Here are some helpful information and answers to some commonly asked questions. FAQ How do I get started here? Who are the advisors? Who are the system administrators (where should I go to report system problems)? How to Get Started If you have never used this system, here's what you need to do: Register yourself Login and fill out your profile Make sure you are working with the correct semester Make requests Waiting for requests to be granted Register Yourself In order for you to register, you must have both a 10-digit USC student ID and a valid USC e-mail address (i.e., something@usc.edu). If you do not have both of these, please contact an advisor to add you to the system. Once you have registered, you will get an e-mail message from the D-clearance system with a machine-generated activation code. This activation code is your password for logging into the system. You can also change this code/password once you are fully activated. Login and Fill Out Profile Please login with your activation code. You will be asked to supply profile information for yourself. The profile information is important for an advisor in processing your D-clearance requests. So please provide the information as accurate as possible. Once you have entered the information and confirmed that what you have entered is correct, only an advisor can change your profile information. In the future, if you have changed your major, please let an advisor know. After you have submitted your profile information, you should change your password. The usual password picking rule applies. Please note that your password will never be sent in-the-clear. Only a cryptographic hash of your password will be sent over an unencrypted channel. Selecting a Semester Please make sure you are working on the correct semester. Sometimes, more than one semester (such as Summer and Fall) may be active at the same time. In this case, you should go to your D-clearance home page and select a semester and click on the Set Working Semester for You button. Making Requests You can make up to 3 D-clearance requests. At most 3 requests will be granted. Therefore, you should make requests in the same order as your preferences. Please plan your requests carefully. If you make a mistake or change your mind, it takes 24-48 hours for an advisor to remove a request to free up space for you to make an additional request. Once you have figure out your preferences, please go to the requests page and click on the Add a D-clearance Request button the follow the on-screen instructions. After you have selected a course, please note the number of ungranted requests. This gives you the number of students who will be in front of you if you make the request immediately. (Of course, by the time you've clicked through all the necessary buttons, more students may be gotton in front of you.) You can also look at the schedule of classes web page to see how many students are already enrolled in the section you are interested in. For courses that have prerequisites, for each prerequisite, you must enter an explanation regarding how the prerequisite was satisfied. If a prerequisite is a "recommended prerequisite", you should enter "noted" (and should not leave it blank or the system will not let you proceed). If a course you are interested in does not appear in the D-clearance system, please contact an advisor to see if there is an alternate procedure for requesting a D-clearance for it. Waiting for Requests to Be Granted Once you have made a D-clearance request, you can go back to the requests page and view the status of your requests. Please understand that the advisors need to process the requests according to their priorities. So, it may take a while before they start to work on your classes. To get status information about your requests, please click on the More Info button for one of your requests. You will see the current number of ungranted requests for your section and your position on the list of ungratned requests (#1 means that you are next on the list). Please understand that some students do have priority in getting D-clearances. Your position in the queue should never increase. But it can stay at the same place while these students get cleared for enrollment. You may also want to take a look at the schedule of classes web page to see how many students are already enrolled in your section. There is really no need to ask an advisor to speed up the process or move you ahead in the queue. The advisors need to process requests according to their priorities. Advisors The advisors are: Flor Martinez Masters Student Advisor Office: SAL 311 E-mail: <fmmartin@usc.edu> Lizsl De Leon Masters Student Advisor Office: SAL 309 E-mail: <ldeleon@usc.edu> Sherri Fagan Chan Graduate Advisor, Ph.D. Program Office: SAL 308 E-mail: <sfagan@usc.edu> Steve Schrader Director, Undergraduate Student Affairs Office: SAL 306 E-mail: <schrader@usc.edu> Master students with last names A - K, your Advisor will be Flor Martinez Master students with last names L - Z, your Advisor will be Lizsl De Leon. System Administrator If you encounter problems with the system (e.g., cannot login, repeated system error messages, etc.), please contact the system administrator. The system administrator for the D-clearance system is: Bill Cheng Lecturer Office: SAL 228 E-mail: <bill.cheng@usc.edu> (Bill Cheng's e-mail filter removes all HTML-only e-mails. So, please do not send HTML-only e-mails to him. Thanks!)
FAQ
How to Get Started
Register Yourself
Once you have registered, you will get an e-mail message from the D-clearance system with a machine-generated activation code. This activation code is your password for logging into the system. You can also change this code/password once you are fully activated.
Login and Fill Out Profile
After you have submitted your profile information, you should change your password. The usual password picking rule applies. Please note that your password will never be sent in-the-clear. Only a cryptographic hash of your password will be sent over an unencrypted channel.
Selecting a Semester
Making Requests
Once you have figure out your preferences, please go to the requests page and click on the Add a D-clearance Request button the follow the on-screen instructions. After you have selected a course, please note the number of ungranted requests. This gives you the number of students who will be in front of you if you make the request immediately. (Of course, by the time you've clicked through all the necessary buttons, more students may be gotton in front of you.) You can also look at the schedule of classes web page to see how many students are already enrolled in the section you are interested in.
For courses that have prerequisites, for each prerequisite, you must enter an explanation regarding how the prerequisite was satisfied. If a prerequisite is a "recommended prerequisite", you should enter "noted" (and should not leave it blank or the system will not let you proceed).
If a course you are interested in does not appear in the D-clearance system, please contact an advisor to see if there is an alternate procedure for requesting a D-clearance for it.
Waiting for Requests to Be Granted
To get status information about your requests, please click on the More Info button for one of your requests. You will see the current number of ungranted requests for your section and your position on the list of ungratned requests (#1 means that you are next on the list). Please understand that some students do have priority in getting D-clearances. Your position in the queue should never increase. But it can stay at the same place while these students get cleared for enrollment. You may also want to take a look at the schedule of classes web page to see how many students are already enrolled in your section.
There is really no need to ask an advisor to speed up the process or move you ahead in the queue. The advisors need to process requests according to their priorities.
Advisors
Flor Martinez Masters Student Advisor Office: SAL 311 E-mail: <fmmartin@usc.edu> Lizsl De Leon Masters Student Advisor Office: SAL 309 E-mail: <ldeleon@usc.edu> Sherri Fagan Chan Graduate Advisor, Ph.D. Program Office: SAL 308 E-mail: <sfagan@usc.edu> Steve Schrader Director, Undergraduate Student Affairs Office: SAL 306 E-mail: <schrader@usc.edu>
Master students with last names A - K, your Advisor will be Flor Martinez Master students with last names L - Z, your Advisor will be Lizsl De Leon.
System Administrator
Bill Cheng Lecturer Office: SAL 228 E-mail: <bill.cheng@usc.edu> (Bill Cheng's e-mail filter removes all HTML-only e-mails. So, please do not send HTML-only e-mails to him. Thanks!)
