Registration Process

Step #1: Understand Your Degree Requirements

The information below will help you understand your degree requirements. It is important you know what you need to earn your degree!

Understanding your Curriculum Sheet

Your Curriculum Sheet displays all of your degree course requirements in a one to two page snapshot. 

How to access your Curriculum Sheet

1. Go to the Academics Tab of your Cal Poly portal and click on "curriculum".

The Curriculum Sheet is broken down into four main sections that are described below:

Major Courses

Major courses are the courses that make up your major curriculum. In some majors, this includes technical electives or concentrations.

Support Courses

Support courses are courses chosen by your department to provide foundational support for your Major Courses. These courses sometimes double count as General Education Courses.

General Education (GE) Courses

General Education courses are broken down into several areas. You may notice some of these areas are completed through your Support Courses. In most cases, transfers still need to complete some GE courses at Cal Poly including the Upper Division GE courses. 

Free Electives

If your major has Free Electives, you should have already fulfilled this requirement with transfer credit.

Understanding your Degree Progress Report

Your Degree Progress Report

Your Degree Progress Report (also known as your DPR) is the most important tool to understand as a Cal Poly student. Like the Curriculum Sheet, the Degree Progress Report displays all of your degree requirements to graduate. The Evaluations Unit uses the Degree Progress Report to post your degree so it is important to make sure the courses you have and will be taking are fulfilling the requirements you expected in your DPR.

Your DPR should be checked by you, the student, at least once per quarter to track your progress to degree.

The Degree Progress Report is also broken down into sections that are described below.

As a reminder, your Degree Progress Report will not be accurate until you receive an email from the Office of the Registrar letting you know that your Transfer Evaluation is complete.

How to access your Degree Progress Report

  1. Log in to my.calpoly.edu
  2. Go to your Student Center under My Apps on the left hand side
  3. Click on Degree Progress Report under the drop-down menu and then click on the arrows

 

It is so important that you READ all the notes for each section in the DPR. Not reading the notes may mean you miss important information and take a class that is not necessary. If you have any questions, let us know at CAFESadvising@calpoly.edu. We are here to help!

Your Transfer Credit

While reviewing your Curriculum Sheet or Degree Progress Report, you may ask how certain courses transferred to Cal Poly. You can see further details about your transfer credit in your Poly Profile under "Higher Ed Credits Detail."

Transfer credit will continue to be evaluated and processed by Cal Poly until registration on Aug 14th. When your transfer evaluation is complete, you will receive an email from the Office of the Registrar - Evaluations Unit. At that time, you will be able to view your transfer credit transcripts in PolyProfile, and how those classes apply towards your degree in your Degree Progress Report.

Steps on how to find your transfer credit

  1. Access PolyProfile through your Cal Poly Portal under your Academics Tab. 
  2. Click on the Higher Ed Credits Detail link located on the right side of the page.
  3. Under Additional Higher Education Credits Detail, you will find the transcripts we received from you. 
  4. On the right side, you will find the courses you took and on the left side, you will see how they transferred over to Cal Poly.
  5. After reviewing your courses, you can access your Degree Progress Report to view your overall degree requirements.  You can then see what you have completed and what you still need to graduate.

View of Higher Ed Credit

IF YOU BELIEVE YOU SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED CREDIT FOR A COURSE AND DID NOT:

Please email us at CAFESAdvising@calpoly.edu if you have any questions.

Graduate Writing Requirement (GWR) & United States Cultural Pluralism Requirement (USCP)

There are two requirements that are important for you to know about. Since you may be transferring in a majority of your General Education (GE) courses, you will want to review both requirements below so you are not adding extra work while completing your degree. 

Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR)

The Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR) is a CSU-mandated program designed to ensure that student can write proficiently before they enter the professional workforce. All Cal Poly students who are seeking a degree must fulfill the GWR before a diploma can be awarded.

  • Undergraduate students with 90 or more completed units should attempt to fulfill the GWR before their senior year.

There are two ways to fulfill the GWR:

    1. Pass a GWR-certified upper-division course with a C or better on a major writing assignment and a final course grade of C or better with at least 35% of the final grade based on the cumulative grade of all writing projects; OR,
    2. Earn a passing score on a GWR Portfolio (*Note: the GWR Portfolio has replaced the Writing Proficiency Exam in response to the March 2020 CSU suspension of in-person GWR testing).

GWR Information for Transfer Students

IF YOU TRANSFERRED TO CAL POLY FROM A COMMUNITY COLLEGE:

You will need to fulfill the GWR at Cal Poly even if you were GEcertified at your community college because the GWR is an upper-division University degree requirement and students must complete the requirement at the CSU campus at which they are matriculated.

