Degree Audit & What-If FAQ

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Degree Audit and What-If Frequently Asked Questions

The Degree Audit is a report of degree requirements based on a student's declared area(s) of study. It includes all earned and in-progress credit on the student’s record and applies that credit to applicable requirements, providing students and advisors with an individually tailored reference for degree progress. The degree audit assumes successful completion of in-progress coursework when evaluating requirements, and pre-emptively excludes credit for repeated courses that cannot be repeated for credit. Note that this tool is primarily for Undergraduate students and is not available for the majority of Graduate programs.

The What-If is a report, similar in structure and nature to the Degree Audit, is used to show how a student's earned and in-progress credit could apply to a different or additional area of study. Like the Degree Audit, it is primarily for Undergraduate students and is not available for the majority of Graduate programs. It is available to both students and advisors through self-service in UDSIS and is intended as a supplemental tool to in-person advisement. While it doesn’t guarantee entry into a major/minor/certificate, it can provide a sense of what work will be needed for that major/minor/certificate should the student decide to declare it

Aside from being accessible to all students, the What-If report is only available to faculty and staff who are in an advising role, through the Advisor Center tile. Please see our page on access for Facutly and Advisors if you do not currenlty have access to the Advisor Center tile.

Students are directed to contact their advisor or Academic Assistant Dean with questions about their audit or degree progress. The Registrar’s Office is not able to provide academic advice to students, so advisors should reach out directly to the Registrar’s Office (degreeaudit@udel.edu) with questions or concerns about a student’s Degree Audit. Direct department contact is necessary for adjustments to be made, even if there is an error in the system.

In most cases, coursework taken Pass/Fail as an option can only be used as a free elective, as noted in the Catalog at Delaware's Grading System, Section: Pass/Fail Grading Option. Courses taken under this grading basis are shown in the "Courses Not Used By Degree Audit" section at the end of the report for easier identification.

When a student repeats a course that is non-repeatable for credit, the Degree Audit pre-emptively excludes one of the instances so that students and advisors are aware in advance that credit will only be earned once for the course. Both instances remain as part of the student's record, and both will appear on the transcript, with credit being excluded for one of them.

Exceptions to curriculum are communicated and approved through the Course Substitution Form (an advisor-initiated form). Note that depending on the requirement, forms may be routed for additional approval, and these requests are manually processed following approval. Time should be allowed for any additional approvals and processing (typically 1-2 weeks).

Academic Regulations for Undergraduates Section: University Catalog Policy. By default, students are held to the set of requirements in the catalog that correspond to the admission term (or readmission term, for readmits). Students may follow a more recent set of requirements with permission of their Academic Assistant Dean but are not eligible for prior sets of requirements. Advisors may request this change for an advisee by submitting the Change of Catalog Year Form (which automatically routes to the AA Dean’s office for approval before being processed).

 

NOTE: Curriculum revisions are not retroactive, however, the department can request to allow newly approved courses as eligible toward an older set of catalog year requirements, when accepted for any student in that catalog year (to alleviate the need for individual Course Substitutions). Requests should be sent to degreeaudit@udel.edu.

Academic Regulations for Undergraduates Section: University Catalog Policy. By default, students are held to the set of requirements in the catalog that correspond to the admission term. This means that readmitted students are held to the requirements in place at the time of readmission and are not eligible for a prior set of requirements. Course Substitutions may be an option for reflecting prior coursework toward the current requirements in cases where that prior coursework is not included in the current curriculum. Departments have the authority to require students to retake coursework that was taken more than seven years prior.

The limitations of the system do not allow for the Residency Requirement to be evaluated perfectly by the Degree Audit. In cases where the transfer credit limit (10 credits for the 90 of first 100 option; 6 credits for the 30 of last 36 option) is met or exceeded in the same term that the student meets the credit threshold (100 credits for 90 of first 100 option; 36 credits counting backwards for the 30 of last 36 option), the degree audit will report as "not satisfied" to avoid false positives and prompt a manual review. Advisors may process a Course Substitution form to reflect the requirement as satisfied after confirming completion through a manual review. Choose "University Requirements" in the "apply to" field of the form to avoid delays and ensure that it is approved by the AA Dean’s Office of the student’s college.

Note that there are several rules that apply to the University Breadth Requirement:

  • "Students must take breadth courses from four different subject areas (e.g. the four-letter subject code ACCT, HIST, etc.)"
  • "Students may not use a course that is cross-listed with a subject area that has already been used to satisfy a university breadth requirement."
  • "Students enrolled in a single major may not satisfy the breadth requirement with courses in the subject area of that major (e.g. chemistry majors may not use CHEM courses)"
    • For a student pursuing multiple majors, this rule does not apply, however the Degree Audit may still exclude a course in the subject area of one of the student's majors. If this occurs, alert your advisor and request that they submit a Course Substitution form to correct it.

Also note that there are two distinct breadth lists that use the category titles of "Creative Arts and Humanities", "History and Cultural Change", "Social and Behavioral Sciences", and "Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Technology": University Breadth and Arts and Sciences College Breadth. Since they both use the same category titles, be sure to double check that students are looking at the appropriate list when making course choices. The University Breadth requirement is required of all undergraduates and can only be satisfied by courses on the University Breadth requirement lists. The College of Arts and Sciences Breadth requirement only applies to students in that college and varies based on major. The College of Engineering also has their own supplemental college breadth list for majors in that college.

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