Academic Advising

Advising PIN (required for registration each semester)

Each academic unit issues the Advising PIN that is required for registration in the first semester of student enrollment at Illinois Tech.

Graduate Academic Advising

General Instructions For Advising For Incoming and Continuing Students

Graduate students are required to complete a one-time mandatory advising session with the graduate academic or Accelerated Master's Program adviser. The Graduate Program Advising Hold becomes active:

At nine earned and/or enrolled credits for master's students (18 credits for doctoral students). Note: The hold prevents registration before the following semester until lifted by the adviser or the departmental designee.

The mandatory advising session with the adviser is required for the student to clear the registration hold.

The accelerated master's student registration hold will be removed when the student submits the declaration of accelerated master's shared and non-shared courses in eForms, and after it is approved by their adviser, academic unit graduate advisor, and Graduate Academic Affairs.

A continuing student without an approved plan of study will follow the process below that requires the one time advising after nine hours (master's) or 18 hrs (doctoral). A continuing student with an approved plan of study has satisfied the advising requirement and can register.

Additional Details of Specific Steps for Students

First Semester in Graduate Program

Consult your academic adviser for first semester classes to be taken and to request the PIN prior to the start of the semester. This can be done via email or by requesting an in-person meeting.
In case you adviser cannot be reached, please contact mechanical, materials, and aerospace engineering Academic Program Coordinator Jessica Nicholson (nicholsonj@iit.edu) for further guidance and help in contacting the adviser.

Next Step

Academic advising is needed in order to remove the registration hold for all students, including accelerated master's and European partner students.
At or before nine hours of earned credit for master of science students or 18 hrs for Ph.D. students:
- Schedule an advising session with your adviser with a plan of study that includes all courses to be taken to meet the degree requirements as designated in the DegreeWorks worksheet page. This worksheet page must be printed out or saved as a PDF, and all planned coursework checked or indicated. Bring this filled in DegreeWorks worksheet page with you for your meeting with the adviser.
- After the advising session, this worksheet page must be signed by both the student and adviser. This signed document serves as the plan of study and is left with the adviser, who will then remove the advising hold and enter any notes as needed in DegreeWorks.
When a student wishes to enroll in courses that do not explicitly apply to the program requirements, as shown in Graduate Degree Works, an approved substitution is required.
- The substitution request can only be submitted by the student (and approved by the adviser and academic unit) using the eForms tab accessed from Graduate Degree Works.
- Once final approval of the substitution is conveyed by Graduate Academic Affairs, the exception is recorded in Graduate Degree Works, which updates the student’s Graduate Degree Works audit.

Scheduling Advising Session

Please contact your adviser by email to schedule an appointment.

Accelerated Master's Advising

The student selects the eForms tab in Graduate DegreeWorks to declare all courses to be completed during the accelerated master's program, which must be fully approved by the adviser (Kevin Cassel for M.Eng. in MAE and Sammy Tin for M.Eng. in MSE), academic unit graduate program chair (Sudhakar Nair), and Illinois Tech's Office of Graduate Academic Affairs.

Accelerated master's students must declare the shared courses between their undergraduate and graduate degrees via eForm; they may request changes to the shared courses by filing a Course Substitution and Exception eForm and by articulating the original approved course and desired course replacement. Approval of a requested substitution is at the discretion of the accelerated master's adviser and academic unit graduate program chair, with final approval by Graduate Academic Affairs.

Advising For European Students

The current academic advisor for all European master's students is Cassel.

A student who is admitted to a dual-degree program with Illinois Tech and a European partner institution may have a requirement (or option) to complete a research project to satisfy the home institution's degree requirements. This research may not be directly applicable to the Illinois Tech master's project or thesis research requirements.

The student must declare when the International Partner Research Project (INIP) is required, or desired, during the first semester of enrollment at Illinois Tech. Declaration of the INIP is completed from Graduate Degree Works by selecting the eForms tab, then selecting the Change Program option. The INIP program option request must be approved by the Illinois Tech academic adviser and academic unit graduate program chair, with final approval by the Graduate Academic Affairs.

If INIP is required, the student must enroll in four to six credit hours of MMAE 597 or other equivalent courses (this requires approval through the internal transfer eForm). The student should submit the eForm for transfer of nine hours of courses from the home institution that will count for graduate credit at Illinois Tech. It must be completed during the first semester of their enrollment at the university.

The student is required to reserve at least one required credit hour of registration at Illinois Tech for use during the summer session, when INIP research is being conducted. The student must also file for summer graduation (not spring) when INIP research will be conducted during the summer term. If the student fails to declare the INIP, and/or the Illinois Tech degree requirements are satisfied in the spring semester, the student will lose the opportunity to complete an INIP when the Illinois Tech degree is conferred.

Interdisciplinary Program Advising

Students who are admitted to an engineering program with an interdisciplinary focus will receive advising from the admitting academic unit, which assigns the academic adviser
A concentration code for the interdisciplinary track is attached to the student record by the graduate admission process
The interdisciplinary program requirements are displayed in the Graduate Degree Works worksheet based on the assigned concentration track code on the student record in Banner
Students do not file an eForm to declare the interdisciplinary concentration track
The degree title will only appear on the diploma when the degree is earned
Both the degree title and concentration track will appear on the official transcript

Advising Topics

Student Resources

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