Advising for Incoming Transfers

Your GEP major advisor is one of the department's faculty members. Your advisor's name appears in your MySSU Student Center.

If no GEP advisor is listed, please contact the: Department Chair

Here is a list of courses that commonly transfer to GEP:

To check whether your courses transferred as equivalents in GEP, check your transfer credit report

View these instructions:  How to check your transfer credit report

If you believe that you took an equivalent, but SSU’s system is not showing it, talk to your GEP advisor

Your transfer Credit Report is available to view online. For instructions on how to find it, go here: How to find your Transfer Credit Report

If it isn't there, and you are sure that your former schools sent reports, call or visit the Office of the Registrar.

Lower Division GE

Most transfer students finish their lower division GE requirements before they come to SSU. But, that is not always the case.

Use your Transfer Credit Report to check whether you have completed all of the lower division GE categories. For a guide on how to do that, see these instructions: How to view your Transfer Credit Report

Upper Division GE

All transfer students must take three upper division courses at SSU, with one course in each GE Areas B-Biological Sciences, C-Arts and Humanities and D-Social Sciences.

GEP offers several GE courses that you can use to double count in GE Areas B and D and in the GEP major.

SSU’s Advising Office is the best place to seek help on that issue. As a GEP major, your contact in that office is Ryan Walsh.

Ryan Walsh Contact Info

Advising Office

You are also welcome to discuss the problem with your GEP major advisor.

1. Print your degree plan worksheet and review the curriculum structure:

Find printable Degree Plan Worksheets (PDFs) here:

BA Environmental Studies, Geography & Planning

BS Environmental Science, Geography & Management

2. Use the ARR to identify completed and missing requirements:

View your Academic Requirements Report (ARR) for official verification of which courses transferred to SSU as GEP equivalent courses.

- For a refresher on how to read your ARR, view this video: How to Read Your ARR

- On your printed worksheet, check off the GEP major classes/requirements that you have already completed

- List all GE and SSU requirements that you still need to take 

3. Address Any Mistakes

If you think that there are mistakes in your ARR, talk with your GEP major advisor about it

Build a schedule based on the order of priority shown below:

If a class is not available (or if it conflicts with a higher priority course), skip to the next priority. Stop when you have added enough total units.

1) Take these two required foundation courses:

GEP 211 GEP Forum

GEP 280 Foundations in Environmental Data & Analysis

NOTE: These courses have no transfer equivalents.  It is important to take these classes ASAP as failure to do so may impact future course selection

2) If needed, take the Society, Environment and Development Foundation

GEP 305 or GEP 306: World Regions in Global Context

NOTE: These classes also meet the GE Upper Division D requirement

3) If you have chosen a focus in the major, take any classes that are offered in that focus area

NOTE: Most upper division classes come around once every 3-4 semesters. Take them when they are offered.

4) Take one or both classes in the Planning and Geospatial Breadth Categories

GEP 360 Intro to Urban & Environmental Planning

GEP 387 Introduction to GIS

NOTE: These courses serve as prerequisites for several other classes. You want to take them ASAP in order to keep your options open in the future.

5) Take an additional GEP elective course from any focus area that interests you strongly

6) Take one or both classes in the Breadth Categories: Environmental Systems or Society, Environment and Development

7) Take a GE

NOTE: GE courses are low in priority because they are always available every semester. GEP major courses are not.

8) If there is still room left in your schedule, contact your GEP major advisor

FINAL NOTE: We recommend that you wait until you have been at SSU for at least one semester before taking a Professional Preparation course (GEP 310-319)

Build a schedule based on the order of priority shown below:

If a class is not available (or if it conflicts with a higher priority course), skip to the next priority. Stop when you have added enough total units.

1) Take these two required foundation courses:

GEP 211 GEP Forum

GEP 280 Foundations in Environmental Data & Analysis

NOTE: These courses have no transfer equivalents.  It is important to take these classes ASAP as failure to do so may impact future course selection

2) If you have chosen a focus in the major, take any classes that are offered in that focus area

NOTE: Most upper division classes come around once every 3-4 semesters. Take them when they are offered.

3) Take one or both classes in the Planning and Geospatial Breadth Categories

GEP 360 Intro to Urban & Environmental Planning

GEP 387 Introduction to GIS

NOTE: These courses serve as prerequisites for several other classes. You want to take them ASAP in order to keep your options open in the future.

4) If needed, take a course in the Natural and Data Science Foundation Category

Note that the courses are organized by theme. Students pursuing different focus areas should prioritize different themes:

5) If needed, take a Society, Environment and Development course in the Foundation

GEP 305 or GEP 306: World Regions in Global Context

NOTE: These classes also meet the GE Upper Division D requirement

6) Take an additional GEP elective course from any focus area that interests you strongly.

7) Take one or both classes in the Breadth Categories: Environmental Systems or Society, Environment and Development

8) Take a GE

NOTE: GE courses are low in priority because they are always available every semester. GEP major courses are not.

9) If there is still room left in your schedule, contact your GEP major advisor

FINAL NOTE: We recommend that you wait until you have been at SSU for at least one semester before taking a Professional Preparation course (GEP 310-319)

During transfer orientation, you will learn how to register for classes on Seawolf Scheduler.

For a refresher, review the SSU videos

SSU How To Videos

As a transfer, you will be enrolling in GEP major courses immediately where you will meet your fellow students. Nevertheless, it can still be hard.

That is one of the reasons that we recommend you enroll in GEP 211 your first semester. In that class, you will

• Meet other GEP students that are new to the major
• Connect with the GEP & GLBL Student Club. That club organizes events and activities and is a great way to make friends.
• Meet all of the faculty in the department and learn about the research that they are doing and the classes that they teach

Geography is an academic discipline that was developed back in the 1800’s to examine the relationship between humans and the environment. While many disciplines fall within either the physical or social sciences, Geography bridges both.

Many issues that Geographers address (and many methods of inquiry that they apply), are typically associated with the natural and physical sciences, such as conservation biology and geomorphology. But, Geographers also pursue questions and apply methods that align with the social sciences, such as environmental policy and planning. Geographers integrate those two very different, broad realms of inquiry.

Ultimately, the discipline of geography is a strong position to address environmental problems and promote environmental sustainability because the root of most environmental problems lies in the interaction between complex human systems and equally complex environmental systems.

Most students are more familiar with the term environmental studies or environmental science. In the US, these fields (and undergraduate degrees) developed in the 1960s, as public awareness and concern for the environment grew. While not academic disciplines, per se, these fields address many of the same concerns as geography. They are often designed as interdisciplinary majors, incorporating classes that are housed within the disciplines of geography, biology, geology and others.

We at SSU are committed to solving human/environment problems and helping to advance the discipline of Geography. But, we also understand that much of the global community is unfamiliar with the term ‘geography.’ So, we have adopted the more familiar terms ‘environmental studies’ and ‘environmental science’ for our degree names, and we have integrated several different labels into our Department name that capture the spirit of what we represent.

GEP exposes students to several powerful analytical software programs that are used in environmental studies and science. But, those softwares will be available in our specialized computer labs. Your personal computer will not have to run them.