New Student Checklist

This phase begins when you participate in your Welcome Call with a Student Success Advisor.  You should take this phone call from a location where you can simultaneously be on your computer, completing tasks.  

❏ Complete your Welcome Call. During this call you will:

❏ Log into the Digital Campus - You will receive your account information via an automated email with the subject line: “Access Granted: Emerson’s Digital Campus,” as well as additional login instructions from the Student Success team.

❏ Make a plan for completion of the comprehensive orientation.  Asynchronous portions are available in the S@E Online Student Center.    

❏ Review  your Intent to Enroll Letter regarding required coursework.  Specifically, you will discuss whether you have any required ASHA Gen Ed courses or CSD Foundational courses to complete.  Note that:

❏  ASHA Gen Ed coursework must be completed before the end of Term 3 (5-term or 9-term) of Applied Graduate coursework in the Speech@Emerson  program.  

❏ CSD Foundational coursework must be completed before continuing into our applied 5T or 9T plans of study.  Students typically complete these in 1 or 2 terms.  Now is a good time to talk with the Student Success Advisors about which you prefer.

❏ Review and sign two agreements to gain access to registration.  A registration blocking hold is automatically  placed on your account until both agreements are signed.  The two agreements are:

❏ Terms of Use Agreement. Newly admitted students will only be required to sign the agreement once at the beginning of their academic journey in order to access the Digital Protocol Library.

❏ Student Agreement. This is a mandatory document that students must affirm every active semester before they can register for classes for the subsequent term. It outlines your rights and responsibilities, ensuring you understand the College's policies regarding tuition, fees, refunds, and general conduct. Typically, the Student Agreement becomes available to sign a few weeks before registration opens. If it's not accessible when you first check, return back to the page every few days.

❏ Complete all modules of the asynchronous orientation within the S@E Online Student Center in the Digital Campus before you register for classes.  This includes watching videos, reading resources, and completing short knowledge checks to demonstrate your awareness of policies, procedures, and resources. 

❏ At the end of the asynchronous materials, you will be prompted to sign up for the live portions of your Orientation.  The live orientations are 1-1.5 hour meetings with members of Student Success, Academic Advising and also Student Ambassadors.  The goal of these sessions is to begin networking with your peers, ask questions, and become better acquainted with the systems and people that are here to support you. The live sessions are required.

❏ Review Financial Aid options and Tuition & Fees.

❏ Complete FAFSA and other relevant aid forms/applications for your situation.

❏ If you are interested in exploring potential ASHA or SLP scholarship opportunities, visit the Funding the Program page in the Student Hub.  

❏ If you are interested in exploring alternative loans, visit Emerson’s Alternative Loans for Graduate Students page for the most up to date information.

❏ For any questions about funding your degree, please contact Emerson’s Financial Aid office by calling (617) 824-8655 or emailing finaid@emerson.edu. When communicating with the Financial Aid office, mention that you are a Speech@Emerson student, and have your student ID # ready.

❏ Obtain Health Insurance.  All Speech@Emerson students must have an active health insurance plan throughout their enrollment in the program. It is a Massachusetts state law that all college students enrolled in school in MA (regardless of your state of residence) have and maintain sufficient insurance coverage for the duration of their program.  You will be required to upload proof of health insurance to CastleBranch. If you have any questions, please contact your Student Success Advisor immediately.

* Emerson Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) is not available to Speech@Emerson students.

❏ Order Official Transcripts (If Applicable). Emerson College requires Official Transcripts to be on file for all matriculated graduate students or a registration blocking hold will be placed on your account.  More information can be found here under ‘Sending Official Transcripts.’  If you are unsure if you need to send more transcripts, reach out to the Enrollment Specialists (admissions@speech.emerson.edu).

❏ Submit Petitions (If Applicable).  If you have completed coursework that fulfills requirements for one of our foundational courses and that course was listed as required on your Intent to Enroll form, you need to submit a petition to get that course waived prior to registering.  Contact an Enrollment Specialist (admissions@speech.emerson.edu) if you have questions before or after submitting your petition. 

*Please note that the petition deadline for each term is approximately 1 week prior to new student registration opening.  Petitions submitted beyond that deadline cannot be considered until the subsequent term.

❏ Decide on your Program of Study (5-term vs. 9-term)

❏ You’ll make an initial decision now, but you can update or change your decision prior to registering for your first term of Applied Graduate coursework.

❏ If you have foundational courses to complete, it's recommended that you begin contemplating which path would work best for you now, but you have time to decide prior to registering for your first term of Applied Graduate coursework.

❏ You will have multiple opportunities to discuss this topic with the Student Success Advisors by phone.  You may also want to meet with a Student Ambassador to learn about their experiences.

*Once a student’s program track is confirmed and we have passed the Add/Drop deadline of Semester 1 in Applied Graduate level work, students may not adjust the program track they are in for the full length of the program.

❏ Review our Student Hub page on Preparing for Registration which includes links out to college-wide information about how to register.  You may also want to review key resources like the Academic Calendar for start and end dates of all terms and State Authorization information regarding your residence during the program.

Our Course Access period begins two weeks before the beginning of live classes. When Course Access opens in the Digital Campus, you should:

❏ Ensure each of your courses is “starred” on your Dashboard so that you have easy access throughout the semester.

❏ Review syllabi and announcements for all courses and take action where appropriate based on the facilitator’s instructions within the course.

❏ Purchase textbooks and required class materials, including establishing any accounts for platforms such as CALIPSO, MasterClinician Network (if applicable).

❏ Complete Week 1 coursework in the Digital Campus prior to first live session. This will include asynchronous lectures to watch.  It may also include assignments to complete or quizzes to take before your first live class.  

❏ Email your Course Facilitator if you have any questions about course content prior to your first live session.