INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE ACADEMIC PLAN OF STUDY
An Academic Plan of Study is essentially the proposed sequence of courses you are going to take to complete your degree.
In developing your plan, you must make certain that you not only complete all course requirements for your chosen concentration within your special education (ECSE, EESE, or single-certification elementary/middle or secondary) major. You must also complete all requirements for a BS degree, including completing all Core course requirements AND finishing with at least 120 credits overall with at least 32 of those credits at the 300 or 400 level.
For students applying to any special education major, your initial plan of study will reflect your coursework at TU prior to the program AND your major-sequence coursework. As indicated on your program checklist, this sequence is fixed—therefore, your junior and senior year coursework (your two years as admitted special education students) will be entirely consistent with your program checklist and will not include any electives, unless you have outstanding prerequisites or you are choosing to complete an additional program (minor, Honors College coursework, etc.) in addition to your special education degree.
To complete your plan, you will need access to several items on your Towson Online Services page as well as a number of documents that are found online. After following the detailed instructions, check the steps taken (using the list) to ensure accuracy in completion of this plan.
What you need:
· Detailed instructions on how to complete your plan, found below on this document.
· A copy of your unofficial transcript. This is available through Towson Online Services. To find it, look on the left side of your TU Online Services main webpage. There you will see a link labeled “Transcript: View Unofficial.” For accuracy and simplification, do NOT use only your Academic Requirements Report to complete your degree plan.
· Access to your Academic Requirements Report listing of completed and outstanding Core courses and program prerequisites, to make sure you have completed these requirements (keep in mind that your advisor may have approved substitutions for your prerequisite courses).
· Access to your program checklist for your intended major (ECSE, EESE, single-certification special education). This is essential as you will use the checklist to fill in your final two years of coursework.
Please note that, if you are transferring into TU, your degree plan WILL NOT list your transfer coursework. Please list ONLY your TU courses (i.e., your plan may have only two years’ worth of coursework reflected).
DIRECTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE DEGREE PLAN
1. Open the “Plan of Study template” (Excel file posted on the Department of Special Education website). Save it with a new file name, specifically “student ID number_your last name_date.xlxs” So, for example” “0555432_Smith_10-5-15.xlxs”. Fill in the personal information at the top.
2. On the upper left side, below your personal information, you will need to enter “Total Credits Earned To Date” which is the total number of course units/credits YOU HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED. You will also need to enter “Total Credits Enrolled this Term” which is the total number of course units/credits YOU ARE TAKING IN THE CURRENT TERM.
Caution: Use your Unofficial Transcript to get that information. A guide as to how to read your unofficial transcript and extract the data you need is found on the last page of these instructions.
Caution: You must get a grade of C or better in all courses required for your major AND in all pre-requisites courses. Therefore, if you got a D or D+ in a course required for the special education major (ie, BIOL 120/120L, HIST 145/146, etc.), then you must retake the course. When you do retake the course, you will not get to count the credits twice.For example: Say a student took MATH 204 for 4 credits at a community college and got a D. The got credit for the course (a D is considered passing). They transferred in a total of 50 credits from that community college.
This student should NOT count the 4 credits for MATH 204 as part of his/her “Total Credits Earned to Date.” They should only count 46. This is because they will retake the course and the credits will not be counted twice.
3. Working from your TU transcript, start listing your courses taken each term, after indicating the term and year in the drop-down menu, for example “Spring 2015”. Please remember that if you will be transferring into TU, your plan will begin in the semester you begin TU coursework—you do NOT need to include community college or other institutions’ courses.
4.When listing courses, identify the course number (ie, SPED 301), the number of units (ie, the number of credits for the class) and the "type" of coursework according to your chosen major. For ECSE, select (from the drop-down menu under "Type") "Integrated Early Childhood/ Special Education." For EESE, select "Integrated Elementary Education with Special Education." For single-certification special education, select "Special Education" with the appropriate track (Elementary-Middle or Secondary) and subject area if applicable.
5.Working from the program checklist you completed with your advisor, identify any outstanding pre-requisites or TU Core courses. List these courses on your academic plan in the semester when you intend to take them. For example, if you still need SCED 304 and you plan to take it in Summer 2016, indicate "Summer 2016" for the term, and fill in SCED 304 under "Course." Enter the appropriate information for course units and type (your chosen major).
