Advising

The College of Liberal & Creative Arts is the academic home for twenty one schools and departments and approximately seven thousand majors and graduate students, making it the largest college at San Francisco State University. The Undergraduate Advising Center has LCA specific advisors that can help you with choosing a major, finding a major advisor, and preparing for your meeting with a major advisor.

We offer classes in multiple formats and sizes, as well as community service learning classes and internship experiences.

Free tutoring services are provided by the Tutoring and Academic Support Center (TASC). 

We maintain several computer labs for classroom and individual use. Academic standing, honors and academic trouble are determined on the basis of grades earned. 

UAC advisors can also talk with you about how to earn honors, maintain good academic standing, recover from an academic problem, or petition for exceptions, if that is needed.  They can refer you to resources to enrich your educational experience and increase your success and satisfaction. Contact the UAC for assistance or advice on any of these matters.

The College of Liberal & Creative Arts also houses two Metro Academies which support students in achieving academic excellence through personalized tutoring and advising with a focus on equity and social justice.

View the Advising Syllabus

SF State offers many courses that involve Community Service Learning (CSL) and the College of Liberal & Creative Arts offers a variety of courses each semester that include CSL experiences.  According to the bulletin: "Community Service Learning (CSL) is the combination of academic study with community service so that each is enhanced by the other." This allows "students to make connections between their classroom education and its application to the field."  One can search for such classes by entering the program offering the course and the course number and then selecting "Service Learning" in the course attribute box on the Class Schedule search.  The following courses are examples of service learning:

For more information on service learning opportunities, please contact the Institute for Civic and Community Engagement (ICCE).

Grades are used to determine academic standing. Students are encouraged to discuss their academic standing with their major advisors and advisors in the Undergraduate Advising Center (UAC).

Good Academic Standing

Undergraduates with Grade Point Averages (GPA) of 2.0 or higher are in good academic standing. For graduate students this threshold is 3.0.

Honors

Undergraduates earning a 3.25 GPA in a semester where they complete 12 or more units will be on the Dean’s list for that semester. Graduating with a GPA of 3.5 or higher as an undergraduate will lead to an honors designation by the university. Most undergraduate majors in the College of Liberal & Creative Arts are eligible to be considered for Phi Beta Kappa, a prestigious honor society, if they have a GPA of 3.7 or higher and meet other criteria.

Academic Trouble

GPAs below 2.0 for undergraduates and 3.0 for graduate students will result in academic probation, disqualification and/or dismissal for undergraduates and graduate students.

Letter Grades versus CR/NC

For some courses, students may choose whether they want to be graded on the basis of letter grades or Credit/No Credit. However, this choice must be made by a specified date; university policy states that grading options are not to be changed after that deadline except to correct instructor or administrative error. The Registrar posts a calendar of dates and deadlines.

Make up of Incomplete

When a student completes work for a course in which s/he has received an incomplete grade, the student completes the top part of Petition for Grade Change—Make Up of Incomplete, located on the Registrar's Forms webpage, and submits this form along with the course work to the instructor. Note that this form does not require action by the College.

Grade Appeals

Grade appeals pertain to grades assigned for a course at the end of the semester. Before embarking on a grade appeal, read the Academic Senate policy (S19-230) which governs such appeals. The comments below provide a brief overview regarding the process, but one needs to consult the policy for all the procedures. 

Note the following: 

1. A grade can only be changed by the original instructor or a formal College-level Grade Appeal Committee which includes three faculty members. Chairs and other administrators cannot change grades. 

2. “A grade is appealable when the grade assigned as a final course grade does not reflect what the student has earned according to the criteria for grading as outlined by the instructor of the course in the syllabus and other course materials” (from Senate policy S19-230). 

3. “It shall be assumed that the grade assigned is correct and that the student appealing the grade must justify the need for a change of the grade assigned” (from Senate policy S19-230). 

4. The policy specifies time limits for filing a grade appeal. 

5. A decision by a College-level Grade Appeal Committee is final; their decision cannot be appealed. 

The appeal process begins with the student communicating with the instructor regarding why the student thinks the grade is not consistent with the grading criteria outlined by the instructor. This is sometimes referred to as an informal process. It is best to communicate in writing, so there is a record, and such communication should occur promptly following the posting of the course grade to the student’s transcript. Program Chairs/Directors may be copied on this communication. If this informal communication does not resolve the matter, the student can initiate a formal grade appeal process. 

If the appeal gets to the formal level as specified in policy, the student writes a brief, submitted to the Chair/Director of the program offering the course “by the end of the fourth week of the semester following the award of the grade” (from Senate policy S19-230). The student may also copy the Associate Dean of Student and Curricular Services when submitting the formal written brief. The formal written brief needs to include all of the following and provides a College-level Grade Appeal Committee all the information the committee will need to make a decision about the grade: 

• Student name and student identification number 

• Course Prefix, Number, Title 

• Original Grade assigned 

• The syllabus for the course 

• A written justification for a grade appeal that addresses how the grade should be changed based on the student’s performance relative to the course grading criteria. Supporting documentation should be included, if possible, to support the justification. Examples of supporting documentation are:

  • Any record of relevant communications with the professor (e.g. copies of emails, etc.)

  • Copies of course assignments, papers, exams, etc. that are relevant to the appeal

  • Grades assigned to each item in the course that was included in the grading criteria

• The brief should include information about each item in the course that was included in the grading criteria (e.g. attendance, participation, assignments, examinations, postings, etc.) 

See the Academic Senate Policy on Grade Appeals for steps after the student submits a written brief. 

Beginning with Spring 2021 degrees, the Degree Progress Report (DPR) will be the only tool used to evaluate and award degrees. Your advisors, both in the UAC and in your major/minor, are critical in the graduation process. 

Are you on track to graduate?

Go to the registrar’s graduation section for the steps that will help you prepare for the graduation process.

What about your Major/Minor?

Meeting with an advisor in your major and/or minor is vital to completing your degree. Your major/minor program will work with you to make sure you are fulfilling the major/minor requirements.

What about Transfer Credits?

Check your Transfer Credit Report (TCR).  Your TCR lists your previous college-level coursework and shows how your transfer credit counts at SF State. Courses appear on this report only if SF State has received an unofficial transcript from the institution where the courses were taken.

Many students find an internship to be an important of their educational experience allowing them to apply what they have learned to a setting outside of the university. It also gives them a safe environment to explore various career options.

Several programs within the College of Liberal & Creative Arts offer internship experiences:

Please Note: Starting Fall 2018, all students getting academic credit for an internship must be interning at a University approved organization.  Please contact your department or internship faculty for more information.

View our Scholarships section

Many of the University's student employment opportunities can be found on Handshake.