Academic Advising

Advising PIN

Each academic unit is responsible for issuing the Advising PIN required for registration in the first semester of student enrollment at Illinois Tech. The academic unit’s website will outline specific advising policies and the process a student will follow to obtain the Advising PIN.

Graduate Academic Advising Session (Mandatory)

Graduate students are required to complete a mandatory advising session with their graduate academic adviser. In order to ensure compliance, an advising hold is placed on the student's registration when a master's student has nine earned and/or enrolled credit hours, and when a doctoral student has 18 earned and/or enrolled credit hours. This Graduate Program (GP) Advising Hold prevents registration for the next term until the required advising meeting has occurred. After the advising meeting has been completed, the adviser will lift the registration hold. 

Co-terminal students are required to meet with the academic adviser to plan co-terminal shared and non-shared graduate courses. A Graduate Co-terminal (GC) Hold is placed on the student's registration after the initial semester of co-terminal enrollment, until the required eForm is submitted with the declaration of courses. After the eForm is fully approved by the adviser, academic unit, and Academic Affairs, the hold will be lifted.

For more information on advising, please refer to individual academic unit websites.

Graduate Degree Works

Graduate student progress toward degree requirements can be reviewed in Graduate Degree Works. To access Graduate Degree Works:

• Login to the MyIIT portal (my.iit.edu) with the assigned username and password
  • Students who require assistance accessing the MyIIT portal can send an email to support@iit.edu (OTS Support Services)
  • Faculty select the Teaching tab
  • Students select the Academics tab
  • Staff first configure the channel on the Work tab, then select it
    • Next, navigate to the Graduate Academic Affairs Channel and select Graduate Degree Works to open the Worksheet (default screen)
• Review the required and elective course requirements shown on the Worksheet
  • If the degree program includes research, review the research course and non-course requirements
  • Failed courses will appear in the Fallthrough section of the Worksheet
  • All failed courses must be repeated to raise the program GPA, with a maximum course repeat limit of two courses allowed for grade point average recalculation (see the Repeating a Course section)
  • Note restrictions on the use of certain courses and credits shown on the Worksheet (this appears as a remark at the top of the Major block on the Worksheet). Restrictions may include:
    • Transfer credit
    • Courses numbered 400 (upper-division undergraduate courses)
    • Repeatable courses numbered 595, 597, etc.
    • Accelerated course credits numbered 700
• The student should review the Graduate Degree Works Worksheet each semester to monitor degree program requirements and progress
• Students should only register for courses that appear as valid options in the Worksheet shown as “Still Needed” and should also review applicable non-course requirements:
  • Only a fully approved course substitution, submitted by the student using eForms and approved by the adviser, academic unit, and the Office of Academic Affairs will appear on the Worksheet
  • An unapproved course is not applicable and will appear in the Fallthrough section of the Worksheet
  • Unapproved courses shown in the Fallthrough section on the Worksheet may be denied for program use
  • A change of program, declaration of a specialization, concentration, project, or thesis option will change the degree program requirements
  • Students will file an eForm and obtain final approval before completing registration for any course that does not appear as “Still Needed” in the Worksheet
  • Consider using the What-If Audit feature to consider a change to the degree program, program options, or catalog (bulletin) year
  • Consider using the Look Ahead feature to determine if courses of interest will apply to the degree program requirements
  • Courses that appear in the Fallthrough section of Graduate Degree Works do not explicitly meet the degree program requirements. If this occurs, request special consideration of these courses as a substitution or exception using eForms, which is accessed by clicking the “eForms” tab at the top of the Worksheet
  • Approval of course exceptions and substitutions is at the discretion of the adviser and academic unit approver with final approval required by the Office of Academic Affairs

eForms for Degree Works

eForms for Degree Works facilitates the submission, review, and approval of requests to make changes to a degree program that is in-progress. Students initiate a request by selecting the eForms tab in Graduate Degree Works. Only one eForm can be filed and reviewed at a time. eForms requests include:

• Change of Adviser
• Change in Degree Program (within the same academic unit, and same or lower level degree type)
• Co-terminal program course approvals for
  • Shared 400- and 500-level+ courses for both undergraduate and graduate program use
  • Non-shared 400- and 500-level+ courses for exclusive use in the graduate program
  • Non-shared 500-level+ courses for exclusive use in the undergraduate program
• Accelerated master's program shared course approvals (from Illinois Tech undergraduate degree)
  • For new graduate students admitted beginning Fall 2019 semester or later
• Declare a Specialization or Concentration
• Declare an International Research Project (INIP). For IIT Europe Students only (see International Partner Research Project section).
• Declare a Research Project or Thesis Option
• Transfer credit approval
  • External (other institution's course)
  • Internal (other academic unit's course)
• Course substitution or exception approval
  • Course(s) of interest that do not explicitly meet the program requirements shown on the Graduate Degree Works Worksheet
  • Courses that appear in the Fallthrough section of Graduate Degree Works (these may be denied since approval was not requested before the course was completed)

Updating Program Options

Degree programs may have mandatory or optional specializations, concentrations, project, or thesis options. In all cases, the Graduate Degree Works Worksheet will display when program options are available for the program in-progress. eForms in Graduate Degree Works is used to submit a declaration of a program option and to obtain approval. Once the program option has received final approval from the Office of Academic Affairs, that change will be reflected in the student’s record and in the Graduate Degree Works Worksheet.

When to Submit a New Application

A new admission is required and should be filed with the Office of Graduate Admission (admissions.iit.edu/graduate) when the student seeks:

• A change to any degree program from a different academic unit
• A change to any co-terminal degree program pairing (even within the same academic unit)
• Admission to a Master of Science (M.S.) when currently admitted to any other master’s program within the same academic unit
• Admission to any Ph.D. program when currently admitted to any master’s program

International Advising

Students with any immigration-related questions should consult the International Center (iit.edu/international-center) for advice to ensure current policies and procedures are considered. Academic advisers should never be asked to provide immigration advice.

Financial Aid Advising

Students with any financial aid-related question should consult the Office of Financial Aid (iit.edu/financial-aid) for advice to ensure current policies and procedures relevant to the student’s specific inquiry are considered. Academic advisers should never be asked to provide financial aid advice.