New student info
To the newest members of the Agricultural & Environmental Chemistry Graduate group, WELCOME!! In this page, you’ll find a number of business-related items, timelines, and important dates for events in the upcoming school year.
What do I do now?
Complete Immediately!
Submission of Annual FAFSA report
All U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or international students who will be receiving any kind of financial support (including Work Study, fellowships, scholarships, or research stipends from your advisor’s funds) are required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year, regardless of your financial need or eligibility. This is University policy. If you have not already filed your application, you can complete the on-line application or you can pick up a hard copy from the Financial Aid Office in Dutton Hall. The school code for Davis is 00131. Eligibility for priority funding requires that your FAFSA be complete by March 1st of each year, but you can submit your FAFSA at any time. For more information, please visit the Graduate Financial Aid website.
!!! If you do not complete the FAFSA, you will NOT receive stipend or aid checks!!!
Obtain a UCD e-mail address, login ID, and Kerberos password — Go to the Information Technology website. Please make your new address available to Peggy Royale.
As Soon as You Arrive on Campus!
Photo ID for New Students
To get your photo ID, you will need to visit the Registrar’s Office at 12 Mrak Hall. The Registrar’s Office is open from 9:00 to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. You can contact them at (530) 752-2973 if you have questions.
September 12th-15th, 2007
(expect an email
for the 2008 days and times)
Placement Exams and TA Training
Proctor: Carol Barnes, Chemistry SecretaryAll incoming AgChem students take ACS Standardized Exams with the Chemistry Department. AgChem students must take and pass only the Organic chemistry and Physical chemistry exams. Students who want to do research in soil chemistry are usually told to take the Inorganic exam also. Occasionally students want to or will be asked to take the Analytical or Biological Chemistry exams. The General Chemistry exam must be taken and passed by anyone who wants to be a TA for the Chemistry department, and is recommended for all incoming students. Your grade can be kept on record till you're ready to use them.
Chemistry Placement Exams 2007
All are given in Room 176 Chemistry Building.
Dates:
| Wednesday, Sept 12, 2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Inorganic Chemistry | Chem 176 |
| 2:15 p.m. | Organic Chemistry | Chem 166 |
| Thursday, Sept 14, 2007 | ||
| 8:00 a.m. | Analytical Chemistry | Chem 176 |
| 2:15 p.m. | Physical Chemistry | Chem 166 |
| Friday, Sept 15, 2007 | ||
| 9:00 a.m. | Biological Chemistry | Chem 176 |
| 9:00 a.m. | General Chemistry | Chem 166 |
September 18, 2008
Fall Quarter Registration Deadline
You must be enrolled in 12 total credits by this date. (As new students, you may not have had a chance to visit with your academic advisor or you may not have the course registration numbers, or CRNs, for your research or seminars. Fear not! Just simply sign up for 12 units in anything—underwater basket-weaving or fencing—and then when you have had the chance to talk with your advisors, simply change your course registration. By signing up for classes before the registration deadline, you save Peggy from having to write e-mails to get your late-registration fees dropped.
Registered students: You can use SISWEB to enroll in classes, adjust your class schedule, view and print your class schedule, print your unofficial academic record, change your address, view your account, view your financial aid status, and much more.
Please SEE BELOW for more info on registration.
September 22nd—26th, 2008
Graduate Week of Orientation and Welcome (WOW)
The Office of Graduate Studies offers many activities and workshops for incoming graduate students in all programs.
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007(2008 date pending)
Orientation and Welcome Barbeque
The new student orientation will be from 2 to 4 pm in the Foster Room of Meyer Hall (first floor, east side of the South Wing). Here you will ask questions about the program, the campus, and other aspects of being a new graduate student. You should be getting more information as we get closer to this date. Please keep us posted as your address and contact information changes over the summer!
After the orientation, we will move to the Putah Creek Lodge, located in the Davis Arboretum. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to meet current Ag-Chem students and faculty.
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Classes Begin
Instruction begins on Thursday, September 25th. You will find the academic calendar here.
September 18, 2008
MORE INFO Fall Quarter Registration Deadline Registration begins in early August (an on-line registration form is available) and the Registration deadline is early September.
To enroll, visit the enrollment website called SISWEB. Log into the website with your Kerberos login ID and password. If you do not have this ID or password yet, visit the Information Technology link on the SISWEB login page. You will then be asked for our ID number (your student ID number, not your social security number!) and your personal access code (PAC). This information should be mailed out to you. Initially, your PAC is your birth date. You may change this at any time. Once you have accessed SISWEB, you will find the registration page under Student Services and Financial Aid.
All Ag-Chem students must register for AGC-290.
First-year Ag-Chem students are also required to attend a weekly “Meet the Faculty” seminar, AGC-298, during the first quarter only.
The other ten credits can be a combination of coursework and research credits. Students generally register for two courses for each quarter until they have finished their coursework requirements. Check with your Academic Advisor for assistance is selecting appropriate courses and coarse load. If you don’t know who your academic advisor is, ask Peggy Royale as soon as possible and meet with this person. (Your academic advisor is NOT your research advisor). A list of recommended courses for each discipline can be found on the Ag Chem website. Most courses are only offered once per year, and some less often than that, so plan your courses carefully. CRNs for selected courses can be found in the Class Schedule and Registration Guide.
Each professor has unique CRNs for research credits that will be obtained from that professor. Again, these CRNs change every quarter, so you must obtain new numbers each time. Research CRNs are variable credits and the initial registration step assigns one credit. You must then return to the Registration Menu and select “Change Grade Mode” and “Change Variable Units.” Change the research credits to whatever number gives you a total of 12 credits for the quarter.
If you have any questions about registration, feel free to ask any one of us or Peggy. We’d be glad to help you figure it out! Students are also a good guide to let you know what classes to avoid or what classes should not be missed, so make sure you ask questions.