Policies
Admission to the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Applying to the Program
A small number of students are invited to join the Engineering Honors Program when they are admitted to the USC Viterbi School of Engineering based on their high school (or previous institution) grade point average, and SAT/ ACT scores. If you are not invited to join upon admission to USC, you will be eligible to apply to the program once you have earned a cumulative USC GPA of 3.7. You can apply as early as the end of your first semester at USC if you have earned the appropriate grade point average.
Required Number of Semesters of ENGR 100
The required number of semesters of ENGR 100 you must take as a member of the Honors Program depends on when you were admitted to the program. If you were invited into the program as an incoming freshman, you are required to complete 4 semesters of ENGR 100 (a, b, c, and d) during your four years here at USC. Transfer students who were invited to join the program upon their admission to USC will take as many semesters of the colloquium as they are expecting to spend years at USC.
As a general guideline, continuing students who are admitted to the program during their sophomore year will need to complete 3 semesters, admitted juniors need to complete 2 semesters, and students admitted in their senior year will need to complete only 1 semester of the colloquium. This will vary depending on each student's specific situation. If you have any questions about the number of semesters of ENGR 100 you will need to complete, please contact
Amanda Atkinson, Program Coordinator for the Engineering Honors Program, at (213) 740-4530.
Grade Point Average Requirements to Remain in Program
The required grade point average for remaining in the Engineering Honors Program is a cumulative USC GPA of 3.6 or above. Beginning with the Class of 2015, the required grade point average for remaining in the Engineering Honors Program is a cumulative USC GPA of 3.7 or above. If a student in the Honors Program earns a cumulative USC GPA below 3.6 (3.7 for Class of 2015 and beyond), he/she will be given two semesters (excluding summer semesters) of "Honors Program Probation" during which time s/hecan bring his/her GPA back to a 3.6 (3.7 for Class of 2015 and beyond). For example, if a student earns 3.45 during a fall semester, s/he is given the following spring and fall semesters to raise his/her cumulative GPA back to 3.6 (3.7 for Class of 2015 and beyond) or above. During this probationary period, a student in the Honors Program is still eligible to participate in the Honors Colloquium (ENGR 100) class as well as the fall retreat.
Once the student brings his GPA up to 3.6 (3.7 for Class of 2015 and beyond) or above, s/he is again a member in good standing with the Honors Program. After two semesters of probation, a student whose GPA remains below 3.6 (3.7 for Class of 2015 and beyond) will be ineligible to participate in Honors Program Colloquium classes and activities, but can become eligible again at any later date by raising his/her cumulative GPA to 3.6 (3.7 for Class of 2015 and beyond) or above. Any questions regarding grade point average requirements and policies for students in the Engineering Honors Program can be addressed to
Amanda Atkinson, Program Coordinator for the Engineering Honors Program, at (213) 740-4530.
Please note: The probationary period referred to in this section for students in the Engineering Honors Program is different from other forms of probation at USC, including
Academic Probation.
Enrolling in ENGR 100abcd
Which Section to Take
There are four available semesters of ENGR 100 that a student in the Honors Program should take in consecutive order -- first ENGR 100a, then ENGR 100b, followed by ENGR 100c, and ending with ENGR 100d. It is very important that you do not register for the same course twice (for example, take ENGR 100a for two semesters), because you will not be granted the unit value of the course the second time you take it. If you are unsure of which semesters of ENGR 100 you have already completed, please view your completed course summary or STARS report on
OASIS.
D-Clearance Required
ENGR 100 is a D-clearance course, and requires that you come in person to RTH 110 to request Departmental Clearance. You can request a D-clearance form at the front desk, and you will be emailed once your D-clearance has been processed. Please note: this class is only available for current members of the Engineering Honors Program. D-clearance will not be granted to students who have not applied to the program, or who have been disqualified from it due to their grade point average.
Attendance Policies for ENGR 100abcd
ENGR 100 is a one-unit, credit/ no-credit course, and the only requirement for earning credit is attendance at the weekly Colloquium classes. Since this is the only requirement, the attendance policies for ENGR 100 are very strict. Students are allowed a maximum of three absences total, for any reason, during each semester. More than three absences will result in a grade of "no credit" being assigned.
If you miss any class sessions due to adding the course after classes have already started, those class sessions you missed will be considered absences.
Please note that there is no distinction between "excused" and "unexcused" absences. Regardless of the circumstances, every time you are not in attendance will be considered an absence.
Attendance is taken by means of a sign-in sheet, which is passed around during each class session. Signing in for another student is grounds for termination from the program. It is each student's responsibility to keep track of the number of his/her absences and to ensure that the maximum allowed number of absences is not exceeded.
In the past I have repeatedly observed that an increasing number of our members are using laptops and mobile phones during our talks. I have also heard negative comments about this fact from a few of our speakers.
Since the use of laptops and mobile phones have very little to do with our Colloquium (e.g., it is not required for the presentations), the use of laptops and mobile phones during our presentations are at a minimum disrespectful to our speakers. You see, we invite these speakers to come and talk to us, often imposing a considerable amount of work at their end. The least we can do is then to give our undivided attention to their talks.
For the above reasons, and others that I am sure you can infer, with this message I am then informing you that laptops and mobile phones are not to be used in our weekly Colloquium.
The bottom line is that, if somebody is not interested in the Colloquium, they should not be there. If they can’t manage their time to avoid needing to use a laptop or mobile phone during the Colloquium, they should not be there either. If you absolutely need to entertain a very important phone call or text message (we all know that sometimes this happens), please make sure that you step out of the room for that.
Wishing you a very productive semester, sincerely yours,
Prata
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