USG institutions are mandated to have program maps for all of their undergraduate programs of study.

Program Maps are advising documents designed to help students complete their programs of study by providing course recommendations, suggested sequences of course-taking and milestones to help students and their institutions to know whether they are “on-track” in their programs. Program Maps may also be useful to prospective students who want to see what types of coursework their prospective programs will entail.

As advising documents, Program Maps do not establish new requirements for the program of study and are not the same as official “programs of study” that include all possible courses that can count toward that program of study. Programs Maps can effectively advocate for particular choices within elective areas by including recommended courses in Program Maps. Students may still take courses included in their programs of study that are not on the Program Maps and those courses will count toward their degrees.

All program maps should include milestones. Milestones can be credits accumulated, completion of the Writing domain, completion of particularly significant courses, or other measurable indicators. The purpose of milestones is that they are (relatively) easily tracked, making it easier for both students and advisors to identify when students are “off track.” Program maps also allow students to easily track their progress toward degree completion. Possible milestones include:

• accumulating a specified number of credit hours
• completing Writing domain requirements
• satisfying the US and Georgia History and Constitution legislative requirements
• meeting with an advisor
• completing core curriculum requirements
• declaring a major
• completing Field of Study requirements
• maintaining a specified grade point average
• completing requirements outside the classroom such as: shadowing, internship(s), study abroad, or service learning hours
• completing critical courses
• applying for admission to selective undergraduate programs
• learning about and applying to graduate programs
• applying to graduate
• graduating

For more information on Program Maps, please see the comprehensive document entitled Fundamental Features of Program Maps.