Frequently Asked Questions

Advising is the process by which a student and advisor meet to discuss the student’s degree plan, current degree status, and registration plans for upcoming semesters. During the advising process, students can meet and ask any questions they have about the progression through the curriculum, courses, or the psychology degree. Advising can occur ANY TIME throughout the year! It is not only during registration. Advisors should be available throughout the academic year. Students need to simply contact their advisors to schedule a time to meet.

Registration is the formal process by which students sign up for and enroll in courses for the upcoming semester(s). This typically involves submitting signed documents for an advisor’s approval and signature (and sometimes approval by the department head and/or dean). Registration has a specific designated timeframe, which is typically posted in the academic calendar by the registrar’s office and academic affairs.

Students should do a number of things to prepare for advising and registration. First, students need to familiarize themselves with their degree plan and their DegreeWorks. This might require an advising meeting. Second, students should write down a list of questions they have for their advisor. Third, students should use the registrar’s office website to answer any questions they can before meeting with their advisors. Fourth, students should list the courses that they want to take or plan on taking in the upcoming semester. Fifth, and finally, students should take notes during advising meetings, hold onto these notes, and review them before each meeting. This will prevent students from forgetting what their advisor said in the last meeting, and this will help prevent students from having to re-learn the same information about their degree and DegreeWorks repeatedly each time they meet with their advisor.

Assuming that students have already met with their advisors, students must complete a registration form online listing the courses that they plan to take in the upcoming semester. Once this form is completed and submitted, the advisor will review it and, if approved, send the PIN to the student.

Once students have received their PIN, they can login to Panther Tracks and enroll in courses. Before enrolling in classes through Panther Tracks, students should look up all of the classes and write down the CRNs to make this process easier.

First, students should try their PIN again. Second, students should contact their advisor and let them know that the PIN is not working and provide the advisor with the PIN they tried. The advisor will then be able to provide the correct PIN or clarify any error in communicating the PIN to the student.

If a course is closed (already full), then this typically means that the student cannot sign up for the course. It has already met full capacity. However, if the student strongly desires to take the course or needs the course for scheduling or graduation purposes, then the student can contact the instructor of the course and ask to be allowed to be added to the course. Sometimes the instructor will allow the student to be added to the course; however, this is not required of the instructor, and the instructor might not allow the student to be added. In this case, the student should choose a different course that they need according to their degree plan. An advisor can help with this process. The student can contact their advisor for help choosing an alternative course.

A psychology elective is a course that is required by the psychology degree program and must be a course offered by the psychology department. This course will have a PSYC prefix and is not listed as a required course on the psychology degree plan. If you are on the catalog year 2020-2021 or later, with the course blocks, then courses that are listed as options in the block (but have not already been taken) can be used as electives if that block requirement has already been met. Students should meet with their advisors if they still have questions about psychology electives.

An unrestricted elective is any course that has not been taken by the student and does not fulfill a different degree requirement. This can be any course from any department and can include psychology courses that do not already fulfill the student’s degree plan.

This is most likely the result of either a DegreeWorks problem or because the student has already fulfilled all of the psychology elective requirements. If students are concerned about this, they should contact their advisor for clarification and assistance.

All freshmen, sophomores, transfers, and athletes should contact the psychology department’s Academic Advisor, Mr. Bragg for general academic advice on a wide range of topics including choosing a major, selecting classes, and developing educational goals. Juniors and Seniors are advised by a faculty member in the department. Your advisor is designated based on the first letter of your last name (ex. Dr. Salami is the Advisor to John Smith). You can find the current list of advisors on the Undergraduate Advising webpage.

Students can contact their advisors either by calling their office phone number, emailing them directly, or by scheduling an appointment with them through their scheduling program (e.g., SignUpGenius, Calendly). Advisors may have a preferred mode of contact which can be found on the Undergraduate Advising webpage. If your advisor does not have a preferred method of contact, then you can contact them either by phone or email.

