Orientation Information

These notes are intended as reminders of some of the important tips that you will be given verbally at orientation. Please feel free to call (662.325.3660) or email Kylie Crosland (kylie,ece) if you have questions that are not addressed here or you if you need clarification of this information.

Computer Accounts and Email

BullyMail is your MSU student email account where all course information and university, college and department announcements will be sent. To access your BullyMail account, log into you myState portal at my.msstate.edu using your MSU netID and password. Click on the "hamburger" icon at the top left of the screen and select BullyMail from the drop down menu. Your official email address is netID@msstate.edu. For more information, visit Information Technology Services

If you have registered for an ECE course, or have just declared EE or CPE as your major, an ECE computer account will be created for you on the Friday before classes begin. Accounts for students adding ECE classes during the add/drop period will be created on the Friday following their registration. For all these cases, students can pick up their account slips in the ECE ITS Help Desk, room 135 Simrall. The slip will have your account name and password. Please refer to ECE Student Accounts and Network Resources for an introduction to the ECE network and instructions.

Registration

You will use the online banner system to register. Computers are provided in the PC LAB (Simrall 131). During orientation, access to online registration can be obtained by logging into the ECE system using username: guest and a password provided by your advisor. You can also use your own PC if you have internet access. Please remember your NetPassword. It will initially be your six-digit birth date, but you will be asked to change it when you first use the system. Each semester you must be released by your advisor for registration. Please look for email around midterm each semester that will alert you that it is time to see your advisor for registration release. Registration generally occurs in early November for Spring classes and early April for Summer and Fall classes. 

Add/Drop

You may continue to make modifications to the schedule that you create today from now until after classes begin. The deadline to add or drop courses with no penalty can be found on the appropriate academic calendar.

Before trying to change sections of a class, you should always confirm that the section that you are trying to change to has openings. You should not assume that if you drop a section and cannot get in another section that you can get back your original seat. Classes may have been filled over the capacity so that if you drop, you cannot re-enroll without special permission.

Course Placement

Below is a summary of the guidelines used to place students in their first Math, English and Chemistry courses. These guidelines are aimed at moving the student through the program as smoothly and as quickly as possible. The wrong starting point will most likely cause extra delay and may jeopardize a students overall success. Note that honors or accelerated courses are optional.

SubjectPrerequisite(s)Course
MathMath ACT > 26MA 1713H (Honors Calculus I) #
MathMath ACT > 26 or > C in MA 1323 or> C in MA 1453MA 1713 (Calculus I)
MathMath ACT > 24 or > C in MA 1323MA 1453 (Precalculus)
MathMath ACT > 24 or > C in MA 1313MA 1323 (Trigonometry)
MathMath ACT > 19 or > C in MA 0103MA 1313 (College Algebra)
MathMath ACT < 19MA 0103 (Intermediate Algebra)
EnglishEnglish ACT > 32EN 1113H (Honors Comp. II) *,#
EnglishEnglish ACT > 28EN 1173 (Accelerated Comp. II) *
EnglishEnglish ACT > 17 or > C in EN 0103EN 1103 (Comp. I)
EnglishEnglish ACT < 16EN 0103 (Basic English)
ChemistryMath ACT > 24 or > C in MA 1313CH 1213

# enrollment in the Shackouls Honors College is required.
* Students who earn a C or higher receive six hours of credit for freshman composition, thus satisfying the university’s core requirement. A grade of Satisfactory (S) appears on the transcript for EN 1103; for EN 1173 or EN 1113H, the letter grade earned appears on the transcript.

Math

The math recommendation based on your ACT math subscore or SAT equivalent should be taken seriously. If you know of some reason that the math recommendation may not be valid, talk it over with Kylie Crosland before changing.

Chemistry

The chemistry class that CPE and EE programs require is CH 1213. If no seats are available in CH 1213, please enroll in the section of CH 1043 that meets at the time that you would like to take 1213. The first day of class in both 1043 and 1213, there will be a placement exam. Please be on time and take your calculator and a #2 pencil to your first CH 1043 or CH 1213 class. Review your high school chemistry so that you are prepared to preform well on the placement exam. Based on your performance on this exam, you will be enrolled in the appropriate chemistry class. If the exam indicates that you need to take CH 1043 before taking CH 1213, then you will need to do this and enroll in CH 1213 the next semester. CH 1211 is the lab that is associated with CH 1213. It need not be taken the same semester as CH 1213, although it is encouraged. CH 1043 does not have a lab.

The CH 1213 Chemistry I course is set up to schedule a lecture section for 3 hours a week (MWF or T/Th schedule), a 50 minute recitation (review), and a 1.5 hour exam that will be attended only when exams are scheduled.

Computer Requirement

All new freshman and new transfer students are required to own a laptop computer. The minimum requirements for this laptop can be found at: https://www.bagley.msstate.edu/computer/.

If you are not yet ready to start in your Intro to ECE Design classes or Computer Science Programming classes, please talk with Kylie Crosland about the best purchase time for your computer. The College of Engineering at MSU has negotiated some special prices with Dell and Howard Computer Corporations. There are links to both of these from the above URL. You need not buy a computer through them, but you will need to make sure that your computer meets the minimum specifications listed for this year.