluation to transfer graduate credit. It is most economical to ask for the course by course evaluation the first time transcripts are submitted to ECE or WES if you are expecting to get transfer credit.Merit Awards
All students initially applying to an MS program in the department are considered for a merit award in their first academic year. Awards are competitive.
Students wishing later awards must actively apply, as soon as possible in the semester preceding the date of the desired award. Fill out only the first page of http://www.luc.edu/gradschool/forms/merit.pdf and turn it in to the department. Many students who did not get an award initially, but who distinguished themselves in initial courses at Loyola, do get awards in later semesters.