Start your Biola Journey

The Registration Profile is a form all incoming students submit to the Academic Advising Center. It contains questions that help our office gather pertinent information on who you are as a student, what your academic expectations and goals are, and how we can best support you throughout your academic career. 

The Registration Profile is available on your MyAccount home page. It is listed as a task under the “Incoming Student Tasks” section.

While there is no formal deadline for the Registration Profile, we strongly recommend that students complete it as soon as possible. Without receiving your Registration Profile, our office will not be able to register you for classes. The sooner you submit your Registration Profile, the sooner you will have a class schedule.

Aside from submitting your Registration Profile, there is nothing else you need to do to register for classes. Our Academic Advising Center will take care of adding you to your first term of classes. After we register you for classes, we will review your schedule together in your virtual appointment (see Step 2) and make any necessary changes.

The Academic Advising Center wants to get to know you beyond what we read in your Registration Profile. Virtual Appointments are an opportunity to connect over phone or video chat and hear more of your story, answer academic-related questions you may have, and walk you through your first term schedule and more. Appointments typically last 30-40 minutes.

Click the “Academic Advising Appointment” task under the “Incoming Student Tasks” section of your MyAccount home page. Click the black “Schedule an Appointment” button. Select your program from the list of options. Schedule the appointment on our appointment-booking platform, Navigate. If you need assistance with using Navigate, visit our Contact Us page for step-by-step instructions on scheduling an appointment on Navigate.

You will meet with our full-time Academic Advisor for Online Bachelor students.

The most important task to complete prior to your Virtual Appointment is submitting your Registration Profile. After that, take a look at your Degree Requirements (see Step 2 of the section below) and write down questions you have about your major, general education, or Bible requirements. Be ready to take notes during your appointment since your Academic Advisor will review a lot of key information with you!

Yes! Based on student feedback, we know that Virtual Appointments boost students’ confidence in entering Biola, provide a meaningful touchpoint with a staff member, and clarify academic requirements. We are excited to meet with you and show you the ropes!

The link to sign up for Online Orientation is on the MyAccount Tasks home page under the “Incoming Tasks” section.

Click the “Online Orientation” task in MyAccount and then click the link to “Canvas.” When you log into Canvas, an invitation should appear at the top of your screen with a green button that says “Accept.”

The Online Orientation course is a self-paced 2-2.5 hour course that does not need to be completed in one sitting. It is split up into five modules: An introduction and welcome to Biola, an introduction to the online classroom and online learning, tools for academic success, strategies for well-being, and enrollment resources.

If you log in to MyAccount, your home page will have a few sections that have tasks listed with a red “X”, a yellow “X”, or a green check mark beside it. Any task without a green check mark still needs to be completed. The home page (“Tasks” tab) and the “Financials” tab are the two pages that list tasks to complete. Under the “Financials” tab, select the link to the “Aid Year” under the “Financial Aid Requirements” section to view your financial tasks.

Some tasks require you to mark the task as done manually. The “Online Orientation,” “Academic Advisor Appointment,” and “Submit a Registration Profile” tasks have a “Mark as Done” black button within the task page. Most of the other tasks will automatically be marked as done once the task is completed. Some tasks may be completed but have a 24-48 hour lag time in being marked as done. If tasks are completed but continue to appear as incomplete after a week, email your admissions counselor for assistance.

If you need help completing a task from the MyAccount home page, you can contact your admissions counselor for assistance with most of the tasks. If you specifically need help with scheduling your Virtual Advising appointment with an Academic Advisor or with submitting a Registration Profile, email academic.advising@biola.edu or call (562-903-4782) our Academic Advising office. If you need help with completing a task from the Financials tab, you can contact our Financial Aid office via email (finaid@biola.edu) or phone (562-903-4742).

Once you complete all of the tasks listed on MyAccount, you are all set to start Biola! Our office, along with others, will reach out to your Biola email once we get closer to the start of the term, so keep an eye out for communication from us.

As an incoming student, you will be assigned an Academic Advisor from our Academic Advising Center. Visit our page on finding Your Advisor to find the name and contact of your Online Bachelor Academic Advisor.

Our Advising Center is committed to having a quick response time to students. If you are unable to get in contact with your Academic Advisor though, you are welcome to contact our general Academic Advising email (academic.advising@biola.edu) or call our office (562-903-4782). There is also a Peer Academic Advisor available via appointments and emails to answer questions. Note: Peer Academic Advisors work 10 hours a week and will not have the full availability of our full-time staff.

