1. Why Strict Prereq Checking?

   • The faculty have determined that a certain background in related subject matter is necessary for a given course. To improve the success rate of the students and the quality of the educational experience for other students in the class, the faculty require that students in the class have the appropriate prereqs. The simple case is that students in ACC 310, Intermediate Financial Accounting I, should have successfully completed ACC 200, Introductory Financial Accounting and ACC 210, Managerial and Cost Accounting I to have a common background for ACC 310.

2. What is the probability of getting a Petition of Exception approved?

   • The SBA is serious about having students meet the required prereqs. The student should do everything possible to avoid submitting a Petition of Exception (POE). Only in very difficult situations will they be approved and the student should submit them ahead of registration because it will be more difficult to find courses if the POE is turned down after registration starts.

3. Can an individual instructor add a student without the appropriate prereqs?

   • No. The individual instructor can support a Petition of Exception (POE) to waive a given prereq, but the Chair of the relevant department and the Committee on Exceptions must also approve the POE.

4. Can a student take a prereq at that same time as the given course?

   • If a course is a co-requisite for a course then it would be so noted in the prerequisites in the catalog. If there is some unusual circumstance where this appears to be necessary, the Petition of Exception (POE) would provide the process to get this approved by the instructor, the Chair of the relevant department and the Committee on Exceptions.

5. How does Prereq Checking work with Wait Lists?

   • Online Wait lists are only available for undergraduate ACC/FIN courses. As students add to an ACC/FIN Wait List for a given course, the prereqs for the given course will be checked. If they do not have the appropriate prereqs, they will be dropped from the Wait List and notified through their Oakland email account that they are no longer on the Wait List for the given ACC/FIN course. Faculty may keep their own wait lists, but must have the SBA Undergraduate Advising Office check prereqs for the students on the faculty wait list before adding them to the class.  There is more detail on the implementation of Wait Lists on the SBA Website under the "Class Wait List" link on the Student/Faculty Resources web page.

6. Can a non-business major take courses requiring major standing?

   • Yes, a student who is a major in a non-business area, including the BA or BS economics, can take 300-400 level ACC, FIN, MGT, MIS, MKT, POM and QMM classes under the following conditions:

     • The student has a Concentration/Minor Authorization Form completed and approved by the relevant minor coordinator and the SBA Advising Office on which the given course is listed.

     • The student meets all of the specific prereqs for the course and the prereqs for these prereqs. For FIN 322 the specific prereqs would include ECN 201 or ECN 210, ACC 210, QMM 241 or 250 and the prereqs for these courses including MTH 121-122 (or MTH 141-154), QMM 240 and ACC 210.

     • Non-business majors, including economics majors (BA or BS) and those taking SBA minors, can not take more than 25% of their standard degree program (usually 31 credits) in business courses (i.e., ACC, FIN, MGT, MIS, MKT, ORG, or POM) taken either at OU or transferred in from another school. Note that all ECN and QMM courses are excluded from this restriction.

     • Note that the SBA will apply the strict Prereq Checking to all students in SBA courses, not just SBA students.

7. Will students early coded for Major Standing be able to register for Spring/Summer/Fall 2007 SBA courses requiring Major Standing?

   • Yes, that is the reason for Early Coding. This Early Coding assumes that the student will earn the required 2.0 in the courses in Winter/Spring/Summer 2007 that will complete the Major Standing requirements. To get Early Coding the student must have an overall GPA of at least 2.70 GPA so that the student can handle a drop in GPA and still make the 2.60 required for Major Standing. The SBA will run the Fall 2006 grades in the courses required for Major Standing and if the student does not earn the required 2.0, the major standing will be rescinded and the student will have to adjust the schedule to courses that do not require major standing.

Where can I get further information about the strict Prereq Checking process?

• For further information on prereq checking email tower@oakland.edu.

Updated 3/5/06