Undergraduate Orientation

undergraduate jindal school students with Dean Pirkul

Welcome to the JSOM Orientation Page!

We hope you are as excited to begin your college experience with us as we are excited to meet you. Your orientation is essential to learning how to be a college student at UT Dallas. During your in-person or virtual orientation sessions, you will learn about general student policies and procedures and be acclimated to the unique idiosyncrasies and vocabulary of UT Dallas and JSOM.

Your JSOM-specific session will teach you how to be a successful JSOM student, the role of different staff and faculty, and what you can look forward to during your first semester and beyond.

The information provided in the “Transfer Students” and “First-year Students” section below will assist you with preparing for your orientation. In addition to this information and helpful links, we are providing you with an Orientation Handbook (available to download through Box) which has useful documents like the Academic Calendar, a list of Program staff and faculty, a JSOM degree flowchart, and more.

If you have any questions about anything you read (or don’t read) below, please reach out to us as soon as possible at jsomug@utdallas.edu. If you wait until the day before your orientation, it may be too late to do what is necessary to address your issues. We look forward to seeing you at your orientation!

Transfer Students

Registered for in-person Orientation

We recommend you read through ALL of the information below and then complete the following steps:

  1. Watch the New Transfer Student video on JSOM UG Advising website
  2. Find Degree Plan in eLearning
  3. Learn how to use Schedule Planner
  4. Take JSOM Enrollment Quiz prior to attending Orientation

Degree plan

The most important document for incoming transfer students is the Degree Plan that the JSOM Academic Advising office creates for you. This plan lists your transferrable courses and how they apply to your specific degree plan. There are two views: Semester and Advisor.

The Semester view is based on the four-year (eight-semester) plan we give to incoming first-year students which lists the five recommended courses they should take each semester. The ordering of courses is based on prerequisites and the general timeline of requirements like business communication courses, the internship, and senior capstone.

Since you have transfer credits, those courses are added where they apply within that four-year plan. The best course of action when selecting your courses is to take courses from the top and work your way down. For example: if you have credit for three of the courses listed in the first semester, you should plan to take the other two courses and then move to the next semester to see what is next. As long as you move chronologically through the degree plan, you will be in good shape.

There is always a chance that the courses which are “next up” in your degree plan are either not available or don’t work with you school/life schedule. That’s fine, simply skip down to the next course that you are eligible to take.

If you are currently enrolled in a class or classes which do not show as completed on your degree plan, you can skip those. If that courses is a prerequisite for another course, you will not be permitted to enroll in the next course in the sequence until we have your grade on an official transcript which will be available to send to UTD in December. You can wait to enroll in that course and enroll in the rest now.

The Advisor view presents the degree plan according to the different curricular components, e.g. Core, Business Prep, Business Core, Major Core, Guided Electives, and General Electives. This will show you how you are progressing through each of these areas. In your first semester at UT Dallas you will take BCOM 3300 and a combination of Core, Business Prerequisites, and Business Core. These foundational courses will prepare you for upper-level, Major-related courses.

The Advising Office has prepared a video to assist you with finding your degree plan in eLearning, understanding how to read it and choose courses for next semester, and using the online catalog to look up your degree and required courses. You can access that video on the JSOM UG Advising webpage under “New Transfer Students” in the “Steps After Admission” section.

This website also provides useful tutorial videos for navigating the enrollment module which you can access in the “Manage My Classes” section of your Orion Student Center. This is one way to view your schedule and add/drop/swap courses; however, it is not the only way. Many students prefer to add their classes all at once using Schedule Planner (more info below), but you can only enroll in classes after your enrollment appointment.

Enrollment Appointment

In the Manage My Classes section of Orion, one of the left menu items is Enrollment Appointment. This is the date and time you are able to enroll in classes. This does not mean you are prohibited from using Schedule Planner to find courses and add them to your shopping cart before that date. You can do everything except actually click the enroll button prior to your enrollment appointment.

We encourage everyone to watch the videos below (in the Schedule Planner section) regarding how to use Schedule Planner and combine that with the knowledge you now have about your degree plan and which courses you should take to add your classes to your shopping cart prior to attending orientation.

Enrollment appointments for Spring 2024 went live on October 23rd. You should check now for your appointment date. It is possible that your Enrollment Appointment is after your orientation date.