Yes, your admissions counselor is still a part of your support team for the summer! Once the term begins though, a majority of your questions can be answered by your full-time Academic Advisor from the Advising Center. Students typically have few questions related to admissions upon the start of the semester.

Absolutely! We believe in holistically supporting students, and that means having a variety of resources available. To find a list of resources, visit our Resources & Forms page. Under “Additional Resources,” you will find a carousel with a range of options.

Log into MyAccount and click “Degree Planning” on the left-hand side. Click “Degree Audit” in the “Stay on Track!” section to find a comprehensive list of your graduation requirements.

The Degree Audit is an online checklist of requirements to graduate. Watch this video to learn about the basics of navigating the Degree Audit. Read on for a summary of the video content.

What is your Degree Audit?

The Degree Audit is a tool to track degree requirements for graduation. It contains personalized requirements based on the year that you are entering Biola, any transfer credits, and a few other factors.

How to find your Degree Audit

Log into MyAccount, click the “Degree Planning” tab, and select “Degree Audit” from the list of resources.

How to navigate your Degree Audit

The top section of the Degree Audit lists key academic information like your major, degree type, Academic Advisor, GPA, and more. The middle section of the Degree Audit is broken up into three main sections: Major, Core Curriculum - General Education, and Core - Bible requirements. The bottom section of the Degree Audit is for “General Electives” (course credits that do not fulfill a major, General Education, or Bible requirement.)

How to interpret your Degree Audit

The very bottom of the Degree Audit has a legend that explains what various symbols mean. The three most important symbols are the circles to the left of listed course requirements; these circles indicate completion status. A red circle indicates that the requirement is still needed, a blue half-moon indicates that a requirement is registered for, and a green checkmark indicates that a requirement is fulfilled.

Transfer Credits on Degree Audit

If you took a course and intended to transfer the credits into Biola, it may not appear on your Degree Audit for one of three reasons: You may not have submitted your official transcript from the institution, the class on your official transcript may not have had a final grade listed, or your transcript may still be processing. If you have questions about this, contact our office (academic.advising@biola.edu, 562-903-4782).

AP/IB/CLEP credits are only applied once passing scores are submitted to the university from the exam board.

If a transfer course is listed in your General Elective section but you believe it should apply to a specific requirement, submit a Transfer Petition form.

We know that navigating graduation requirements can have a learning curve. If you need support in understanding your graduation requirements or have questions, contact your Academic Advisor or Peer Academic Advisor.

If you haven’t already, we recommend reading the titles for each course required in your program. It will provide you with a broad scope of what you will study throughout your time at Biola. Look through the Biola Catalog (guide to university policies and requirements) to see requirements for our three programs: Bible, Theology, and Apologetics, Business Management, and Psychology. To find course descriptions for each course, click the blue, hyperlinked course subject and course number (i.e., “BBST 103”) to see a pop-up with a brief explanation of the course content.

Perhaps you’re interested in learning more about a specific requirement or have questions about scholarship opportunities, internships, career outcomes, and more. Find contact information for each program below:

Rosemead School of Psychology (Psychology): psych.dept@biola.edu, 562-903-4738

Talbot School of Theology (Bible, Theology, and Apologetics): lena.you@biola.edu, 562-903-4820

Crowell School of Business (Business Management): business@biola.edu, 562-903-4770

If you have done any of the following, you may have transfer credits:

• Completed a dual enrollment course in high school
• Completed a course at a community college, college, or university after graduating high school
• Passed an Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam

If you are unsure whether or not transfer credits will apply to your degree, visit the Registrar’s Office page on Transferring Credits. If you need assistance with navigating this website or interpreting the content, contact the Registrar’s Office (registrar@biola.edu, 562-903-4720) or our Academic Advising Center (academic.advising@biola.edu, 562-903-4782).

You can confirm whether or not Biola received your transfer credits by checking your Degree Audit (a checklist of degree requirements.) Your Degree Audit can be found through MyAccount under the “Degree Planning” tab. If a degree-applicable transfer course has been applied to your degree, you will see the course requirement checked off with a green checkmark and a note listing where the course was transferred from.

In order to transfer credits to Biola, official documents must be submitted directly from the institution. In the case of college transcripts, it must be an official transcript with final grades from your courses submitted directly from the college. With credits for AP, IB, or CLEP exams, scores may be submitted from the College Board website. If you have a question about transcripts, reach out to Transfer Admissions (transfer.admissions@biola.edu, 1-800-OK-BIOLA).