Academic Planning
Your Academic Plan
An academic plan is a schedule of the courses you plan to take for your major mapped out on a quarterly basis. The plan is based off your communication with a PoE adviser regarding your interests, courses availability, and the general recommendations outlined in the ‘Degree Requirement Map’. All Environmental Studies majors must create and update their academic plan with a PoE Academic Adviser as stated in the continuation policy.
An academic plan includes:
- Courses that you have already taken
- When you plan to take some specific courses for degree requirements (especially core and capstone)
- Broad recommendations for when to take courses for other requirements (e.g., <Earth Systems>)
- Other: courses for another major, a minor, quarters spent studying abroad, electives, general education requirement courses, etc.
Updating your Academic Plan
- You can find a blank copy of the Academic Plan (.xls) here
- You are required to update your plan when:
- You declare an additional major or minor
- You adjust the quarters you intend to take ENVIR core and capstone courses
- You can update your plan anytime that you check in with an adviser by e-mail or in person.
- To either send an updated copy of your plan or request a copy to replace a lost file, please e-mail poeadv@uw.edu.
Sample Academic Plan: Jane Doe
Beginning of Freshman Year
Jane is a student starting out her freshman year with a general interest in studying the environment. She signs up for a ‘Freshman Interest Group’ that includes the ENVIR 100 core class. She decides to declare a major in Environmental Studies, and meets with a PoE adviser before winter quarter registration to create her academic plan.
- At this point, her academic plan looks like: (click to zoom)
- Jane’s adviser tells her that at this point, they want to have a set schedule for taking the Environmental Studies core and capstone courses. Because these courses must be taken in a specific sequence, knowing when you plan to take them is an important part of your academic plan.
- Some of the other broad recommendations can be listed without referring to a specific course, as in the case of ‘<Earth Systems>’. In Jane’s class, this is based off the fact that winter quarter 2011 will have at least four different course options that could fill this requirement.
- Jane also mentions a general interest in going on a study abroad program sometime as an undergraduate. Due to the availability of other required courses, her adviser suggests that it might be good to look into study abroad programs for autumn quarter 2011.
Sophomore Year / Junior Year
By the end of her second year, Jane’s academic plan has been filled in with the specific courses she has taken so far. At this point, her plan includes more specific recommendations for her remaining two years.
- At this point, her academic plan looks like:
- Some of the courses she took differed from her original plans. For instance, Jane’s interest in the marine environment meant that she decided to take Intro to Oceanography in spring 2011 instead of a biology course. Also, she ended up going on a study abroad ‘exploration seminar’ in summer 2011 instead of a fall quarter program.
- As her plans evolved from quarter to quarter, Jane updated her academic plan with her adviser. Sometimes when she wanted more detailed recommendations or advice, she updated the plan though in person advising appointments. Other times she would just communicate about an update to her plan through e-mail.
- Notice that her plan still includes some broad <requirement category> recommendations at this point. For some requirements though, the adviser has included some specific course recommendations (as with GEOG 360 in SPR/2013).
End of Senior Year
Jane’s final check-in with a PoE adviser is just before registering for her final quarter as an undergraduate at the UW. Her academic plan has been completely filled in with course details. The final step is for her to confirm that the remaining course she plans to take in spring quarter 2014 will complete her degree and submit a graduation application.
- At this point, her academic plan looks like:
