Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS)
Your DARS tells you how you are progressing in meeting university undergraduate course requirements.
Check your DARS at least once a semester after grades are posted and before meeting with your advisor.
Undergraduate Advising
Dr. Richard Marcellus is responsible for all undergraduate academic advising. Every semester, you should choose your courses in consultation with him, either in person or via e-mail. The choice of the classes will be a joint decision between you and the advisor.
Prepare for your advising session
When you prepare for an advising session, the following forms will be helpful:
Rules of advising
You must be familiar with the NIU and ISyE requirements described in your undergraduate catalog. Both you and the university are bound by the rules and requirements in the catalog.
If you need to change the courses chosen by you and your advisor, you must notify the department.
Take very seriously the following statement in your catalog:
"It is the responsibility of the students to know and observe all regulations and procedures relating to the program they are pursuing. In no case will a regulation be waived or an exception granted because students plead ignorance or contend they were not informed of the regulations and procedures."
Make sure your advisor is aware of all your academic plans -- double majors, minors, athletic participation, etc.
Advising will help you graduate
Formal academic advising is a valuable resource that will enhance your university experience, for the following reasons:
- You will get the most benefit from your courses if you take them in the proper order, even if there are not formal prerequisites.
- You need to be alerted to long sequences of courses that contain courses only taught once a year. If you miss an early course in one of these sequences, you will delay your graduation by a whole year. An example is ISyE 334, ISyE 371, and ISyE 480, which must be taken sequentially.
- All ISyE courses are permit only. You must receive the permit number from the department to enroll in an ISyE course. The department keeps a record of all students to whom it has given the permit. Shortly after each course starts, all students not on this list will be removed from the course.
- If you are a transfer student, an ISyE advisor can help you identify transfer courses that can be used to satisfy our requirements, such as
- Courses that might be acceptable as humanities, arts, social science, or interdisciplinary courses, but were not flagged as such by Registration and Records.
- Courses that can be substituted for our required industrial and systems engineering courses
- Math and science courses that may be acceptable as technical electives in our program.
- Math and science courses that may have been transferred at the wrong level.
- If you plan to take courses at community colleges while enrolled at NIU, you need to be alerted to know what paperwork is required.
- If you plan to take courses at community colleges while enrolled at NIU, you need to know the proper correspondence between community college courses and NIU courses.
- Advisers can help you develop meaningful educational plans compatible with your career and life goals.
- Without advising, you may take courses that do not contribute to your program of study, and delay your graduation.
