MS Advising

Advising Dates

Students will be informed of advising dates via Columbia email. Students are required to meet with their academic advisor during that time.  Students are informed at orientation of core and suggested elective courses.  All course selections must be approved by an academic advisor. Student will be informed of course options via email or other means for subsequent semesters. Prior to meeting with an academic advisor, an MS student must record all current and requested courses and grades on the academic advising sheet in order to inform the advisor of the current program structure. This is done to save the student time as evaluation of student progress in the program is needed prior to making changes. Graduate students must register during the designated registration period or risk loss of student status. Registration for classes is done through student services online. Graduate student course registration dates are dictated by the CU Registrar Office and posted at the Columbia Academic Calendar site.

Some courses require the approval of the professor teaching it. Typically it also requires a student's advisor to also approve the course. If this situation it is the responsibility of the student to seek and obtain all written approvals prior to registering for the course.

CHEN E9400 MS Research is not required and not something done by everyone. Students who elect to take a CHEN E9400 Master’s Research must have written approval by the professor to join his or her research group using the approval form linked at this site.  Once approval is obtained from the research professor, then the student must obtain approval from the academic advisor.  Up to 6 points of MS Research (CHEN E9400) may be used as part of the 18 point elective requirement.  MS students may start taking CHEN E9400 after successful completion of their first semester of classes.   A maximum of 3 points of research may be taken in a semester.