Severe Weather Policy click here.

For Dining Services summer hours, click here. There is also a Faculty and Staff avilable on the third floor of the Coeur de Catherine at the end of the hall.

July 21 - Registration for Fall will begin. The Online Registration Time table can be found here. The Fall course schedule is posted here for Fall. How to Register tips can be found under Managing Your Program in Current Students.

July 28 at 7:00 a.m. is when courses reserved for Dominican University track students and MAOL students will be available for all students to register for.

August 1 - Graduate Assistant Positions open to MLIS Students. Apply on Katieclick.

Click here for more events and details.

Click here for past events.

August 23 - Orientation. Rauenhorst Hall (Ballroom) CdC.

MLIS Program
2004 Randolph Avenue
Mailstop #4125
St. Paul, MN 55105

Email: imdept-at-stkate.edu
Phone: 651-690-6802

MLIS Home > Current Students > Planningadvice.php

What Helen Would Say: Advice for MLIS Planning

The following are essential tips and advice Helent Humeston often provides her students during advising sessions.

The advice on this page does not substitute the benefits of meeting with your advisor. Your advisor can help you with more personalized options and tips. Likewise, this page reflects the opinions of one advisor and not of them all.

Plan Immediately

When planning your program, remember to take core courses (LIS 7010, 7030, 7040, and 7700 or 7730) because they are prerequisites and prepare you for what is to come after. LIS 7730 is the option students who wish to receive a School Library Media certificate should take.

Beyond that, an important tip is to start planning your program when you begin graduate school, or as soon as you can thereafter. Use the Course Planning Worksheet to help you plot out your ideal program.

Use the Course Grid

But wisely. The course grid is only a projection of what we would like to offer; due to the realities of scheduling faculty, rooms, etc., we may be unable to offer all the courses or offer them during the session/year we anticipated.

Use the grid to create one plan for your ideal program (if all courses were indeed offered) and a couple of other plans that enable more flexibility and change.

If the Course You Wanted Isn't Available...

In such cases, Helen Humeston advises her students that they have four options:

1. Delay the date of graduation and take the course when it is offered.

2. Graduate on time and come back to take the course when it is scheduled.

3. Arrange to take the course by independent study (LIS 8010). You must have completed at least eight courses to be eligible and get the instructor's consent. TIP: not all courses can be done by independent study.

4. Graduate on time and find another way to master the content, such as a workshop or an Internet course.

Full Course Loads

Three courses per semester are considered a full load. Many students come to the program with the intention of going to school full-time while having a full-time job (outside of the home, in the home--as a parent, or both). If that profile describes you, you may want to consider taking less than a full-load. Because graduate course work is demanding, we require you to obtain the LIS program director's permission to take more than three courses during a semester.

See the Program Forms for procedures that require permission or otherwise change your program status.

Additional Program Options

Interested in a law degree? Certification in archives? School Library Media licensure? Don't forget these options.

Sample Schedule: In a Hurry

Helen Humeston provides this scenario, a composite of questions heard over the years:

I have no job or family obligations. I want to finish the degree before my savings run out. I will pray daily that none of the classes I need will be canceled or closed. The program director has given me permission to take three courses each term.

1st Year: Summer session 1 and 2: a total of 3 courses; Fall: 3 courses; Spring: 3 courses; Summer session 1 and 2: a total of 3 courses; Note:You may take 2 courses in both of the summer sessions, for a total of 4. But because you can only take 3 courses in the fall and spring terms, you will still have to take 2 courses in summer school following the spring term of your first year. So the result would only be a savings of 6 weeks, and at the price of a lot of stress and overwork.

Sample Schedule: In Somewhat of Hurry

This schedule does not go over a full load. No more than two classes are taken at once (2 years and 1 course in each summer session, or 2 courses in the same summer session).

1st Year: Fall: 2 courses; Spring: 2 courses; Summer: 2 courses
2nd Year: Fall: 2 courses; Spring: 2 courses; Summer: 2 courses

Sample Schedule: In No Hurry and with Summers Off

Graduating the third year in May:

1st Year: Fall: 2 courses; Spring: 2 courses
2nd Year: Fall: 2 courses; Spring: 2 courses

3nd Year

Fall: 2 courses

Spring: 2 courses

Sample Schedule: One Course at a Time

In this scenario, you would take one course per semester for 10 semesters. But to complete the program within the 5-year limit, you would also have to take a total of two courses during summer sessions.

Graduation would occur the 5th year.