Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Courses usable for free (unconstrained) electives
In general, any graduate courses are permitted as the three free electives in the QCF curriculum requirements. There are a few courses that are not permitted.
- The course should not cover mainly concepts in the QCF prerequisites; for example, ISYE 6739 and ECON 6140 are not permitted since they cover mainly basic probability and statistics.
- The course should not cover mainly concepts already covered in the QCF curriculum; for example, ISYE 6227, MGT 6060, MGT 6080, and some courses at Georgia State University are not permitted since they overlap too much with courses taken in the QCF curriculum.
- The course should not be taken for an audit grade, for example, COOP courses, which are placeholders for F1 visa holders taking internships related to the QCF program during Summers, and specified departmental GRA or GTA courses, can only be taken for audit credit and are not counted towards degree requirements.
- The course should not be a course in basic verbal or written English communication skills.
The above examples illustrate the types of courses not permitted to be counted as free electives in the QCF curriculum requirements. There may be other graduate courses which fall within these types of restrictions for courses not permitted as free electives in the QCF curriculum. If you have questions, contact the program Director for his approval.
NOTE: Students may take at most one of their free elective courses as Pass/Fail (S/U). All other courses counted towards their QCF curriculum requirements must be taken for a Letter Grade.
Three things to note when registering for these courses:
- The academic unit might restrict access to their courses. In this case, one option is to contact the instructor, unless otherwise discouraged by the academic unit. For example, Math informs students to follow the directions at their website http://www.math.gatech.edu in order to obtain course registration permissions or overloads if these are Required. Some of the Management courses listed below might be restricted early in the August registration period, with the restriction removed later in this period.
- Be aware that often there might be hidden prerequisites not listed in the catalogue or in OSCAR; for example, for some graduate courses, such as some graduate courses in finance, one should have a basic knowledge of the subject material leading up to that course, even though this might not be stated.
- Most courses are offered only once in an academic year. Students can get some sense of whether the course might be one of the few courses offered in both the Fall and Spring semesters by looking at the course listing for the previous Spring semester in OSCAR.
Note that if a student has not had economics in their background, they are advised to take at least one graduate economics course, for example, ECON 6105 and/or ECON 6106.