Expectations for CPaMS Scholars

Requirements for Good Standing

Once a student has been admitted and accepted their spot in the CPaMS Scholars Program, they must meet the following requirements to stay in the program:

• Attend a pre-fall orientation event in August. This event is usually the day before the university’s fall orientation begins.
• Maintain a 3.0 GPA in the courses required by their major starting in the sophomore year.
• Continue making progress toward a CPaMS major, including declaring it once major declarations are available in the sophomore year: computer science, physics, mathematics, statistics, or data science. Data science majors must choose a technical focus within the major's course choices.
• Complete the required CPaMS courses with their CPaMS Scholars cohort.

Please note that an official leave of absence will not cause you to lose your place in CPaMS. The semester(s) in which you are absent will put your scholarship on hold, and you will pick up again where you left off once you return to Loyola. Please get in touch with the director if you are planning to take a leave of absence to discuss any changes to the above requirements that may be necessary in your particular case so that we can set you up for success.

Required Coursework

One of the benefits of the CPaMS Scholars program is staying with your cohort of CPaMS Scholars throughout your time at Loyola:

• First year fall: Take CS151 Messina with your cohort. Once you are part of the CPaMS program, Messina will work with the CPaMS Director to ensure you are in the correct Messina course. In the spring semester you will all take a core course together.
• Second year fall: CS/MA/ST/PH 200 Opportunities in STEM. This course is a one credit seminar course, where you will hear from people working in each of the CPaMS disciplines to help you determine your future path. It is graded pass/fail. You can see a prior fall semester seminar’s schedule of events.
• Third year: Interdisciplinary experience to be completed by end of year, and reflection submitted at end of spring semester. See the third year webpage for details.
• Fourth year fall: There is no course to sign up for in your final fall semester. This semester you will work with the CPaMS Faculty to be prepared for your time after Loyola, whether it be a job or graduate school.

Probation

If you fail to meet any of the above requirements in a given semester, you will be placed on probation from the program for the following semester.  The earliest you can be placed on probation due to your major GPA is after the end of your sophomore fall semester. The major GPA is calculated based on your grades in courses that are required directly by your major (generally math and science courses, but varies by major). Your grades from your first year are only included in the calculation if they have a positive effect on your GPA, e.g. they are a B or above. Lower grades in your first year cannot hurt you in terms of probation GPA calculations.

If you are placed on probation, you will have one semester to remedy your status. If you are unable to meet the requirements by the end of that probationary semester, you will no longer be a part of the CPaMS Scholars program. If you are able to remedy your status, you will remain in the program and be returned to good standing. However, you are only allowed one probationary semester during your time at Loyola; an additional semester failing to meet the above requirements will result in removal from the scholars program without a probationary term. Probationary notifications are sent out by the CPaMS Director in January and May of each year.

If you decide to declare a major that is ineligible for CPaMS, you will not be put on probation but removed from the program. If you change major in the middle of the semester, it will not affect your scholarship (if applicable) until the following semester. If you do not fulfill the requirements for a particular year in the program, without discussing with the director to have extra time, you will also be removed from the program instead of put on probation.

Study Abroad

There are no study abroad requirements for CPaMS Scholars. If you are planning to study abroad for an entire year, please get in touch with the CPaMS director to discuss how best to meet your third year CPaMS Scholars requirements.