If all goes well, all you will need to do at the JSOM registration session at orientation is hear from our Undergraduate Dean and then check out with an advisor. At check out, advisors will check either your schedule, if your enrollment appointment has already passed, or your shopping cart if it has not. If you need additional time to work through the module or have any questions, we will have a team of advisors and student volunteers willing to assist.

Schedule Planner

This is the main module that you will use to enroll in classes. You will be able to access Schedule Planner once you have accepted your admission and you are changed to a matriculated student. This can take up to two business days from the time you accept your admission, so please do that immediately. We suggest logging into Galaxy and following along with the videos and guides available on the Schedule Planner page on the Office of the Registrar website.

You should be familiar with the following actions prior to your enrollment appointment (NOTE: you can do everything in Schedule Planner up to Registering for classes from the shopping cart):

  • Add a class to the Build Schedule list using both the “By Subject” and “Search by Attribute” methods
  • Search for, select, and deselect individual course sections in the Build Schedule options (gear)
  • Add a break
  • Create and View schedules
  • Send schedules to shopping cart
  • Register for classes from the shopping cart
  • Drop and Swap classes

JSOM Enrollment Quiz

Before you are able to enroll in classes, you will need to clear the “Cannot register online” hold from your account. This hold will be released after you complete the JSOM Enrollment Quiz with a 100% and check in for the JSOM Registration session on the afternoon of your Transfer Orientation. You can complete the quiz at any time, but please be aware that you will likely not pass this quiz without knowledge from the following:

  • New Transfer Student video
  • Academic Catalog
  • Orientation Handbook
  • All of the other information on this section of the website

It is recommended you have all of these windows open when you take the quiz. It is untimed, and you can take it as many times as you need to score a 100%.

Contact

If you have any questions about information covered or not covered on this webpage, please contact the JSOM UG Recruiting and Onboarding office at jsomug@utdallas.edu or 972-883-5889.

Other contacts:

First-year Students

We hope you are as excited to begin your college experience with us as we are excited to meet you. Your orientation will be two days long and consist of different seminars and sessions designed to introduce you to life at UT Dallas. During your school-specific sessions, you will hear from a variety of people in JSOM including the Recruiting and Onboarding Office, the Undergraduate Dean, Academic Advising staff, and student leaders.

These first sessions are very important in that they will not only prepare you for the long term – how to be a successful student at UT Dallas and in JSOM – but also the short-term – course registration. Yes, you get to enroll in classes during your second day of orientation. In order to make that process go as smoothly as possible, we have included some information below to help prepare you for the enrollment process.

If you have any questions about anything you read (or don’t read) below, please reach out to us as soon as possible at jsomug@utdallas.edu. If you wait until the day before your orientation, it may be too late to do what is necessary to allow you to enroll. We look forward to seeing you at your orientation!

TSI: Texas Success Initiative

This is a measure of college readiness which must be completed either through exemptions or TSI examination scores. Please see the TSI webpage in the catalog for more information.

You can contact the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) regarding TSI issues by emailing tsi@utdallas.edu using your UTD email account and providing your date of birth in the email body.

NOTE: If you have a TSI hold, you will not be able to enroll in classes.

Yes. You can submit your official scores from either College Board or ACT to claim the exemption. OUE should clear your hold once the scores are processed.

Yes, and you should try to take it as soon as you can. UT Dallas offers the exam at the testing center on the morning of the second day of your orientation. See the webpage linked above for more information.

TSI is divided into two sections: Reading & Writing and Math. In order to remove your hold which allows you to enroll in classes online, you need to satisfy both section requirements. You can sign up for either or both of the TSI sections when you register to take the TSI examination.

ALEKS Math Placement Exam

Since JSOM requires Applied Calculus I (MATH 1325) for all majors, students are required to take the ALEKS math placement exam in order to register for the appropriate math course. This is different than TSI and cannot be waived with test scores. Only students who have eligible math credits through a college or university OR who have an existing AP Calculus or IB Higher Math credit are exempt.

ALEKS is not an enrollment hold, but you cannot register for advanced math (College Algebra or Applied Calculus I) if you do not take it. EVERY JSOM degree plan includes MATH 1325 in the first semester. If you have to take MATH 1314 in the first semester, that is fine; however, needing to take a prerequisite for MATH 1314 first may set you back.