6.List the courses specified in your advising program checklist for the final two years of your program. Again, these years are a set program sequence and do not typically include electives. You may include additional Core or pre-requisite courses, if you have them outstanding. Please note that if you are not admitted to your first choice program and end up applying to a different program, or waiting to reapply, you may need to revise and resubmit your degree plan with accurate information once you are admitted to a special education program. Please also note that your outstanding Core and pre-requisite courses must be completed prior to student teaching in your senior year.
7. Under “Student Notes” at the bottom of the page, please add in any other helpful information for the faculty member reviewing your plan. If your situation is unusual in any way, let us know.
8. When you are finished, save your file, print out a copy, and proofread it. Then, use the bulleted list titled, “Steps Taken for Completion of Academic Plan” to help ensure you completed the plan correctly.
SUBMIT YOUR PLAN AS PART OF YOUR APPLICATION PACKET.
Sample 1:
Sample 2:
Steps Taken for Completion of Academic Plan
Did you:
o Download the degree plan template?
o Save the file with the correct code: student ID number_your last name_date.xlxs
(i.e. 0555432_Smith_10-5-15.xlxs)?
o Enter your personal information?
o Enter Total Credits Earned To Date (the total number of course units/credits YOU HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED, including those transferred in from other institutions)?
o Enter Total Credits Enrolled this Term (the total number of course units/credits YOU ARE TAKING IN THE CURRENT TERM)?
o List ALL TU courses (NOT courses from other institutions) taken in the corresponding term and year (i.e. Spring 2015, Fall 2015, etc.), using your TU Transcript?
o Include coursework for your final two years of study, based on the program advising checklist you have discussed with your advisor?
o List any missing prerequisites or unfulfilled Core course requirements and specify which semester you plan to take them?
o Include any helpful information under “Student Notes,” if necessary?
o Proofread the document, and double-check these steps?
o Save and print the file to include with your application?
HOW TO READ YOUR UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT – SEE NEXT PAGE
How to read your
unofficial transcript
Fall 2016
DFST 104 AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE I 3.00 3.00 B- 8.010
ENGL 102 WRITING FOR LIBERAL EDUCAT 3.00 3.00 C 6.000
BIOL 201 BIOL I:CELL & GENETICS 4.00 4.00 A 16.000
TSEM 102 TOWSON SEMINAR 3.00 3.00 A 12.000
Test Credits Applied Toward Bachelor of Science Program
HIST 160 WORLD HISTORY BEFORE 1300 3.00 3.00 T
HIST 161 WORLD HISTORY SINCE 1300 3.00 3.00 T
MATH 273 CALCULUS I 4.00 4.00 T
Test Trans GPA: 0.000 Transfer Totals : 13.00 13.00 0.000
TERM GPA : 3.230 TERM TOTALS : 13.00 13.00 42.010
CUM GPA : 3.938 CUM TOTALS : 13.00 26.00 42.010
Spring 2017
BIOL 309 GENETICS 4.00 4.00 B+ 13.320
HIST 148 HIST SINC/MID 19TH C 3.00 3.00 A 12.000
CHEM 131 GENERAL CHEMISTRY I LEC 3.00 3.00 C 6.000
CHEM 131L GENERAL CHEMISTRY LAB I 1.00 1.00 C 2.000
Transfer Credit from Howard Community College
Applied Toward Bachelor of Science Program
PHIL 103 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS 3.00 3.00 A 12.000
Course Trans GPA: 0.000 Transfer Totals : 3.00 3.00 0.000
TERM GPA : 3.030 TERM TOTALS : 11.00 14.00 33.320
CUM GPA : 3.140 CUM TOTALS : 27.00 43.00 75.330
Fall 2017
BIOL 202 BIO II: INTR ECOLOGY EVOLUTION 4.00
BIOL 371 ANIMAL BEHAVIOR 4.00
BIOL EDUC/CAREER PLAN FOR BIOLOGIST 1.00
MATH 237 ELEM BIOSTATISTICS 4.00
TERM GPA : 0.000 TERM TOTALS : 0.00 0.00 0.000
CUM GPA : 3.140 CUM TOTALS : 27.00 43.00 75.330
Undergraduate Career Totals
CUM GPA : 3.140 CUM TOTALS : 27.00 43.00 75.330