FAQs

• During the course of a given term, students are encouraged to meet frequently with their faculty advisor and/or their program director (e.g., HEOP, Academic Access) to discuss their progress towards fulfilling their degree requirements and to explore opportunities for internships and other career-related matters.

  Students are also asked to make a specific appointment with their faculty advisor to discuss their course schedule for the upcoming semester. Such advisement sessions are normally conducted on one of two Advisement Days, specially reserved for one-on-one meetings between students and faculty advisors. On these Advisement Days, no classes are scheduled, allowing students and faculty the freedom to meet at a mutually suitable time.

  Notwithstanding such support from qualified faculty advisors, students are expected to increasingly assume full responsibility for their own educational decisions. Advisement is therefore a working partnership between the student and their faculty advisor, in which the advisor, who is fully grounded in the academic requirements, helps to bring clarity and logic to the student’s choices.

  Working in concert with the academic advisors in the Office of Student Success Advising, faculty advisors are expected to assist students in making the best academic decisions from selecting a major to dropping a course. Equally, students are expected to work closely with their advisors to gain a clear understanding of all their degree requirements, and to make appropriate choices in order to ensure efficient completion of their degree programs.

• Your faculty advisor will work with you to build a schedule that best suits your academic and personal needs. Be mindful that both types cannot always be met, and there must be room for compromise — this is where your back-up schedule is useful. During these meetings, you can also discuss larger items such as double majoring, graduate school, and career options.

You should first review your Program Evaluation on MMCConnect. What courses do you already have? What do you need? Check both your major/s, any minors you have declared, and the General Education sequence. Also review all additional degree requirements (a total of 120 credits; residency requirements, etc.).

Make a list of possible courses for the following semester. Don’t forget that the January, Summer I, and Summer II terms might have courses you want to take.

Next, go to the Course Bulletin and search for the semester you are going to register for. Remember that not all courses are offered every semester. Also consider pre-requisites, the courses you need to have completed first before registering for the new course.

If a course is unfamiliar to you, you can find course descriptions in the Course Catalogue. If an instructor is listed as TBA, no instructor has been assigned that section yet. Note also in the Bulletin that you can click on ‘Textbook’ to find out what (if any) texts are required.

As you mock up a schedule, consider your energy curve. How many hours in a row can you pay attention? What parts of the day are you most alert?

Finally, it is always best to have back-up courses in case your first choice is full!

All students are assigned a faculty advisor for their major. If you double major, you will have two faculty advisors. To find the name of your advisor(s), check out your profile on MMC Connect.

• HBA stands for “Has Been Advised.” This is a notation that your faculty advisor must place on your digital record for you to be able to register. Without this, there will be a hold on your account. Remember, there may be other holds that prevent you from registering — you need to take care of those ASAP!

• Your registration time slot is based on the total credits completed (i.e. Seniors, Juniors, Sophomores, First-years). Each student will receive an email during Holds Week with their specific Priority Registration time. Students cannot register before their designated time. Also, while each student has a specific time slot, you will not be able to register until you have your HBA clearance and all holds have been cleared.

 You can work with the Office of Career and Professional Development on finding and registering for an internship. Learn more about this process here.

If you are interested in working with a faculty member on a special project, you might consider registering for an Independent Study. Here, students work independently on a project, guided by a full-time faculty member.

To be eligible for an Independent Study, you must have:

• Completed 30 credits;
• A GPA of 3.0 or higher;
• A full-time faculty member to sponsor you.

Independent Study opportunities can be at the 200, 300, or 400 level and offer 1-3 credits. You can approach a potential faculty sponsor with your idea. When you are ready, you and your faculty sponsor fill out the Independent Study Certification and Contract.

Research contracts allow students to work on scholarship usually initiated by the professor. Research Contracts are filled out by you and your professor and are sent to the Assistant Dean for approval.

Students are required to earn a minimum of 120 credits in order to graduate. This includes completing both the general education and major requirements. Of these credits, at least 30 must be completed at MMC in order to be eligible for degree completion.

The General Education curriculum is at the center of the Marymount Manhattan academic experience. While our students major in a wide variety of disciplines, their academic careers all have one thing in common. By the time they graduate from Marymount, they will complete a curriculum that expands their intellectual horizons and challenges them to think and learn in ways that push them beyond the boundaries of their chosen majors. At the same time, they will master a set of skills that will help them succeed in their chosen career paths. The General Education Curriculum consists of 42 credits and has three components, which include 9 credits in the Foundation Courses, 15 credits in the Disciplinary Studies (DS), & 18 credits in the Advanced Interdisciplinary Perspectives (AIP). 

The (NEW) General Education (GenEd) curriculum is inspired by the College’s mission to engage our students in a GenEd experience that develops “an awareness of social, political, cultural and ethical issues. The new GenEd invites students to engage in both lower- and advanced-level work in courses that emphasize interdisciplinary study and the diverse areas of interest and expertise of our faculty. The new GenEd curriculum consist of 30 credits, which include six lower-level courses and four advanced-level courses.

A major is a field of study that a student chooses to explore in depth. MMC offers a selection of liberal arts and pre-professional majors. Study in any major prepares students for graduate work and for a broad range of careers. Majors require the completion of 34 or more credits, depending upon the discipline. Specific requirements for majors are located in the Academic Catalog(opens in a new tab). In meeting the requirements of a given major, a minimum of twelve credits must be completed at MMC.

Most students will have the opportunity to explore additional areas of study through the completion of electives. Electives are chosen not prescribed. Students are encouraged to consult with an advisor to discuss how to make best use of their elective credits. They may choose to take courses in various areas of interest or structure electives in order to pursue a second (or dual) major, a minor or minors. A minor is an additional area of study and requires fewer credits for completion as compared to the major. In meeting the requirements of a minor, a minimum of six credits must be completed at MMC.

If you wish to declare or change your major, you need to fill out a Major Declaration Petition form. Once you submit the form to our office, we will update the system accordingly, and you will be assigned a new faculty advisor for the next course selection period.

If you would like to declare or change your minor, you need to complete a Minor Declaration Petition form . Please note that while a major is mandatory, students have the option of whether or not to add a minor.

A student receiving a grade of D or below in a required major or elected minor course must repeat the course. When a student repeats a course, both the D grade and the new grade compute in the cumulative grade point average unless they have been approved for a grade waiver for the course. Note that if a course is repeated, a student will only earn credit for it once toward the degree.

Students who receive a D, F, or WF grade are eligible to petition for a Grade Waiver. Should they retake the exact same course at MMC, the second grade alone would be calculated into their cumulative GPA, rather than averaging both grades together. The first grade would appear on the academic transcript with a designation that the waiver was used. As with any repeated course, the credit for the course is only counted once toward the degree. Students must fill out theGrade Waiver Petition form(opens in a new tab) to be considered for this opportunity.

If you have completed 85 or more credits, please visit Graduation Information for more information about official degree audits.