Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalogue 
    
2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalogue Archived Catalogue

Important Student FAQ


Catalogue Terminology

Prerequisites
A course or requirement that needs to be met prior to taking another course.

Corequisites
A course or requirement that needs to be taken at the same time as another course.

Class Restrictions
A restriction on whether you have to be a Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate student to take the course.

Major Restrictions
A restriction on whether you have to be in a specific program to take the course.

Cross-listed
Some courses are listed under multiple departments. For example, FST 320 is cross-listed with ART 320 and CSC 320. Each of these courses are identical in content, but they are offered in three different departments.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Which catalogue should I be using?

A. For degree requirements and University Regulations, students should use the catalogue that was current during the first semester they started school at UNCW.


Q. When should I meet with an advisor?

A. Students should see their advisor:

  • Sometime during the first three weeks of the fall semester to discuss educational goals, schedule changes, or other issues;
  • In October for pre-spring registration advising, and in March for summer and fall registration advising;
  • Whenever the student has a question about classes or academic policies;
  • When the student has a concern about academic performance and needs advice about improving grades.

 

Q. When should I register?

A. Important information on registration can be found here.

 

Q. What are the University Studies requirements?

A. University Studies requirements are a set of courses that all undergraduates must take in order to earn a bachelor’s degree. The minimum number of hours to complete University Studies is 39, however, the majority of students will need more than 39 hours. The maximum number of hours varies due to placement scores, transfer credit, the major chosen, and other variables. Requirements for the University Studies program  can be found here.

 

Q. How do I know if a course satisfies a University Studies requirement?

A. There are two ways to identify courses approved for University Studies:

 

  1. All courses approved for University Studies will contain a sentence in the course description indicating which component of the program that course fulfills, or partially fulfills.
     
  2. A list of all courses approved for University Studies can be found here.

 

Q. How do I declare a major?

A. The minimum requirement to declare most majors at UNCW is to have earned and passed 24 semester hours with at least a 2.0 GPA. Some majors have additional admissions requirements, such as prerequisite courses and departmental applications. Consult your catalogue and your academic advisor. In general, most students declare a major at the end of their freshman year or at the beginning of their sophomore year. Specific instructions on declaring a major online can be found here.

 

Q. What is a Degree Audit?

A. A degree audit provides the student and advisor an analysis of degree requirements for a particular degree, major, minor or certificate program. The degree audit matches a student’s University of North Carolina Wilmington courses, transfer courses and in-progress courses against the requirements for that particular program.

Students should review their degree audit and work closely with their advisors to establish how many hours they need to complete University Studies requirements. More information on degree audits can be found here: How to Run a Degree Audit.

 

Other UNCW FAQ and Helpful Links

Office of the Registrar FAQ

Financial Aid FAQ

University Health Services FAQ

Honors College FAQ

Seahawk Mail FAQ

Online and Blended Courses FAQ

Academic Advising

International Programs

Parents