1.7: Admission Type and Class Standing

Knowing and understanding your admission type and class standing is necessary to be able to successfully manage several different aspects of your academic career. Your class standing determines when you will be able to register for classes each term and the classes that you will be able to take, including your University Studies (UNST) requirements.

Year Standing Credits earned Course level University Studies
First Freshman 0-44 100-200 Freshman Inquiry (FRINQ)
Second Sophomore 45-89 100-200 Sophomore Inquiry (SINQ)
Third Junior 90-134 300-400 Junior Clusters
Fourth Senior 135-180 300-400 Senior Capstone

The number of credits with which you are admitted, and your student admission type determine your class standing in your first term of study. After your first term of study, your admission type will remain the same, but your class standing will change as you earn more credits.

Credits may have been earned at another university (transfer credits) or at PSU through the IELP (institutional credits). Credits earned through the IELP are counted in a student’s credit total for academic standing, but they do not exempt students from the University Studies requirement for each year of study that is based solely upon admission type.

For example, if a student is admitted to PSU as a freshman with no previous university study, the student will be required to fulfill the Freshman Inquiry (FRINQ) course through University Studies, even if the student has earned credits in the IELP that place them in a higher class standing. University Studies is more fully explored in a later section.

Highway long view and cloudy sky

UNDERSTANDING ADMISSION TYPE

Admission type is determined at the time that students are admitted to PSU. This code and type is permanent and issued only one time. Following are the most common admission types:

(GED) -Students admitted using a recognized GED examination. Mostly domestic, but some International students take the GED as well
(Pre-High school Grad-No College) - Undergraduate students admitted before secondary school graduation and do not have college level transfer credit
(Pre- High school Grad with College) - Undergraduate students admitted before secondary school graduation but have college level transfer credits
(High school Grad 0-11 College Cr) - Undergraduate students admitted with proof of secondary school completion and fewer than 12 transferable college credits
(High school Grad 12-29 College Cr) - Undergraduate students admitted with proof of secondary school completion and fewer than 30 transferrable college credits
(Transfer 30-44 hours) - Undergraduate students admitted with 30-44 transferrable college credits
(Transfer 45-89 hours) - Undergraduate students admitted with 45-89 transferrable college credits
(Transfer 90-134 hours) - Undergraduate students admitted with 90-134 transferrable college credits
(Transfer 135+) - Undergraduate students admitted with 135 or more transferrable college credits
Post-Bac (General)-PB - Post-Baccalaureate students who will pursue a second bachelor’s degree or Undergraduate level certificate

VIEWING ADMISSION TYPE IN BANWEB

You will need to know your admission type and class standing for academic planning purposes in the Pathways Program.

Instructions:

1. Go to MyPSU on the PSU home page
2. Go to Log in to Banweb
3. Go to Student Services
4. Go to Student Records
5. Go to View Unofficial Academic Transcript
(Transcript Level: = All Levels; Transcript Type: =Self Service – Web Display)

Source: © 2018 Ellucian Company L.P. and its affiliates

VIEWING CLASS STANDING IN BANWEB

Instructions:

1. Go to MyPSU on the PSU home page
2. Go to Log in to Banweb
3. Go to Student Services
4. Go to Registration and Class schedule
5. Go to Check your Registration Status

Source: © 2018 Ellucian Company L.P. and its affiliates

TRANSFER STUDENTS

If you are a transfer student with credits transferred from a different institution (either from within the U.S. or overseas), there are additional steps that you must take to ensure that you will be able to register for the correct classes. Each transfer student’s situation is different and you will need to work with the Office of International Admissions to have your credits from previous courses evaluated. It is possible that not all credits will be accepted by PSU, so it is important to determine how many credits PSU will accept as well as their PSU course equivalencies. In some cases, it may be necessary for academic departments to be part of the transfer evaluation.

TRANSFER CREDIT EVALUATION

Students who have earned credit at another college or university should initiate a Transfer Credit Evaluation with the Office of International Admissions as soon as possible. Transfer Credit Evaluations can be conducted ONLY with official transcripts.
PSU may accept credits completed at another college or university toward your degree requirements and it is extremely beneficial to know the classes that PSU has accepted BEFORE you begin selecting PSU academic classes. In most cases, you do not want to repeat a course that you have already taken elsewhere. If PSU does not have a direct equivalent to a course that you have taken at another college or university, you may request a Transfer Credit Evaluation through your major department.

