Academic Advising

The primary purpose of Academic Advising is to ensure that you are on track towards graduation, as well as to help identify opportunities at NJIT to expand your experiences, explore options to broaden your career path, and connect you with university resources, where needed.

Current Students

Spring 2025 Electives

Spring 2025 School of Architecture Options Studios 

Overview

All undergraduate students have a designated academic advisor at NJIT. Your academic advisor is a professional within the college who is knowledgeable about degree requirements, campus resources, and opportunities to get involved in the NJIT community. 

First-year HCAD Freshmen are supported by First-Year Advisor Alexis Bartlett (alexis.bartlett@njit.edu) in the Office of Academic Advising (OAA). 

HCAD Students in their 2nd year and higher have a designated HCAD advisor based on the first letter of the student’s last name:

While most questions can be answered by any HCAD advisor, students should meet with and contact their designated advisor for specific academic issues such as registration, course withdrawals, etc. General questions may always be sent to HCADadvising@njit.edu for a timely response.

What to Expect and Course Permits

As a student in the Hillier College of Architecture and Design (HCAD), you are expected to take an active role in your education and to work with your advisor to proactively plan and implement a path for academic success.  Resources are available to help you understand your requirements as a HCAD student and it is recommended that you take advantage of these.  Links to these resources are at the right hand side of this page.  Students are expected to come prepared to advisement meetings and to make advisors aware of any concerns which may interfere with their academic progress.

In return, advisors will work with you to determine an academic plan which best meets your needs and priorities.  Advisors can also serve as resources to students who are struggling academically or students who are interested in opportunities to get more out of their NJIT education.

If you are getting an error message when you try to register for a course in the Hillier College of Architecture & Design (those with AD, ARCH, DD, ID, INT, MARC, or USYS prefixes), you can submit a permit request using one of the following forms. Please make sure to enter the correct information in your permit request to avoid any delays. 

  • General HCAD Permit Request Form. This form is for general registration errors, such as missing pre-requisite, field of study (major), and so on.
  • For Closed (Full) Courses, please add yourself to the course Waitlist in Banner. Waitlisted students received priority notification and registration if/when additional seats become available in a Closed Course. Please note, enrollment is not guaranteed in Closed Courses, regardless of waitlist. Where possible, enroll in an Open section of the same course, or an alternate course option to maintain a full-time schedule and degree progress.

For courses offered in another College or Department, please visit the Student section of that department website directly to use their permit request form. HCAD cannot issue permits for courses offered by other academic departments.

Frequently Asked Questions

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There are a number of programs within the College of Architecture and Design and each program is outlined in a Program of Study.  Links to the Programs of Study for each major are at the bottom of the page.  Every semester, before meeting with your advisor, you are expected to update your program of study with the courses you have completed, the courses that you are currently taking, and the courses you plan to take for the following semester.  This form serves as a guide when you meet with your advisor who will give you feedback on your proposed schedule.

Your program of study is a checklist of all the requirements you need to complete before graduation, and if taken in sequence (every class at the time listed on the Program of Study) will be completed in 8-10 semesters (depending on your major).  There may be times when you fall “out of sequence” because of transfer credits, summer/winter courses, or retaking a class.  In addition to marking courses on a program of study, many students also find it helpful to have a chronological list of when they plan to take courses so that they can get a better sense of their expected graduation date.  The five year plan is a great resource for this type of planning.

Your academic standing is based on your Term GPA, Cumulative GPA, and your past academic performance at NJIT.  The Academic Standing Policy is set by the Office of the Provost.  Students can fall under one of the following five categories: Good Standing, Warning, Probation, Pre-Suspension, or Suspension.  Your academic standing is calculated after the end of the Fall and Spring semesters only and is reflected on your transcript under the last semester graded.  The full details regarding each category and the policy as a whole can be found in the online university catalog here.

General University Requirements can usually be taken at a community college over the summer and the credits transferred to NJIT provided that you earned at least a C in the course.  Check with your advisor if you plan to take a course elsewhere to make sure that it is a requirement which can be met elsewhere.  Any courses taken elsewhere will need to be pre-approved by the department which offers the equivalent course at NJIT.  To get approval, fill out the “Approval for Undergraduate Courses at Another School” available on the Registrar’s website, in the Forms section, and bring this form and the course description from the school where you will be taking the course to the appropriate department at NJIT.  Once it is signed, bring the form to the Registrar’s office.  After completing the course, have your official transcript sent to the NJIT Registrar’s office reflecting the grade you received.

If you are getting an error message when you try to register for a course in the College of Architecture & Design (those with AD, ARCH, DD, ID, INT, MARC, or USYS prefixes), you must follow the instructions in the HCAD Permit Request guide. This will enable your advisor to determine if it is possible to issue a permit that will enable you to take the course and to issue the necessary permit. If the course is offered in another College or Department, you will need to follow the policies and procedures of that department in order to gain access to the class.

Yes!  Students are encouraged to look at General University requirements that are offered at Rutgers-Newark during the Fall and Spring semesters.  The campus is right across the street from NJIT and courses taken there during the regular semester are included in your NJIT flat tuition.  You can register for these courses by completing the “Rutgers Cross-registration” form (again, available on the Registrar’s website, under “Forms”) and submit it at a designated window in the Student Mall. The Rutgers courses will appear in your NJIT schedule, so you will not need to have the courses pre-approved or official transcripts sent over. However, if you plan to take a course at Rutgers during the summer or winter sessions, you will have to follow the same pre-approval process as taking a course at a community college.