Senior Checks

Students need to be reminded to apply to graduate for degrees and certificates.  Many are under the impression that graduation is an automatic process.  While the Bulletin indicates students should apply a year in advance, most students need a reminder once they have achieved senior status. Here is the minimal schedule for reminders: 

Semester Week One

• Identify Active Majors with 90+ credit hours. 
• Send email with link to graduation application. 
• Remind students that, if they are pursuing multiple degrees or a certificate, they will need to make a separate application for each degree and certificate. 

Semester Week Six 

• Send a follow-up email to the same target population. 
• Summer Term 
• Remind students to apply for Summer or Fall graduation.

Advisors can opt to send additional reminders, depending on the needs of their student populations. 

Advisors should perform senior checks regularly and routinely in order to let students know their graduate status and whether there are deficiencies that could affect graduation for their degrees or certificates.  The timing of the senior check is important. Whenever possible, advisors should start their senior checks once students have enrolled in their final term - but before the beginning of classes. 

Best practices for timing are as follows: 

 Recommended start time: 

• Spring and Summer graduates: November 15. 
• Fall graduates: May 1. 

Latest acceptable time for graduation applications submitted prior to the last day of the previous term: 

• Spring graduates: Before Spring courses begin. 
• Summer graduates: Before Summer courses begin. 
• Fall graduates: Before Fall courses begin. 

If you will be unable to complete your senior checks for on-time applications (applications received prior to the last day of the previous term), notify your direct supervisor well in advance of this date. 

Note: Some students will apply during their last semester of coursework.  Advisors should be on the lookout for these students and complete the senior check as soon as possible in case the student needs to address any deficiencies. 

Designate time daily or weekly to check CHER for New and Pending graduation applications and complete senior checks on new and pending applications.

Advisors whose programs offer certificates should audit students who have applied to graduate with those certificates.

1. Check New applications, highlighted in Green on the Senior Check Sheet page

2. Check Pending applications, highlighted in Orange on the page. Pending applications are those for students who applied to a previous term, were checked, and moved their graduation to a new term. Although an advisor performed a senior check at the time of the student's first application, notes on the new application must be added to the student's senior check record. To add new senior check notes, click the link to "Add/Review/Reply Notes" in the upper right-hand corner of the senior check sheet.

Advisors should ensure that their audit covers the following aspects of the degree: 

• Current Enrollment--if students are enrolled class(es) with non-standard dates or at other IU campuses, check to make sure the class(es) will end before or on the last day of the regular term at IU Bloomington (i.e., the last day for Full term courses).
• Total Hours 
• Gen Ed 
• CASE—including College hours, upper level hours, residency, etc. 
• Major – including residency hours 

Note on minors and certificates:  Advisors are empowered to review the status of minors or certificates outside their programs that appear on the AAR.  If the AAR shows deficiencies in the minor or certificate, the advisor should refer the student to the advisor for that particular credential. 

1. Examine the transcript in the “AAR & Transcript” report for repeats, incompletes, or R grades. If any are found, use the “AAR—Excludes in-progress” and compare the results to the “AAR & Transcript” to get accurate information about the impact of these items on degree completion. Additionally, make sure to check for pending exceptions and model the impact of these if the exceptions are approved or denied.
2. When conducting a Senior Check for a student with more than one credential, review the other College credentials when there is a chance for shared coursework (e.g. MELC and REL or BIOL and ABEH). If there is no chance that there will be shared classes (e.g. BIOL and ARTH), then there is no need to review the courses counting toward the second credential. 
   1. Review the two credentials in question with the Counting a Course toward Multiple Degree ObjectivesLinks to an external site. policy in mind. 
   2. Confirm the student has satisfied all requirements for the first degree objective. 
   3. Confirm the student has satisfied all requirements for the second degree objective. 
   4. Add the total number of minimum required hours for each degree objective/credential, then subtract 3 hours. The total number of unique credit hours successfully completed by the student for both degree objectives must be equal to or greater than the sum of the minimum required hours, minus three credits from a single course. 
   5. Remember to check for pending exceptions in CHER to inform your analysis. Use the Unique Hours Analysis Tool to compare with your own assessment. 
   6. If you see a definitive problem with regard to credit overlap (e.g. the student clearly will be 3 cr. short of unique hours between the two credentials with current coursework), then include that information in your Senior Check message to the student, along with possible courses of action to remedy the situation. If there may be an issue, but you are not certain there is one, please alert the student to it in the Senior Check, also noting that you will work with an advisor for the other credential in question to arrive at a definitive answer and then will follow up with the student. Do not hold off on completing the Senior Check while attempting to resolve the issue. Provide the student with the most accurate information you can as of the time of the Senior Check. 
3. Archive any AAR used to complete a check. 
4. Perform a senior check for all applications, especially if the advisor knows the student is awaiting transfer credit or overseas study credit. Encourage students to contact Overseas Studies to estimate the date of availability of transcripts from study abroad programs, to compare with the announced deadline for transfer credit. Make sure students are aware that any 'NR' grades on their IU transcript after the deadline will prevent graduation. 
5. Indicate both to the student and Recorder that the student has deficiencies. 
6. Communicate via the “Notes” section if the transfer coursework is anticipated to complete any outstanding requirements. 
7. Be as specific as possible about what courses are coming in and from where. 
8. Submit any outstanding exceptions at the time of the senior check.

Let students know the result of their senior checks upon completion of your audit. Always use the student’s IU email address. This communication should include the following elements, depending on the outcome of the check: 

If the student is on track to graduate: 

1. Let the student know they are on track to graduate for the major/degree/certificate for which the check was performed. 
2. Caution the student against changing current enrollment without first discussing the changes with the advisor. 
3. Refer students to other major, minor, and certificate advisors to ensure those requirements have been met. 

If the student has deficiencies:

1. Let the student know they have deficiencies that will affect their graduation date unless addressed. 
2. Include an itemized list of deficiencies. 
3. Include information on how to transfer credit and transfer deadlines. 
4. Refer students to other major and minor advisors to ensure those requirements have been met. 
5. Encourage the student to check with the advisor after making schedule adjustments or when transfer credit posts to the student’s record. 

Senior Checks for Concurrent 2nd Degrees

When doing a Senior Check for a concurrent 2nd degree where the first degree is outside of the College and the three schools, please include this note in your email to students:

“In light of [name first degree] being outside of the College, should you change your expected graduation date, make sure to submit updated graduation applications for both degrees listing the new expected date. Doing so will keep the adjusted, more flexible CASE requirements for concurrent 2nd degrees operative for your [name second degree].”  

If the senior check was performed prior to enrolling for the final semester or having only partially enrolled for the final semester: 

1. Let the student know they have deficiencies that will affect their graduation date unless their enrollment addresses these deficiencies. 
2. Include an itemized list of deficiencies. 
3. Include information on how to transfer credit and transfer deadlines. 
4. Ask the student to confirm when they have completed their enrollment so that you can spot-check their course selection. 

Pro tip: Create templates based on student population to ensure efficiency and completeness of communication. 

CHER Notes

1. Note whether or not the student is on track to graduate, pending successful completion of current enrollment. 
2. List specific deficiencies if the student is not on track. 
3. Indicate if any transfer work or overseas study credit is anticipated.

 
AdRx Notes

1. Copy the exact text of senior check emails sent out to students or send the senior check in an email from AdRx.