Four Bear Program

How to Build a Graduation Plan

• Get familiar with your degree requirements.

  The University of Montana course catalog is the official source of information regarding your degree requirements. To access the course catalog for the most recent academic year, go to www.umt.edu/catalogs.

  The essentials to include in your graduation plan are:

  1. Your major, minor, and/or certificate requirements, which can be found under the Undergraduate Programs link on the right-hand side of the main catalog page,
  2. The general education requirements, which can be found by clicking the General Education Requirements button on the right-hand side of the main catalog page under Academic Policies, Undergraduate Admissions, and Advising, and
  3. Any remaining credit requirements and courses that you plan to take to fulfill those (all students are required to complete a minimum of 120 total credits, with a minimum of 39 of those credits in upper-division courses numbered 300 and above). If you are pursuing dual degrees (e.g. a double-major with one Bachelor of Science program and one Bachelor of Arts program), you will need to complete a minimum of 150 total credits. More information about that can be found in the Degree and Certificate Requirements for Graduation section of the catalog
• Run a degree audit to see what requirements you still need to fulfill.

  Now that you are familiar with your overall degree requirements, it is important to know what you have satisfied and what you still need. To determine this, you can use Degree Works to run an audit. Log in to GrizPortal, find and click on the Degree Works card. An audit will automatically run based on the major/minor/certificate program(s) that you have officially declared.

  If you have not declared a program or your requirements do not appear in full, you can use the What If link to manually select a program of study and run an audit.

  A checklist of your degree requirements will display, with a green check mark for requirements that have already been completed, a blue tilde  for requirements that are currently in-progress, and a blank box with a red outline for requirements that have not yet been completed.

  If you have additional questions, you can visit the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page for Degree Works.

• Plan out your courses for future semesters.

  An easy tool to build a graduation plan, save it, and update it as you progress through your studies is the Graduation Planner in Degree Works (GrizPortal > Degree Works).

  Basic steps to building a graduation plan using a Template:

  1. Click on the Plans tab in Degree Works and then, select New Plan and choose Select Template.
  2. Enter a current or upcoming semester as the starting term for the plan (Tip: Many templates rely on the autumn semester as the starting term. If an error appears regarding the starting term type, switch to an upcoming autumn semester).
  3. The template with auto-populate recommended classes for the first semester of the plan. From there, classes can be added to future semesters by clicking on the plus symbol beneath the semester heading.
  4. When adding classes to the plan, you can either search for the course by subject (e.g. Art, Biology, Political Science, etc.), or by title (e.g. "Beginning Photojournalism).
  5. Alternatively, you can click the Still Needed tab to add classes that satisfy requirements from your degree audit.
  6. Click Add Term to add a semester to your plan. Click the three dots nest to a semester to remove it or reassign the classes to a different semester.

  Basic steps to building a graduation plan using a Blank Plan:

  1. Click on the Plans tab in Degree Works and then, select New Plan and choose Blank Plans.
  2. Enter a current or upcoming semester as the starting term for the plan.
  3. Click the plus symbol beneath the semester heading to add classes to your plan.
  4. When adding classes to the plan, you can either search for the course by subject, or by title.
  5. Alternatively, you can click the Still Needed tab to add classes that satisfy requirements from your degree audit.
  6. Click Add Term to add a semester to your plan. Click the three dots next a semester to remove it or reassign the classes to a different semester.

  Audit your Plan:

  1. Run a final audit to make sure you have factored all requirements into your plan by clicking the Audit button located under the title of your plan and above the semester list. This will show you how your plan satisfies your degree requirements.
  2. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can do this manually. Your academic advisor can also assist with double-checking your plan, answering questions throughout the process, or filling out any gaps that you are missing.
  3. If you would like to evaluate your course plan against a different major, minor, or concentration, you can click the What-If option next to the Audit button and the, enter the What-If scenario you would like to view.

  Save your Plan:

  1. Once you have settled on a plan, you can save it by clicking the Save as Copy button located under the title of your plan and above the semester list.
  2. Before saving, you have the option to rename your plan by clicking the pencil icon next to the plan title. Here, you can also add notes by clicking on the sticky note icon.
  3. To view other plans you have saved, click Plan List to the right of the plan title.

  For additional instructions relating to custom requirements, please visit the Office of the Registrar's Degree Works Plans website.
• Fill out a Four Bear Graduation Plan Submittal Form.

  Once your plan is complete and audited to ensure there is nothing missing, you will need to complete a Four Bear Graduation Plan Submittal Form. This indicates that you are done making changes to your plan until the following academic year's update, so that an advisor can review it. Per the Four Bear Program Requirements, you will need to submit your plan by the last day of spring semester each year for your first three years. Doing so indicates your intent to continue participating in Four Bear.