Advising FAQs

We're flexible! Feel free to email advisor@csum.edu for quick questions, schedule an appointment to meet one-on-one, or stop by the SEAS Center  in the Student Services Building. We're happy to help any way we can!

1) Show up; 2) Participate; 3) Ask for help.

Students who go to classes, do their homework, ask questions, and apply study skills generally do well in school. Cal Maritime has many services available to support students including tutoring, health center and counseling, accessibility and disability services, career services, and more. University Advisors can assist in referring you to the best resource.

The best first step is to schedule a meeting with your professor or drop by during their office hours to discuss your progress in the class. Once you've found out what you are struggling with, you can come meet with a University Advisor to develop an action plan! University advisors work closely with faculty advisors, tutoring services, and other departments to get you resources for improving your grade. We can also work with you on goal setting and time management tools. We also work closely with the Office of the Registrar and can help discuss alternative plans regarding our policies, such as withdrawing from a course before week 4, or after week 4 for serious and compelling reasons.   

If your academic performance isn't where you want it to be because of personal challenges, University Advisors can help refer you to our Counseling and Psychological Services in the Health Services Building. Please contact advisor@csum.edu to learn more about your options today! We're here to help. :)

Here are some helpful guides for registration!:

• Here's a cool registration checklist to download which lists all the steps needed to successfully register each semester.
• Here's a 6-minute video on registering for classes.
• Here's a guide on how to add/drop/swap classes in PeopleSoft Student Systems.

For more registration tips, see our Registration Tools page!

If you need assistance with any of these steps, always feel welcome to reach out to a University Advisor at advisor@csum.edu for questions, or make an appointment in Passport Navigate for one-on-one help!

Tutoring is offered every semester, and for every major! Check out the Tutoring Services webpage for so many amazing resources, like how to make a tutoring appointment, upcoming workshops, resources about study skills, note-taking, and more! Also feel free to contact us at advisor@csum.edu for a referral!

If you fail a course, we generally recommend that you retake the course as soon as possible to get back on track. Retaking the failed course at Cal Maritime replaces the failing grade with the newly earned grade, and recalculates your GPA to reflect the most recent grade achieved. This is the quickest and most direct path to improving your GPA.  But remember, you can only repeat up to 16 units at Cal Maritime, and you cannot fail a course three times. If you'd like to check where you are at in your repeat units, or come up with a plan for repeating failed courses, come speak with a University Advisor! 

Academic Notice:

All students must maintain a 2.0 for their Cumulative, Campus, and Major GPA in order to stay in good academic standing. If a student drops below a 2.0 in any these GPA's, they will be placed on Academic Notice and must adhere to the academic notice requirements. University Advisors will reach out to students who fall below good academic standing and will work with them closely to develop a plan to improve their GPA in order to be successfully removed from academic notice. We're here to help! 

Administrative Academic Notice:

All students must continuously make sufficient progress toward their degree each term, meaning they may not be allowed to excessively withdraw from, fail or repeat courses. If a student is identified as repeatedly failing to progress toward their degree for any reason, they will be placed on Administrative Academic Notice and must adhere to the administrative academic notice requirements. University Advisors will reach out to students who fall below good academic standing and will work with them closely to develop a plan to improve their progress rates in order to be removed from administrative academic notice.

We're really helpful, not scary people, we promise. Our goal is to support you!

Meeting with your Faculty Advisor is the most accurate way to confirm if you are on track in your program and taking the right courses. You can find out who your Faculty Advisor is in your PeopleSoft Student Systems > Student Center, under "Program Advisor".

Reviewing your online Academics Requirements Report (degree audit) is an easy way to see what classes you have left to complete, and will help you figure out if a class you are registered for, or have taken, counts toward your degree. Any classes that count toward your program will fall into one of the "Requirements" sections. Any classes that do not count toward your degree (i.e. intercollegiate sports, failed classes, etc.) will fall to the bottom section under "Additional Courses Not Meeting Requirements."

Your Curriculum Roadmap can also help you identify which classes are in your program. By checking off classes you've completed, you can see what classes you have left. 

All students are welcome to contact the University Advisors for any questions regarding navigating these helpful sites and looking at their degree requirements. We can teach you how to use these tools!

To transfer in credits taken at another institution into Cal Maritime, an official transcript from that school will need to be sent to the Office of the Registrar (electronic/PDF transcripts sent directly to registrar@csum.edu are preferred!). Once processed by Registrar, transfer credits will appear on your Academic Requirements Report. If a course is not applied to your degree, it may not satisfy Cal Maritime's course requirements. Please check with your department chair if you feel a course should have transferred over but is not. 

Students may take a course(s) at another regionally-accredited institution if the student finds an equivalent course, and approval is given prior to enrolling in the course. Students can submit the online Course Equivalency Request form with the institution and course information, which will go to the Office of the Registrar and be routed for approval. Responses can take approximately 1-2 weeks, so be sure to leave enough time for approval before having to register for the course. 

Check out our Guide to Taking Courses Outside of Cal Maritime for next steps!