Academics FAQs
Academics
Undergraduate students must be enrolled in 12 hours per regular semester (fall and/or spring) to be considered full time. Students should take 15-16 hours each semester to maintain a four-year graduation schedule. Students may catch up hours or work ahead during summer semesters. For a graduate student, taking only 9 hours is considered full time.
Transfer and returning students can declare their major on the application for admission or any time thereafter. New freshmen can declare their major toward the end of their first semester during their required appointment with their academic advisor. Visit Advising Staff for more information.
NSU offers classes at a variety of times, including evenings and weekends.
For every 18 students at NSU, we have one professor.
Almost every field of study has free tutoring. You can learn about our free tutoring services by visiting the Learning Assistance & Tutoring webpage. When you arrive on campus, you'll find most colleges have flyers with contact information for our tutors.
Our best advice is to take intro classes for majors that interest you. You can also speak with our University Advising Center about majors and they will advise you about degree requirements and the types of jobs available in your field of interest. To speak with someone in our UAC Office call 918-444-3253.
While general education classes may seat between 18 to 65 students, the typical class size in your major will be between 10-45 students. Some classes may have more or fewer students depending on the subject.
Students are encouraged to purchase books at the university bookstore, but may also purchase through other off-campus or online retailers. Students should be aware that online or used books may not come with required supplemental CDs or access codes. Students are responsible for any risk associated with purchasing textbooks from an unknown or alternate source.
We offer short-term classes, summer classes and intersession classes.
While all teacher education programs in the state of Oklahoma have to meet state and national accreditation guidelines, each is organized a bit differently. NSU's program intentionally moves candidates through the program with increasing levels of guided practice to help them move from being a student to being a teacher. NSU's program has more field experience than any other in the state. This provides opportunity to work in different kinds of schools with several different teachers. We incorporate new teaching strategies such as the use of robotics to teach critical thinking. We work very hard to assure that our candidates have the knowledge, skills and dispositions to work with the children and families they are going to serve. Our expectations are high but so is our level of support to be successful.
Our Nursing Program is designed for registered nurses seeking their bachelor's degree in Nursing, so to be admitted you must first be an R.N. For more information on our Nursing Program, please contact 918-781-5410. All nursing classes are offered online. A list of course requirements are available on the Nursing Program website.
NSU does not currently offer an engineering program, but can assist you with the prerequisite math and physics courses via an Applied Physics degree that can serve as excellent preparation for further study in various engineering fields.
