How To: Add your SEP to Degree Planner in Starfish
This is a guide on how to create your own comprehensive student education plan in Starfish.
Note: For privacy reasons, some information is blacked out or "test" accounts are used for the screenshots.
Log into Starfish
- Log into “insideBC”
- Click on “Tools”
- Click on “Starfish”
Starfish
1. From your home screen select the menu icon in the top left corner.
2. Select “degree planner”.
3. Some ed plans have already been created by counseling, especially for new students.
(*Note: If you are needing to complete an ed plan for an educational planning course such as Student Development, you are required to create a new plan. Do not modify an already existing plan, even if it is the same major, you are to create a new plan by clicking the “+ Create New Plan” button in the middle of the screen.)
4. If you do not already have an ed plan in Starfish you will need to click “Get Started” to create a new plan.
5. Start typing the title of the program you are looking for or click on the browse button to display a list.
(*Note: This is commonly referred to as major by students but it is actually your program of study.)
6. If you are seeking a degree, do not ignore the blue tag that pops up! It is telling you that because you selected a degree option you will need to also select which general education you will follow by clicking on the “Add General Education Pattern” button.
(*Note: for more information on general education patterns see the BC catalog.)
7. You can start typing “CSU” or “IGETC”, for transfer degrees, or “Bakersfield”, for local degrees only, in the bar or click the “browse” link to see a list of options.
8. Select “Advanced Settings”.
9. There are many options here you can play with such as changing the term your plan will start with. Otherwise, the plan will always default to the most recent upcoming term, for example if we are in Spring it will default to Fall. Once you have selected all appropriate options for your plan click “Build My Plan”.
10. The plan will default to the courses tab which can seem a little overwhelming. Go to the “Requirements” Tab first to select your courses then return to the courses tab to rearrange them, if needed.
(*Note: the system will plan the courses in a specific order, following rules for courses that have pre-requisite requirements, etc. Therefore, rearranging courses could cause courses to be out of sequence for your pathway. We advise you speak with your pathway counselor or advisor if you would like to make changes.)
11. The requirements tab will start with the courses that are required in your major, then as you scroll you will see your general education requirements. Some courses have already been pre-selected as requirements within the major so the degree template has already planned them in the order at which it was determined students should take them.
12. As you scroll down the page note that there are areas where you have to make a selection. Click on the “+Add Course” button and you will see the options to choose from to satisfy that area.
13. Click the plus sign “+” to add the course you have selected to your plan.
(*Note: If you do not see a course you believe should be showing it could be because we do not offer that course in the term selected.)
14. The plan will automatically select the term. Click “Add.”
(*Note: The course can be moved later from the courses tab, if needed.)
15. Once you have made all of your selections your plan will recognize if you have a total 60 degree applicable units planned in order to graduate/transfer. In some cases major courses can count for both a general education selection as well as a major selection but the units for that course cannot be counted twice. This will cause Starfish to recognize that you are missing units and request that you “Add Placeholders” to your plan to fill in elective courses, this will ensure you have all requirements meet. From the Requirements page click “+ Add Placeholder”
Repeat steps 12 through 15 until all course options have been chosen within the requirements tab.