You are getting this email because the system is recognizing that you are taking a class that is not designated as a requirement or an elective (psychology or unrestricted) needed to fulfill a required section in DegreeWorks. One reason you might be getting these emails is that you are taking a class that is either a duplicate of a requirement/elective you have already taken or is a duplicate class you have already taken. Another reason you might get this email is because you are taking a newly offered elective class that was not a part of the elective list for your catalog year. In this case, the course will still count toward your degree, but you will need to contact your advisor and work with your advisor to complete the target elective form in DocuSign.

If you are having trouble sending a completed form via DocuSign or are unable to fill out particular sections of a form, contact your advisor and they will inform you of next steps.

If you have noticed that DegreeWorks changed your catalog year without you requesting this through a catalog change form, then contact your advisor immediately to remedy the situation.

The registration date for each semester is specified in Office of the Registrar’s website (https://www.pvamu.edu/registrar/). From the tab on the left, go to General Registration Information, and click on Priority Registration Schedule. Based on your classification, you can find your registration date.

There are various reasons. For example, if you have taken the same course twice, one of them may show under the Does Not Apply section. In addition, the Department of Psychology recently added new psychology courses to diversify our curriculum. Some of these courses may appear in this section due to DegreeWorks not knowing where to locate these courses. Don’t panic. This will be a good moment to schedule a meeting with your academic advisor and discuss whether the course will be counted towards your degree or not.

Students will need instructor’s permission PRIOR to registering Psychology Internship/Supervision and Psychology Research. Before you include these courses in your registration form, it is important that you contact the instructor for these courses and ask for the procedure for obtaining permission. Failure to do so may result in a failing grade due to not satisfying the enrollment requirement or you will be asked to drop the course even if there are no available psychology courses that will count towards your degree at that time.

Courses with a lab section will have section numbers starting with P01, P02, etc., and P81, P82, etc. To fully pass the course, you will need to register for both the lecture (e.g., P01, P02, etc.) and the lab portion (P81, P82, etc.). Some courses with a lab may give you an error when you attempt to register only the lecture or the lab section.

Perhaps. In order to transfer credits satisfied at another institution, you must complete and sign the Preapproved Transfer Credit Form, and submit it to the psychology department along with the accompanying support documents (i.e., course description, course syllabus, etc.). Please be advised that 30 of the last 36 semester credit hours toward a degree must be taken at Prairie View A&M University. Further, only courses in which you receive a grade of “C” or better will be transferable from a regionally accredited college or university.

The normal full-time course load ranges from 12 semester hours to 18 semester hours per semester during the regular academic year and six semester hours during a five-week summer term. Most students will be able to register for a maximum of 18 semester hours during the regular academic semesters (i.e., fall/spring). The total credit hours earned for the two summer sessions may not exceed twelve.

Of note, undergraduate students required to enroll in one or more developmental courses as a result of placement examinations are restricted to a maximum of 15 credit hour course load in a regular semester and 6 semester hours in a five-week summer term. Undergraduate students conditionally admitted are restricted to 12 semester credit hours in fall and/or spring semesters.

Undergraduate students with a 3.0 GPA or higher may be allowed to take a maximum of 21 semester credit hours during any fall and/or spring semester. Taking courses simultaneously at another institution or by distance education which would cause the student’s total workload to exceed the maximum overload will not be permitted. If a student persists in registering at another institution without the approval of the Dean of the respective college or school, the work taken may not be acceptable for transfer to Prairie View A&M University.

Yes. Regardless of if you take a mini-mester, all Spring semester credit hours should not exceed 18 hours or 21 hours if you have a GPA of 3.0 or higher and have received an overload approval.

There is a very detailed page that can walk you through the process of graduation.

You should meet with your academic advisor to discuss the issue. Any required changes will be made by your academic advisor in collaboration with the Registrar’s Office or other appropriate parties.

Courses students are currently taking or have registered for in a future semester will be marked as in-progress. These courses are applied in the block where they meet a specific requirement. They are also grouped at the bottom of your DegreeWorks audit. These courses may show a grade of “R” to designate that the course is in progress.

Yes. Credits for in-progress classes are counted toward your completed credit hours.