A

A Grade that represents a 4.0 in your Grade Point Average.

academic advisor

A professional who can help you create your academic plan, guide you through course selection and chart your academic progress. If you do not know who your academic advisor is, contact your department. If you are a student who is undeclared,conditionally admitted, non-matriculated or enrolled in the Associate degree program in Liberal Arts program contact the Advising Services Center.

academic load

A full-time undergraduate is someone who is taking 12 credit hours or more. The average academic course load is 12-15 credit hours, although many students are part-time 6.5-11 credits. Whatever works for you is the right number.

add/drop

Changing your course schedule after registration is completed and semester has started. An instructor's signature on an add form is required. FMI: Registrar

advance reg

A registration period for matriculated students, occurring towards the end of the semester for the following semester's courses. FMI: Registrar

attendance

Each instructor decides his/her own policy on attendance, so check with each professor the first day of class.

B

A grade that represents a 3.0 in your Grade Point Average.

C

A grade that represents a 2.0 in your Grade Point Average.

Catalog vs Course Schedule

Catalog: A student's University contract that provides all program and course descriptions, policies, and procedures.
Course Schedule: A document which provides pertinent information on current semester course offerings, advising instructions, registration, and tuition and payment policies.

career decision-making

A process by which you decide or confirm your choice of career.

CLEP

College-Level Examination Program. See Prior Learning Assessment.

Co-op

Cooperative Education (Co-op) is an optional educational program designed to enrich students' educational experience by helping them find paying work experiences which are related to their majors, minors or career goals.

credit hour

A unit of credit earned in a course, usually based on the number of clock "hours" a class meets. A three credit-hour course typically meets for 2 ½ hours per week, distributed in one, two, or three class meetings per week.,

Cum Laude

Graduation with distinction. See your undergraduate catalog for more information.

D

A grade that represents a 1.0 in your Grade Point Average.

dean

The administrative head of an academic school or college.

Degree Audit

A degree audit lists classes you have taken that fulfill Core areas and required classes for specific majors and minors. A degree audit can also help you "shop for a major" by showing how classes you have taken might fulfill various major requirements.

department chair

The administrative head of a department within a college or school.

Distributed Student Information System

Known as Student Information (WebDSIS). WebDSIS is an internet based information system allowing you to retrieve term schedules, grades, academic history, financial aid, billing information, and other academic information.

dismissed

Required to leave the University for academic or disciplinary reasons. Students who are dismissed may not return to USM as students.

F

A bad grade--no matter how you look at it. Try to avoid it. This computes into your Grade Point Average as a 0.0.

Fall Semester

September-December

Full-time

An undergraduate registration status of 12 credits or more.

GPA

Grade Point Average.

GPACU

The Greater Portland Alliance of Colleges and Universities offers the opportunity of cross registration to supplement their course options

I

Incomplete. A student may arrange with a course professor to complete course work by the end of the next semester (fall/spring) to receive an "I" grade.

Interdisciplinary

Describes a course that is team taught by a group of faculty from different departments. COR-prefixed courses, part of the Core curriculum, fall into this category.

Internship

An opportunity for students to earn credits while gaining some "on-the-job" training.

ITV

Instructional Television system.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response

L

The grade of L may be assigned to students who stopped attending a course without officially dropping it. This will be computed as an F (0.00) in your Grade Point Average.

LBA

Luther Bonney Auditorium

LAC

Lewiston-Auburn College

Magna Cum Laude

A graduation distinction indicating high honors. See your undergraduate catalog for more information.

Matriculated

A degree student; someone who has applied and been accepted to work toward a degree.

MG

A missing grade which must be resolved with the professor by the end of the subsequent semester, or it is computed into the student's Grade Point Average as an "F" (0.0).

Navigator

USM's student handbook, a FREE publication, available at any student services location. It contains university resources, important dates, telephone numbers, student involvement opportunities, a personal calendar, etc.

Non-matriculated

A non-degree student; someone taking classes but not formally admitted to USM.

Open registration

A registration period for non-matriculated students, immediately before the beginning of each semester.

On-Line

A course that may have a start and ending date, but is TOTALLY done online. Assignments, class "discussions" etc. are performed virtually.

Part-time

A registration status of less than 12 credits (undergraduate), or 9 credits (graduate).

Pass/Fail

Grading option for students who want to broaden their educational experience without affecting their Grade Point Average. Note: There is a limit to the number of pass/fail courses you may apply toward your degree. Check your undergraduate catalog for more information.

Plagiarism

Stealing someone else's intellectual property (cheating). Bad idea. The penalties are severe. FMI, review the Academic Integrity Policy (PDF file: 17 pages/198k*), Community Standards

Prerequisite

Courses required before a particular course can be taken.

Probation

Students may be placed on probation if their academic record does not meet minimum university requirements. Students on probation can still take courses within the constraints outlined by the student's department.

Proficiency

Minimum level of skill in English writing and math that must be demonstrated by all students.

Quality points

Grade points earned for a course multiplied by the number of credit hours assigned to that course. These are used to calculate your GPA.

Spring Semester

January - May

Student I.D. #

Your Social Security number, unless you have none or request otherwise.

Summa Cum Laude

A graduation distinction indicating highest honors. See your undergraduate catalog for more information.

Summer Session

May - August

Suspension

Students who have two consecutive semesters of probationary standing or a semester average below 1.0 may be suspended for one semester. During a suspension semester, a student may not take courses at any institution to count toward their USM degree.

Syllabus

Course guidelines and requirements supplied by a course instructor.

Transcripts

Academic history that states the student's major, USM credits, transfer credits, grades, grade level status and GPA.

Winter Session

December - January

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