WHAT IS MY DEGREE PROGRESS REPORT AND HOW DO I USE IT FOR ADVISING?

What is a DPR? DPR is an acronym which stands for Degree Progress Report. We also refer to it as your Advising report or SMART Sheet. They all mean the same thing. Why do I need to know what my DPR is? Your DPR shows you ALL course requirements for your major, and it lists requirements for any double majors and minors. It will show you what requirements you have completed or “Satisfied,” which one’s you’re currently working on “In Progress,” and which requirements you still need to meet “Not Satisfied.” Your DPR also shows any work you may have completed at a junior college and transferred to USM. If this transfer work applies to any courses at USM, you will have “Satisfied” that requirement, and the status will appear as a “TR”. If any of your transfer work does not apply as having satisfied any degree requirements, these courses will be listed in your “Electives” section and/or in your “Course History” toward the end of the DPR. I have taken classes at a junior/community college, but they do not show up on my DPR. What do I do now? This typically happens when your FINAL OFFICIAL transcript has not been received by USM Admissions. You must request for your final transcript to be sent to Admissions so that they can post your transfer work to your USM account, and thereby satisfy any applicable courses on your DPR. Keep in mind, this is not an automated process. Be patient if you do not see your transfer work on your USM account immediately after sending your transcript. If, after one semester of having sent your transcript you still do not see transfer work, please notify Admissions to check the status of your transcript. I see courses that should have substituted for another course, but that requirement on my DPR is still not satisfied. What do I do? The College of Business has a few alternate courses that students are allowed to take in the place of others. Sometimes, students may opt to take USM’s PSY 360 instead of BA 201 (Managerial Statistics), or sometimes students transfer courses from an out-of-state community/Jr. college (such as Accounting I & II) and these courses may not “Satisfy” the course requirement on their DPR. In these cases, your advisor will need to do a course substitution in SOAR so that these courses will officially “Satisfy” those requirements. The Undergraduate Services office keeps course substitution forms for you to complete if this is your circumstance. Please feel free to contact your advisor if you have taken and passed a course but you find that it hasn’t “Satisfied” your course requirement on your DPR.

How Do I Print My DPR? Once you’re logged into SOAR (soar.usm.edu), click on “Self-Service” and then on “Student Center”. STEP 1 When you’re in your Student Center, click on the drop-down box under your “Academics” section.

STEP 2 Select “Advisement/Degree Progress Report” and press the arrows to generate the report.

STEP 3 Once the report generates, click on “View Report as PDF”. The PDF version is visually more organized.

You may use the web page version for quick reference (just scroll to see all the different sections), but we recommend that you use the PDF if you need to print the report and use it as an advising tool.

STEP 4 Print the PDF copy and read through the report. Become familiar with your requirements, and learn what classes you are still required to take. Use this, along with your Semester-by-Semester guide to track what courses you have taken, what courses are currently In Progress, and what courses you still have to take. Use the next few screen capture images for a quick overview of the DPR.