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 the Graduate Coordinator.
As Soon as You Arrive on Campus:
Photo ID for New Students
To get your photo ID, you will need to visit the AggieCard site.
Placement Exams and TA Training
All 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 Chemistry exam as well. 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 until you are ready to use them. Please contact etoxgradadvising@ucdavis.edu for details about days and times for these exams.
Fall Quarter Registration Deadline
Registration deadlines can be found at the UC Davis Academic Calendar.
You must be enrolled in 12 total credits by the deadline. You should meet with your academic adviser as soon as possible to discuss required courses and registration. Your adviser will help you make a coursework plan for this quarter and beyond.
To enroll, visit the Student Information System on the Web (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. Your PAC is initially set as your birth date and can be changed at any time. You may change this at any time. On SISWEB, you will find the registration page under Student Services and Financial Aid.
Ag-Chem has several different seminar programs designed to encourage scientific exchange as well as professional development of students. All Ag-Chem students must register for AGC-290, Section 001. First-year Ag-Chem students must also register for the weekly Meet the Faculty seminar, AGC-290 Section 002.
The other ten credits can be a combination of coursework and research credits. Students are generally advised to register for no more than 2-3 courses each quarter until they have finished their coursework requirements. Check with your academic adviser for assistance in selecting the appropriate courses and course load. If you don’t know who your academic adviser is, email etoxgradadvising@ucdavis.edu as soon as possible and schedule a meeting. Remember, your academic adviser is NOT your major professor (a.k.a. research adviser). A guideline for courses can be found on in the Degree Requirements link above. Most courses are only offered once per year or every other year, so plan your courses carefully in conjunction with your academic adviser. Use the SISWEB Schedule Builder for CRNs and other course information.
Each professor has a unique CRN for research credits (299) that can be obtained from that professor or via emailing etoxgradadvising@ucdavis.edu. These CRNs change every quarter, so you must obtain new numbers each time. Research CRNs are variable credits and the initial registration step assigns only 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 other AgChem graduate students or your academic adviser. We’d be glad to help you figure it out! Continuing students can be a valuable asset to inform you of what classes to avoid or what classes should not be missed, so make sure you ask questions.
Graduate Orientation and Welcome
The Office of Graduate Studies offers many activities and workshops for incoming graduate students in all programs. Please visit the Grad Studies Week of Welcome Website for details about this year’s events.
The new student orientation will occur the week before classes begin. Here you will ask questions about the program, the campus, and other aspects of being a new graduate student. You should be receive more information as we get closer to this date. Please keep us posted if your address and contact information changes over the summer!
After the orientation, there will be the AgChem Annual Welcome Dinner for all new and continuing students as well as Faculty. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to meet current AgChem students and faculty.