The new online audit system comes after the University created a new school-wide advising committee and spent $500,000 hiring new advisers earlier this year, doubling the advising staff of its largest school, the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.
"[DegreeMap] made it easier to double check I had fulfilled all my requirements," said senior Nicole Longo. "I wish we had it freshman year."
The University made advising reform a high priority after students continually criticized the program's perceived lack of direction and support.
"You didn't get help unless you sought it out," said Jesse Regis, a class of 2011 graduate.
"I figured out everything on my own. There was a lot of room for error."
But DegreeMap still has its bugs. Some students found drastic inaccuracies in their online audit, as well as a lack of useful course recommendations and guidance they might receive from an actual academic adviser.
"It's just pure GW trying to make it seem like it knows how to use technology," senior Garrett Khoury said. "I'm sure once the bugs are figured out it might be useful... but I'll take ten minutes with my adviser any day."
The administration claims once the kinks are worked out, DegreeMap will free up more time for advisers to build a relationship with students, cutting down on the time spent looking up "routine information." Working out those kinks depends on student feedback, said CCAS Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies Daniel Ullman.
"We didn't expect the audits to be correct for all students on launch day, and they weren't," Ullman said.
Reaching a correct audit for all students requires inputting tens of thousands of courses, petitions, waivers and exceptions, according to Ullman. The task could take several weeks.
DegreeMap will extend to graduate programs moving forward on a rolling basis.
CCAS students can share their DegreeMap concerns at
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