IF YOU TRANSFERRED TO CAL POLY FROM ANOTHER CSU CAMPUS:

You may receive GWR credit if you fulfilled the requirement while enrolled at another CSU campus. Ask a representative from the GWR office at your former CSU campus to send to the Writing and Learning Initiatives office (writingandlearning@calpoly.edu) an official letter verifying GWR completion.

IF YOU TRANSFERRED TO CAL POLY FROM A 4-YEAR INSTITUTION OUTSIDE OF THE CSU SYSTEM:

You will need to fulfill the GWR at Cal Poly because students must earn GWR credit from the CSU campus at which they matriculate.

For more information about the GWR, please visit the GWR website. 

United States Cultural Pluralism (USCP) Requirement

Students are required to complete one USCP course. This course also fulfills a requirement for Major, Support, General Education, or Free Elective category.

What are USCP courses? 

USCP courses must fulfill all of the criteria according to AS-836-17 and they must also address the Diversity Learning Objectives (DLOs). You can explore what courses count for the USCP requirement on the Catalog website. 

How this will look in your DPR:

 

 

Step #2: Select Courses to Take in Fall

Refer to the Fall Suggested Course List for major-specific course suggestions and requirements to come up with your ideal courses and back-up courses.

If you are not attending the afternoon Academic Advising session of SLO Transfer Days (Summer Orientation) then please contact your major specific advisor.

Step #3: Create and Save Schedules in Schedule Builder

Schedule Builder lives within the Student Center and is one of the tools you may use to prepare for registration. This tool allows you to view available courses and seats for an upcoming term, organize a schedule of courses in a calendar view, save favorite schedules, and enroll.

Understanding Schedule Builder

Check out this video to learn how to use Schedule Builder as a student.

We encourage you to practice using Schedule Builder and explore the schedule builder FAQs.

Fall 2024 Registration

Registration for new Fall 2024 Transfers will be on Monday, August 12th. Your registration time is in your student center on the right hand side. 

We want to make sure you you feel prepared to register. Below is what you can expect:

  1. August 7th or August 8th - Transfer SLO Days: We hope you will be able to attend Transfer SLO Days. This important session will be led by an Advisor and representative from your major department. This is where we will be able to explain more major specific information, answer individual student questions, and guide you through the registration process. There will be time during Transfer SLO Days and the days following to meet individually with an advisor to plan for registration.
  2. August 12th - Registration: Your registration time is in your student center on the right hand side. 

Students can enroll in courses using the options below: 

  • Student Center: allows you to search for classes, add/enroll in classes, swap classes (exchange one class for another), edit classes (change a lab or grading style), drop classes, and view your waitlist position. 
  • Schedule Builder: allows you to search for classes, see all sections and open seat capacity, arrange a variety of classes into possible schedules, and add/enroll in classes.

Frequently Asked Questions

We wanted to highlight some frequently asked questions that may come up during this time. Please do not hesitate to connect with us at CAFESadvising@calpoly.edu if you have additional questions!

FAQ's

1. Can I meet with an advisor before registration? 

Yes, you can meet with an advisor before registration, however, we do want you to know that all of the information you will need for registration will be reviewed during our Live Transfer SLO Days Session. 

2. What should I do if I am wait listed for my classes?

The two reasons you may have ended up on a waitlist are:

  1. There are no more open seats available in the course.
  2. Another transfer student tried to enroll in the course, but since they have enrolled past 18 units or did not meet the course pre-requisites, the waitlist system has been "turned on" and every student after them has been placed on the waitlist.

OUR SUGGESTIONS AT THIS TIME
  • REMEMBER THOSE BACK UP COURSES: We encouraged you to identify all courses you meet the pre-requisites for and write them down as back-up courses. Now use those options to continue to register or waitlist in any classes that you need. Remember you can waitlist for up to 16 units!
  • CHECK OUT OTHER SECTIONS: You may be waitlisted in a section of a course, however a different section may have available seats. Take a look at other sections and register for or waitlist those as well.  
  • REVIEW YOUR SUGGESTED COURSE LIST: Some courses require a permission number to enroll. If a permission number is needed, we have indicated this on your major's suggested course list.

3. How many units should I enroll in for my first quarter at Cal Poly?

Since Cal Poly is on the quarter system, our courses move quicker than the typical semester system and could be more challenging during your first quarter here. We recommend staying between 12-16 units keeping in mind important prerequisites you will need to complete to stay on track for graduation. 

If you have any college specific questions please reach out to our office by emailing CAFESadvising@calpoly.edu  .

To learn more about academic and campus policies check out the Transfer Center's resource page. 

 

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