In this case, advisors and/or professors in your major will review detailed information about the course(s) taken. If the content of the course(s) is similar to a course at PSU, and if you acquired the same knowledge, PSU may accept the other course in place of a PSU course.

It may be necessary to obtain syllabi or course descriptions from the university where the course was previously taken. This can often take weeks or months of additional time. In some cases, and when possible, it may be helpful to go to the college or university in person to obtain the necessary documentation.

Additional information for students with transfer credit from the PSU Office of International Admissions:

a. Students can be admitted as undergraduate students based on unofficial transcripts, but an official transfer credit evaluation can only be initiated after OFFICIAL transcripts are submitted.
b. Students who are admitted based upon submission of unofficial transcripts are instructed to submit official transcripts in their admission letter.
c. When official transcripts are received by International Admissions, the transfer credit evaluation for undergraduate students will begin automatically.
d. Transfer credit evaluations for students applying for post-bac admission status are not automatic. A PSU academic advisor must specifically request a transfer credit evaluation for post-bac students.
e. Transfer credit evaluations may take up to several weeks to complete, depending on the institution(s) where students completed previous work.
f. Transcripts must be sent directly to PSU from the university where the courses were taken.
g. Additional information about official documents
h. Additional information and FAQs

UNIVERSITY STUDIES REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS

Details about University Studies (UNST) themes and courses are presented in a later section. The following information applies only to students who have earned more than 29 transfer credits.

A student who has earned more than 29 credits at another university, either in the U.S. or in another country, will be classified as having earned “transfer” credit for UNST purposes and may be exempt from one or two years of University Studies requirements.

30-59 credits = waived out of FRINQ; must complete 3 SINQs
60-74 credits = waived out of FRINQ; waived out of 1 SINQ; complete 2 SINQ

For MCECS majors:
For each FRINQ or SINQ credit waived, students must earn an equal number of Arts and Letters/Social Science elective credits. Maximum waiver credits are 27 (all FRINQ and SINQ).
6 IELP credits may count as Arts and Letters elective credits.

CLASS STANDING AND STANDING IN MAJOR AND DEGREE

Class standing is primarily used to determine when students can register according to the university’s registration schedule. It may have little or no relevance to how many additional credits will be needed to earn a degree in a particular major. For example, you may be a junior in university class standing, but a freshman in your major.

University-level transferrable credits:

These are credits earned at another college or university that PSU will accept as general elective credits, but do not fulfill degree requirements.

Example: Physical Education courses or courses that do not have similar content to PSU classes

Degree-applicable credits:

These are credits earned at another college or university that PSU will accept as part of the courses/credits required for a PSU degree in a specific major.

Example: Math 251, Writing 121, Art 120

Not all university-level transferrable credits are degree-applicable credits.

Example: You have a high number of transferrable credits and thus upper class standing, but if none of those credits can be applied to your degree requirements in your major, you may be considered a “freshman” in your major.

Street steps leading to street level

ACADEMIC PLAN TEMPLATE

Use this template to complete your academic plan. You can then save the PDF and update it
each term that you are in the Pathways Program.

PSU WEBSITE

From the PSU homepage, you can quickly navigate much of what you need for managing your classes. Specifically, you are able to access multiple resources and tools through the quick menu and myPSU site as illustrated below. As a student, it is essential that you become familiar with PSU’s student account interface, Banweb. Banweb is the university’s student information system and it allows students to access and manage their personal and academic information. You are encouraged to explore the many facets within your Banweb account and to become comfortable and familiar with using it to manage your student record.

BANWEB

There are multiple ways to access Banweb and other tools through the PSU homepage, including from the Quick Menu and myPSU options in the top right corner of the page. Some of the tools that you will use most frequently as a student are Banweb, your student email and calendar, and D2L. D2L is an online learning platform that many instructors use to interact with students and to manage content for the course. You are encouraged to download the myPSU application to your mobile devices.

Here are some examples of the information and features found in Banweb:

PSU OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR

The Office of the Registrar is an important academic resource and one that you will use regularly for the duration of your degree study.

Examples of information provided by the Registrar’s Office (RO) include the university’s academic calendar (term dates, term calendars, add/drop deadlines, priority registration schedule), tuition and fees, academic policies, and other matters pertaining to students’ academic records. You are encouraged to spend time reviewing the website and in particular the A-Z Index of information and services, which includes links to forms, policies and publications such as the current PSU Bulletin/Catalog, a comprehensive academic guide to the university.

Source: https://www.pdx.edu/registration, December 20, 2017, © Portland State University 2018.