Concentrations, Registration and Electives – Oh, My!

Since this time of year tends to get people thinking about their chosen concentrations and elective coursework, I figured I would address some common questions or issues that people bring up about their electives/concentrations.

I’m not sure if I want an MBA in Finance or an MBA in Accounting or… who can I talk to about this?

There are a few different resources available to you if you’re looking to choose a concentration and don’t’ know where to start!

• The UIC Liautaud Student Services team is available to talk with you about the different concentrations available, the course requirements for each, the schedule of courses for the upcoming term, and which courses might best suit your registration and concentration needs.
• UIC Liautaud Career Services is available to meet with you to discuss the various concentrations and how they would benefit you depending on your chosen or intended future career path. If you’re thinking to yourself, “I want to apply for project management jobs when I graduate, but I don’t know which concentration will best prepare me for that,” give career services a call!
• Your professors are a fantastic resource for you if you’re looking to learn more about the content within specific courses and each area of concentration. If you missed the academic open house yesterday, or even if you were there, you may want to contact a professor or two to learn more about the different areas of study and concentration. For a list of professors who attended the academic open house, along with their departments and email addresses, please visit the UIC Liautaud Graduate School of Business blog!

I’m an MBA student.  Can I apply one course towards two different concentrations?

There are some courses on the schedule that could count towards a few different concentrations – for example, MGMT 594: Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship is an elective option for the Management concentration but could also be used towards an Entrepreneurship concentration. However, if you are pursuing both a Management and an Entrepreneurship concentration, you can only use this course towards one concentration or the other – not both.

Each concentration requires three unique courses, so even if you take a course that happens to apply towards both of the concentrations you are pursuing, you’ll need to choose which course you’d prefer for that particular course.

For a list of concentrations and their requirements, log into the My Liautaud Loop student portal. Concentration requirements can be found in the “Academics” section.

I’m trying to register for this 4-credit special topics (594) course, but it’s only showing up as 1 credit hour… why is that?

All of the special topics courses are listed as 594 courses (e.g., MKTG 594) on the schedule. All special topics courses at the University are entered into the registration system as variable credit courses, since some may be 1 credit while others may be 4 credits. Therefore, when registering for a 594 course, the registration system will default to 1 credit hour unless you manually change it while registering. When you register, you have the option to select the appropriate number of credit hours, so make sure you do this when you register.

If you’ve already registered for a 594 course and have realized that your registration is only showing up as 1 credit hour instead of 4, you can change it. You’ll need to log back into the registration system (accessible through the my.UIC portal) and from the registration menu, select the option to change credit hours. Make sure to submit all changes.

When will the summer and fall 2011 schedules be posted?  I want to plan out my courses for the rest of my time here.

The summer and fall 2011 course schedules are typically posted near the beginning of March each year.  Therefore, the exact courses available for those terms won’t be confirmed for a few months yet.  However, you can look at schedules from past summer and fall semesters to get an idea of what courses may be offered.  Each semester, the schedule is built from the corresponding semester the year before, and is updated as courses are confirmed, added, or deleted.  Therefore, the summer and fall 2011 schedules will most likely look very much like the summer and fall 2010 schedules.  You’ll probably see a few changes, but overall, they’ll be quite similar.

You can access previous semesters’ course schedules using the “Schedule of Classes: Archives” search in the my.UIC portal.

These are only a few of the many questions that I know students may have.  If you have any questions, please contact UIC Liautaud Student Services.