DegreeMAP launched today for Elliott School graduate students! Now you'll be able to access an unofficial degree audit that will help you track your degree progress and assist with course selection during registration periods.
We do not expect your first DegreeMAP audit to be completely accurate, in fact we anticipate the opposite. Elliott School M.A. programs do not have fully prescribed curricula. Our programs are designed to be somewhat flexible and allow you to tailor the courses you take to meet your academic and professional goals. This is part of the reason why DegreeMAP is challenging to build. Please keep in mind that this is a new tool that is still in the roll-out phase. The Elliott School has been working behind the scenes with the Registrar for months to tweak DegreeMAP's coding to make it as accurate as possible. There will be glitches, errors, and coding that still needs to be worked out. We thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.
With that being said, here are some examples of things that may cause you to panic; but, rest assured, with a bit of patience and work these kinks will be fixed over time.
Example One:
A student has completed his language requirement, but the requirement shows as unmet on DegreeMAP.
Solution: DegreeMAP will not automatically show that the language requirement has been met unless 1) you are in a program that allows you to meet the requirement through taking a class at GW, and 2) you take and pass the appropriate pre-approved GW class. If you meet the requirement through taking an exam or through prior coursework, your language requirement will show as unmet until it is manually updated in the system. These manual updates will happen once per semester, you do not need to take action on this item.
Example Two:
A student has taken a special topics course, approved on her plan of study by her program director to count toward her major field requirements. The course appears under "fallthrough courses". As a result her major field shows that she still needs 3 credits.
Solution: In this scenario, the special topics course has already been approved to count toward the students degree, so she doesn't need to have it re-approved by her program director. To move the special topics course to the major field, the student should follow the steps listed below (which were also sent via e-mail on 1/25/13).
What If I Have Questions About My DegreeMAP Audit?
If your first DegreeMAP audit differs slightly from your own records, please do not panic. You will have the opportunity to share your DegreeMAP audit concerns with the Office of Academic Advising. To share your concerns:
- Email your academic advisor with the specific details of your concern including your GWID, course number(s), and name(s) of requirement field(s) of concern.
Appointments will not be scheduled solely for the purpose of discussing DegreeMAP concerns. Please do not use Call-In Advising for this purpose either.
- Allow 4-6 weeks for your request to be reviewed.
- When your request has been reviewed, your advisor will send you a confirmation email, along with additional information or instructions if necessary.
- If you do not receive a confirmation email after 6 weeks have passed, you may email your advisor to inquire about the status of your inquiry.
What If I Have Questions About My DegreeMAP Audit?
If your first DegreeMAP audit differs slightly from your own records, please do not panic. You will have the opportunity to share your DegreeMAP audit concerns with the Office of Academic Advising. To share your concerns:
- Email your academic advisor with the specific details of your concern including your GWID, course number(s), and name(s) of requirement field(s) of concern.
- Appointments will not be scheduled solely for the purpose of discussing DegreeMAP concerns. Please do not use Call-In Advising for this purpose either.
- Allow 4-6 weeks for your request to be reviewed.
- When your request has been reviewed, your advisor will send you a confirmation email, along with additional information or instructions if necessary.
- If you do not receive a confirmation email after 6 weeks have passed, you may email your advisor to inquire about the status of your inquiry.
How Do I Access DegreeMAP?
Additional information about DegreeMAP is available here. You may also, use the following links to learn more about DegreeMAP:
DegreeMAP Student Training
DegreeMAP Student Reference Manual
Disclaimer
DegreeMAP is an advising tool and is not a contract. It is the responsibility of each student to be aware of and understand the requirements of the selected degree program. Students should contact their academic advisor for assistance in interpreting or verifying the accuracy of any information contained within this report. This audit report is not an academic transcript and it is not official notification of completion of degree or certificate requirements.
Pia Ulrich studied international and comparative law at the University of Osnabrück, Germany, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in unified and Italian private law. In 2007, Pia started to work at the European Legal Studies Institute, and, being fluent in German, English and French, became part of the Working Team for the Study Group for a European Civil Code. During that time, Pia also worked as honorary arbitrator for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court in Vienna, Austria, and studied Mandarin Chinese and the Russian language. In August 2011, Pia came to Washington to study at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Her academic focus is on nuclear nonproliferation. She is currently the Nuclear Nonproliferation Research Assistant at the Partnership for Global Security, and is a candidate for graduation from the M.A. Security Policy Studies program.