Incomng students should immediately take the following actions:

🔎 Check to see if your incoming courses and exams already have approved UCSD equivalency:

• ALL SUBJECTS - courses from CA community colleges

• ALL SUBJECTS - AP and IB score equivalencies

• MATH courses from other UCs and popular non-UC schools

• PHYSICS courses from other UCs

• PHYSICS A-Levels

✍️ If your course or exam does NOT already have an approved equivalency, please note each department may have a unique procedure to have coursework reviewed. Use the appropriate link below and note departments cannot guess the likelihood of approval of any request:

MATH Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Math Transfer Equivalency Petition.

PHYSICS Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Physics Course Equivalency Request.

Note: If you took a combo of courses from schools with different names, you must petition, even if the schools are in some way affiliated.

CSE Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a CSE Course Equivalency Request. 

CHEMISTRY Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Chemistry Course Substitution Request. 

BIOLOGY Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Biology Course Equivalency Request. 

Using the "Ask a Question" feature in the Virtual Advising Center (vac.ucsd.edu) is the exclusive way to message the Physics Department advising staff with questions/concerns. You will typically response within 1-3 business days.

During campus closures, academic departments are closed, including department VAC portals. Please submit your message once the VAC re-opens. 

Fast Five Advising is 5-minute advising available remotely during each academic term. 

Fast Five Advising Days and Times:

• Mondays 11-1130am
• Tuesdays 2-230pm
• Thursdays 11-1130am*
• Fridays 1030-11am

*We have a one-time closure on 10/2 due to staff illness.

Fast Five Advising is reserved for qustion quesitons. For example:

• Am I enrolled in the right FA25 courses for my PHYS major?
• Will PHYS 10 be offered in SP26? (see our course offerings)

Fast Five Advising CANNOT be used for the following:

• EASy requests and/or prereq waivers (see our enrollment policies)
• Document review and/or document processing
• Long-term planning

Also, if you would like to talk with an advisor for more than five minutes, please book an appointment instead of joining Fast Five advising. 

To join Fast Five Advising, follow these steps:

1. Read all unread Contact Records and Academic Notices in the Virtual Advising Center.
    
2. Confirm you do not have any pending messages awaiting a response from the Physics Department (if you do, your drop-in session will be canceled).
    
3. Sign into the remote waiting room at least 5 minutes before our closing time.
    
4. After signing in, you will be placed in our remote waiting room. When it’s your turn, a Zoom link will appear — you must click the link immediately to join the session. If you do not join within a few minutes, your appointment will lapse, and you will be marked as a "No Show.

During your session:

• Your audio and video must remain on.
• You must be able to share your screen.
• Your device must allow you to browse the web during the session so we can guide you to key resources.

Advising appointments are available during the academic term, only. You can book an appointment by following the steps below. 

STEP 1: Review all Previously Provided Information from UCSD Personnel

Open the Virtual Advising Center (VAC) and look at the top to see if you have any unread messages and/or notices. You must read all unread messages and notices before booking an appointment. 

STEP 2: Submit Relevant Documents

Click here to submit any documents that need review (we may process your documents before your appointment, especially if time-sensitive).

STEP 3: Book your appointment with your @ucsd account

Click here to book your appointment using your @ucsd account. The booking form will show you if you're accidentally using your @gmail account). Read the information below.

What to Do After Submitting Your Appointment Request

• Monitor your UCSD email for the notification that we have replied to you on VAC. 
• If you missed any of the three steps above, you will need to start the appointment scheduling process again and complete any missing steps.

If you need to cancel/reschedule your appointment

• It is your responsibility to alert PHYSICS through the VAC at least 24 hours in advance of your appointment and to submit a new appointment request. 

If your meeting is on Zoom

• Both your audio and video must be on for the entire appointment.
• You must be able to use the share-screen feature during the meeting.

Physics Advising closes in correlation with campus closures, and there are sometimes closures not related to campus closures. When the VAC closes, advising is unavailable (there are no drop-ins or appointments, and VAC messaging is also unavailable). Please take note of upcoming VAC closures: