Terms to Know
Admission - Submission of an online Admissions Application is required (www. SkylineCollege.edu). Upon receipt of the application, the student will receive procedures for registration via email.
Add/Drop Classes – Students may add or drop classes from their program using WebSMART (https://websmart.smccd.edu/), Skyline College’s web-based registration system.
Associate in Arts (A.A.) Degree or Associate in Science (A.S.) Degree - Degrees awarded by Skyline College after satisfactory completion of an organized program of study covering a broad spectrum of courses (called General Education) and a major. The associate degree requires at least 60 units of credit.
Bachelor’s Degrees (B.A., B.S., A.B., B.B.A., B.F.A.) - Degrees awarded by four-year colleges and universities after satisfactory completion of a program of study, usually requiring at least four years.
Certificate Programs - vocational occupational programs, requiring approximately two years or more to complete, that concentrate on those courses essential to prepare a student for employment in a selected field. Certification - A process applicable to the University of California and California State University systems in which Skyline College verifies that the student transferring has completed the required general education courses.
Class Schedule – Paper and online information issued several months before the beginning of each semester announcing specific course offerings for that semester, an application for admissions, general information, the current fee schedule, and the semester calendar with applicable deadlines.
College Catalog - An annual publication of the College, describing the degree, vocational, and transfer admissions requirements, and College policies and regulations programs, courses that the College may offer.
Counseling/Advising - Counselors and advisors assist students in establishing educational goals and selecting courses to achieve these goals. Appointments are available to all students and recommended for those seeking degrees, vocational certificates or transfer opportunities.
Credit - The official award given for the completion of a course. Credit is measured in units according to the amount of time spent in a course and the completion of outside assignments.
CSU GE or IGETC Certification (Previously “Certification”) - A process applicable to the University of California and the California State University systems by which Skyline College certifies that a transferring student has completed or partially completed the general Education Breadth requirements.
Dismissal - A situation caused by low academic or unsatisfactory progress performance in which the disqualified student may not continue at the College without approval for readmission.
General Education Requirements (also called Breadth Requirement) - Courses selected from required General academic areas such as Humanities, Social Science, Science, Quantitative Reasoning, and Oral and Written Language that must be completed before a degree is awarded. “GE” requirements are intended to ensure a multidimensional education.
Good Standing - Refers to students who are maintaining satisfactory academic progress in regard to their grade point average and course completion rate and who have conducted themselves within the College Code of Conduct.
Grade Points - A numerical value assigned to units of college credit for each course for which a letter grade is received (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=l, F=0). Grade points are totaled in computing a Grade Point Average (G.P.A.), which is widely accepted as a measure of academic achievement.
Lower Division - Courses taken during the first year (freshman) or second year (sophomore) of college studies are generally the first 60 units of college work. Lower division courses are introductory or broader in content than more specialized courses in the Upper Division.
Major - A series of courses, required and elective, in a main area of academic or vocational interest.
Matriculation - A process which brings a college and a student who enrolls for credit into an agreement for the purpose of realizing the student’s educational goal. A primary part of matriculations is the assessment, orientation, and counseling of new, non-exempt students. For information on exemptions from matriculation, please refer to the current class schedule.
Placement Testing - Placement tests are designed to assess student skills in Math, reading, English, and/or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The test results, along with other criteria, are used to determine an appropriate course placement.
Prerequisite - Previous background or course(s) required for entry into a course. Prerequisites are listed in both the College Catalog and the Class Schedule.
Probation - A warning status applied to students whose academic progress has fallen below 50% of the units they have attempted and/or whose grade point average has fallen below 2.0 continued unsatisfactory progress can lead to dismissal from the College.
Registration - The official process for enrolling in one or more classes. During the registration period published in the Class Schedule, registration is completed using WebSMART, Skyline College’s web-based registration system.
Semester - Skyline College’s academic year is divided into two terms referred to as the fall and spring semesters and are approximately 17 weeks each in duration.
Units - Credit awarded by completing a college course and measured according to the amount of time spent in the course and assignments completed. A minimum of 60 semester units is required for an Associate Degree from Skyline College.
WebSMART - A web-based registration system that can be accessed through the Skyline College website.
Withdraw – A student may withdraw from a semester-length class through the 14th week of the semester and will receive a “W” on his or her academic transcript for the course. For courses Other Than Semester- length, please refer to the Class Schedule under “Withdrawal Policy.” Students who drop more than 50% of their units attempted will be placed on probation (see Probation).