It is encouraged that you take the ALEKS exam in order to enroll in a MATH course JUST IN CASE you do not achieve the required score. In that case, you would have to take ALEKS anyways and then register for the appropriate MATH course after that. Since those test credits will not post until mid-to-late July (i.e. after all in-person orientations are over), there is a strong likelihood that MANY of the sections will be full. Those who do earn passing scores can swap MATH 1325 for either MATH 1326 (if applicable) or a different course in their degree plan.

ASAP! You should complete ALEKS before your orientation. PLEASE NOTE: your first attempt at ALEKS is a PRACTICE TEST, and you must wait at least 48 hours before you are able to take your official, proctored exam. You can retake the test to try to increase your score as well, so you should allow as much time as possible to retake it if necessary. You can also sign up to take ALEKS at the UT Dallas testing center on Day 2 of orientation. This is a real test, even if it is your first attempt.

Checklist or To-Do list items do not affect enrollment, so you do not have to worry about clearing that if you are not required to take ALEKS.

Changing your Major

Incoming students who are currently admitted into a JSOM major can change to a different JSOM major prior to enrolling in classes. You must accept your admission and then follow the steps outlined in this document. You do not need to wait until your Change of Major request is approved and processed before registering for orientation since our orientation slots are offered at the school level and not contingent on major.

If you are not currently a JSOM major, you can follow the same process; however, you should wait until your change of major is processed before registering for orientation. You may have to email freshmanorientation@utdallas.edu if you are unable to select a JSOM orientation after your change of major has been processed.

If you want to add a second major or a minor, you can tell us at orientation. Whether it is a major within JSOM or not, we can help you decide the best courses to take. To add your second major or minor, you can email jsomugadvising@utdallas.edu and work directly with your academic advisor. Again, this does not need to be done prior to orientation.

AP/IB and Dual Enrollment Credits

The advising office will create degree plans for incoming first-year students during the Fall semester. These will include all dual enrollment credits and AP/IB credits that students have accepted. If you have already submitted AP or IB scores, please check the AP Credit and IB Credit webpages to see which course credits you will receive and email the advising office (jsomugadvising@utdallas.edu) to accept whichever credits you want. NOTE: “3 SCH free electives” or “[subject] elective credit” means that you do not receive direct course credit, but you can apply those hours towards any lower-level elective requirement.

If you took or have yet take AP/IB exams this year, your scores will not be available until mid-July. We must have these official scores before awarding credit. For the first semester, you should not register for a course for which you might receive credit; if you do not pass the AP exam, you can take that course at a later time.

The exception to this rule is MATH. If you have recently taken either the AB or BC AP Calculus exam or an IB exam which could give you credit for MATH 1325, it is still a good idea to take ALEKS and register for a MATH course. If you do receive credit, you can always swap that class out for a different course or the next course in the MATH sequence, if applicable. If you do not pass, then you will already be enrolled. If you do not enroll, find out you did not receive a passing score, and then have to enroll in late July, MOST of the MATH courses will be full.

You can view your degree plan in the online Academic Calendar and see the courses that are required. Most of these courses will give you credit for core classes (e.g. US History, Communications, Life and Physical Science, Government, etc.). It is generally recommended that you claim these credits so you do not have to take these courses again, unless you need to save room for Honors courses, pre-health courses, or a double-major.

The advising office should load your degree plans sometime in October. You will register for Spring classes in November, so you will have your updated degree plan well in advance of Spring enrollment.

In order to get credit for dual enrollment courses (and any courses you decide to take at a community college concurrently with your UT Dallas enrollment), you must submit official transcripts at the end of every semester. We suggest submitting them as soon as your grades post so you can get the credit awarded as soon as possible. NOTE: if you take a prerequisite course at a CC, you cannot register for the next course in the sequence at UT Dallas until we have an official transcript. When you take prerequisites at UT Dallas, you will be allowed to enroll in subsequent courses at the time of your enrollment.

Need more help?

We will do our best to address all of your concerns at orientation, but, if you need anything in the meantime, please reach out to the Recruiting and Onboarding Office via email (jsomug@utdallas.edu) or phone (972-883-5889).