ECE Policies & Forms
All Virginia Tech undergraduate students are required to maintain a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA. If your GPA falls below 2.0, you will be placed on academic probation. If you do not raise your cumulative GPA to a 2.0 within a designated time period, you will be placed on academic suspension.
All engineering students who are placed on probation are notified by the Dean's Office and required to complete probationary paperwork. ECE students are required to meet with ECE advisors to develop individual plans for academic improvement. The Dean's Office will block students who do not follow this procedure from further enrollment.
All undergraduate students must apply for degree to be cleared for graduation from the University. Students may apply for their degree in Hokie Spa under the Undergraduate Degree Menu. ECE students are encouraged to apply for degree in the junior year. Please include any double majors or degrees, minors, and/or concentrations on your application. An application for degree will generate a DARS (Degree Audit Report). Students are required to review their DARS reports with their ECE advisors within ten days from the receipt of the DARS report. At that time, your advisor will submit any necessary substitutions.
https://www.registrar.vt.edu/graduation-multi-brief/timeline.html
The ECE department requires a C or better in each of the following courses:
- ECE 1004 Introduction to ECE Concepts
- ECE 2024 Circuits and Devices
- ECE 2214 Physical Electronics
- ECE 2514 Computational Engineering
- ECE 2544 Fundamentals of Digital Systems
- ECE 2564 Embedded Systems
- ECE 2714 Signals and Systems
- ECE 2804 Integrated Design Project
The ECE courses listed below all require specific co-requisites.
The co-requisite must be taken at the same time as the course or in a previous semester. Co-requisites are checked each semester before the and after the last day to add courses. If you are not enrolled in the appropriate co-requisistes (or have notcompleted the co-requisites previously) you will be dropped from all requisite courses.
The following ECE courses have co-requisites requirements:
- ECE 2024 – Co-requisites: MATH 2214, PHYS 2306
- ECE 2804 – Co-requisites: ECE 2214, (ECE 2564 or ECE 2714)
- ECE 3074 – Co-requisite: ECE 3004
- ECE 3274 – Co-requisite: ECE 3204
- ECE 3354 – Co-requisite: ECE 3304
- ECE 4664 – Co-requisite: ECE 4634
ECE force-add requests will be accepted ONLY from students who are eligible to take ECE courses but are unable to request certain ECE course(s) during the Course Request period due to a prerequisite or class restriction. If you do not submit a Course Request during the Course Request period, you are not eligible to complete the ECE force-add survey. Incomplete or ineligible surveys will not be reviewed and will be deleted with no notification to the student.
The force-add survey for undergraduate courses will open each semester near the start of Course Request and close at 5:00 pm on the 3rd day of classes. No force-add requests will be accepted after this date. All decisions will be made by the last day to add classes. Students with approved force-adds will be notified by the last day to add classes.
On the Friday before classes begin, ECE will open up classes to class capacity. This means that if the timetable is showing a course as full, then it is full to capacity and we cannot and will not add additional students. Note that class capacity does not always equal classroom capacity. Just because there may be empty seats, this does not mean that we can add additional students. Many factors go into determining class capacity.
The force-add forms can be found in the List of Forms section on the right side of this page.
An ECE student who is interested in course credit through Independent Study or Undergraduate Research with an ECE faculty member should first consult with his or her advisor. The advisor will provide direction with regard to faculty areas of technical expertise as well as the required paperwork process.
University Policy 91 outlines university-wide minimum criteria to determine if students are making satisfactory progress towards the completion of their degrees. The ECE Department fully supports the policy. Specific expectations for satisfactory progress for BSCPE and BSEE majors are as follows:
- Each student must meet the minimum University-wide criteria as described in Policy 91 and summarized in the Undergraduate Catalog under Academic Policies.
- Upon completing 2 semesters in ECE, students must have satisfactorily completed ECE 2024, ECE 2514, ECE 2544, MATH 2214, and PHYS 2306.
- Upon completing 3 semesters in ECE, students must have satisfactorily completed ECE 2804.
- Upon attempting 90 credits, BSCPE and BSEE students must have successfully completed 33 credits of in-major courses and have 2.0 overall and in-major GPAs. (The BSCPE and BSEE in-major GPA includes all ECE courses, including repeats).
In addition to the C or better requirement for the courses listed below, the ECE department also has a C- prerequisite policy. Students must earn a C- or better in any course that is a prerequisite to any ECE course. The only exception to this C- or higher prerequisite grade requirement is the C or higher grade requirement for the courses listed below. For example, the prerequisites for ECE 2024 are ECE 1004 (C or higher) and MATH 2114 (C- or higher).
Prerequisites can be changed or updated from the original prerequisites listed on the checksheet. For the most accurate and up-to-date prerequisite information, please refer to the timetable of classes. Please take time to become familiar with the prerequisite requirements. ECE strictly enforces prerequisite requirements.
- ECE 1004 Introduction to ECE Concepts
- ECE 2024 Circuits and Devices
- ECE 2214 Physical Electronics
- ECE 2514 Computational Engineering
- ECE 2544 Fundamentals of Digital Systems
- ECE 2564 Embedded Systems
- ECE 2714 Signals and Systems
- ECE 2804 Integrated Design Project
In accordance with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), all information regarding a student's academic record is considered private between the student and the university and requires a written release for discussion of this information with a third party. For a variety of reasons, you may wish to partially waive this protection and permit release of some types of information to certain people, for example, an advisor, a potential employer, a parent, or a faculty member.
The following procedures are handled in the Office of the University Registrar in 250 Student Services Building.
- Questions regarding registration and DROPADD
- Requests for academic transcripts
- Requests for certifications (enrollment verification)
- Resignations or withdrawals
- Reservations for classrooms for student organizations
- Requests for DARS (Degree Audit Report)
- Orders for diplomas
- Requests for information about Academic Common Market
- Requests for residency information for tuition purposes
- Questions regarding Veterans Affairs
- registrar.vt.edu
List of Forms
For BSCPE and BSEE degree requirements, please see ECE degree programs and requirements.
Need Info on ECE, Engineering, or University Policies?
Your ECE academic advisor is always your first point of contact regarding departmental, college, and university policies and procedures.
In most cases, if you do not contact your advisor first, you will be referred back to the ECE Department. In the event that your advisor needs to refer you to another office within the university or college, they will do so.
The B.S. degree in electrical engineering and the B.S. degree in computer engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.