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Advising Information for Sociology Majors Success at Rutgers-Camden depends critically on having the right information for making good decisions about choosing your major, deciding which courses to take each semester, getting the most out of your courses, developing relationships with faculty so that they can provide you with job or graduate school references, using the Career Center in preparing for life after Rutgers, and more. This webpage is designed to provide advising assistance, but not to replace regular advising meetings with your faculty advisor (see below). If you are a criminal justice major, go to the criminal justice advising page. Click
here for advice for Community College Students Considering Coming
to Rutgers Your Advisor If you are a registered sociology major, click here to see an excel file that will tell you who your advisor is. If you have not declared sociology as your major, you should do so ASAP by going to the Registrar's Office and telling the person at the counter that you want to declare your major to be sociology (920). Once you declare your major, go to the department office at 405-7 Cooper Street (enter through the white porch on the campus side) and ask our secretary, Sherry Pisacano, to assign you a faculty advisor. (You will be assigned one eventually in any case, but this will speed up the process.) Once you have declared a major, you should only consult Sociology Department faculty advisors for information and decisions about the major. It is highly recommended that you see your advisor prior to pre-registration each semester. Your Transcript Your transcript provides an official accounting of where you stand at Rutgers University, including transfer credits, courses taken at Rutgers, and your declared major. You should periodically examine it carefully to make sure that all is in order. It may be accessed online at https://www.acs.rutgers.edu/grades. It's generally a good idea to bring a printed-out copy with you when you meet with your faculty advisor. Note: to access your transcript, you need to have established a "NetID" and password for a student account on the "clam" server. If you have not done this, follow the instructions at http://oit.rutgers.edu/services/account/quick.html. You will need your "NetID" and password for many things, including accessing WebCT, a course management system used in many of our courses. Your General Curricular Requirements Sociology majors receive their degrees from the Camden College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) and must fulfill the college's curriculuar requirements (often referred to as the "general academic requirements"). The basic idea behind these requirements is that all liberal arts student should graduate with a broad intellectual background that includes the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, regardless of their particular major. It is generally a good idea to concentrate on fulfilling these general requirements early along in your time at Rutgers-Camden. Copies of the general academic requirements worksheet are available at http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/studentaffairs/studserv_checklist.html. You should keep this worksheet up to date and bring it to all advising sessions. A somewhat more detailed description of the college curricular requirements may also be found in the college catalog. (Note: If you enrolled at Rutgers-Camden before Fall 2003, you come under the requirements at the time you began taking classes, although you may opt for the current requirements if you wish.) While the college catalog is available online, it's a good idea to have a print copy for reference. If you don't have one, pick one up in the Registrar's or Admissions Office. Your Sociology Major The Sociology major consists of 36 credits: 6 required courses, and 6 elective courses. The elective courses can involve any combination of courses from Anthropology (070), Criminal Justice (202), or Sociology (920), as long as one of these courses (3 credits) is in anthropology. The fullest documentation of the sociology major is found in the college catalog, but a summary may be found online at http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/major.htm#socmaj. The worksheet for the major may be printed out at http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/documents/SocCrim03.pdf. Note that the worksheet contains information about when some courses are taught (e.g. Sociological Theory is only taught in the fall) and also some schedulng advice, most notably that Methods and Techniques of Social Research and Introduction to Cultural Anthropology should be taken by the junior year, and in the first semester by all transfer students. Both are prerequisites to other courses in the major. Keep your worksheet current and bring it with you for all advising sessions. Students registered in University College should note that the sociology major is not offered in the evening. University College students may graduate with a sociology major, but they must be prepared to take most of their courses during the day. We simply do not have enough faculty to offer an evening program. Further Notes:
Double Major with Criminal Justice Students majoring in both sociology and criminal justice may find the requirements for the double major (66 credits) here. New requirements for the criminal justice major went into effect in fall 2008, so the requirements for the double major differ for students coming up under the pre-2008 requirements and those under the current ones. Doube majors should be sure to consult with their advisor about their program. Combining a Sociology Major with a Minor in Anthropology or Criminal Justice Students with a sociology major and either an anthropology or criminal justice minor are strongly advised to see their advisor to ensure that they understand what is required to satisfy the requirements of their combined programs. Details are available at our minor programs page. Using
Degree Navigator
Degree Navigator is an online tool that can automatically "audit" your record for any program, major or minor that you are enrolled in or considering. It is a valuable tool and students should learn how to use it. A description with links to FAQs may be found at http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/degreenavigator/index.html. Students may log in to Degree Navigator at http://dn.rutgers.edu/. Degree Navigator has difficulty with students combining a sociology major with an intra-departmental minor (anthropology or criminal justice), so it is important to consult your advisor to be sure. Registering for Your CoursesThe online schedule of courses may be accessed at http://www.acs.rutgers.edu/soc. The print version is available at the registrar's office. Our department also provides a list of courses for each semester for all three disciplines (which have to be accessed separately in the registrar's list); the latest one is always available at our department homepage. In addition, preregistration advice for the upcoming semester is always provided in the department's current newsletter. To register online, go to https://webreg.rutgers.edu. Using the Department WebsiteNo department at Rutgers University uses the web more than ours to convey information to students and to provide resources to help our students do well in their courses. The departmental web site is organized around its Departmental Homepage and its Web-Enhanced Curriculum Homepage, as outlined below. The Department's Web-Enhanced Curriculum was an important factor in its receipt of the Rutgers University Programmatic Excellence Award in 2003.
You may want to start by clicking on "Current Newsletter" on the department homepage to get the latest news about the department, its faculty, and its students. Then familiarize yourself with the many resources available in both parts of the website. . The URL for this page is http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/advising.htm |