Keeping track of the classes you’ve already taken and the classes you still need to take in order to fulfill all of your requirements can be a challenging task. To help provide an effective way for students to track their academic progress throughout their undergraduate academic career, the Registrar is launching a new feature on MYYU called Degree Track.
Degree Track is an online advising tool that enables students to monitor their progress towards their degree. Degree Track shows students which requirements they have fulfilled and which courses they still must fulfill toward their major and general requirements, allowing students to plan their academic life at Yeshiva University. Degree Track also provides a GPA calculator that will allow student to calculate major and minor GPAs.
Since demonstrating this new feature to the Student Life Committee, the Registrar has received positive feedback. Ruth Brown, co-chair of the Stern Student Life Committee, explains that before each registration period it can be very stressful to determine what classes to take for the upcoming semester and manually mapping it out can be confusing. Instead of sitting down with a sheet of general requirements, a packet of majors, and previous schedules, students can log into their banner account and view their progress on Degree Track in order to determine completed and outstanding requirements. “It is simple and aesthetically pleasing,” says her co-chair, senior Elana Raskas.
Besides for showing students their current progress towards their degree, Degree Track also allows students to consider other majors or minors and see how the change will affect their classes for future semesters. Students will be able to see what the classes they have already taken will fulfill, and what classes they would still need to take, if they were to change or add on a major. Students can explore other options and easily map out how that will affect the rest of their academic course at Yeshiva University.
Rachel Lebovits, majoring in accounting at Sy Syms, explained that while she was in the middle of her studies in accounting, she was also contemplating switching to Speech in Stern College. “Figuring out what my next few years at Stern would look like was confusing,” she recalls, explaining that she “met with different advisors and tried to plan out all of my future semesters at Stern with the new courses I would have to take. Then, a few weeks later I decided not to switch from accounting to speech, and had to plan out another schedule for all of the classes I still had to take in Sy Syms, and it was not an easy process.”
Degree Track simplifies this process enabling students to weigh different options and plan their academic career effectively. “We believe Degree Track will be an extremely helpful and useful tool for students as they progress their degree.” said Diana Benmergui, the Interim University Registrar. “We are excited and hope people will enjoy it and appreciate it.”
The Registrar hopes to organize an Information Session within the next few weeks in order to demonstrate this feature to the undergraduate student body. As well, the Registrar is interested in student feedback and is eager to hear question, comments, and suggestions. Email the Registrar at registrar@yu.edu.