Follow the SISU instructions when doing the study plan. When creating your personal study plan, please also follow the instructions you can find in the selection assistant. If you have problems and you cannot find answers to them in Sisu instructions or on this website, please contact the Student Services personnel.

When you are creating a new study plan (HOPS), you will need to select a curriculum period as the template of your plan in the pop-up window. Please select the curriculum according to the academic year when you have started your studies. If you want to, you can also choose to follow a newer curriculum. If you are returning back to your studies after a long break, please select the newest curriculum. For further information on which curriculum period to choose, see Instructions for students who have started their studies before 1 Aug 2022.

The template shows the structure of your degree as well as the compulsory, alternative and elective modules and courses that you can include in it. As you prepare the HOPS, you should consult the curriculum of your major, where you can find detailed instructions on your degree and its modules as well as the recommendations specific to your major.

You can create several versions of your personal study plan, but you can only have one primary HOPS.

For your whole HOPS to be approved, you will need to apply for approval for several study modules separately:

• language studies
• Minor (on the level Minors SCI/CHEM/ENG/ELEC-1-MINOR-NOTGRADED)
• Elective studies (on the level Elective studies e.g. CHEM10.V) and another minor included in the elective studies (on the level Elective minors e.g. SCI10-ELECTMINOR-NOTGRADED), if you want to have another minor
• And for all of the study modules which you have edited in the free edit mode

In other words, you will not apply for approval for the entire HOPS at once. You do not have to wait for one study module to be approved before you can apply for approval for the next. You can find the technical instructions on how to apply for approval for separate study modules in Sisu instructions.

The processing time of personal study plans is a month at most. Please apply for approval for your HOPS well in advance before for example applying for a minor or graduating. If you need to have your HOPS approved more quickly, please contact us at the Student Services.

When your HOPS has been checked, you will receive a message in Sisu. If there is a need to make changes in the personal study plan before it can be approved, please act according to the instructions you have received.

It is always possible to change the personal study plan, when necessary. If you want to make changes to an already approved study module (for example replace one course with another or have a completely different minor), you need to first cancel the approval you have obtained. Please edit the study module and its contents only after canceling the approval. After editing reapply for approval for the study module.

Example situation 1: There is a course Linear Algebra MS-C1343 in my HOPS, but I have completed the course Linear Algebra MS-C1342.
» Click the course you wish to substitute in the template. Select the substituting course through the Substitutions tab. Please follow instructions.

Example situation 2: The course ELEC-C5321 Introduction to Signal Processing replaced the course ELEC-A5240 Computer Lab in Digital Signal Processing Basics on the curriculum of Digital Systems and Design major. I have completed the course ELEC-A5240, but the Sisu template offers the course ELEC-C5321, which I’m not going to take. How do I place the right course in my major studies?
» Please delete ”the wrong” course and add the course you have completed by using the free edit mode. You can find the instructions for this in Sisu instructions. Please note: When you have made edits to your HOPS by using the free edit mode, Apply for approval button is not activated next to the edited study module, instead you will need to apply for approval for the study module in the free edit mode. When you are in the free edit mode, the Apply approval for … is activated.

Sometimes you need to include a course, which is not listed on the curriculum, in your HOPS.

Example situation 1: A Data Science student has chosen Statistics as a minor. Many of the courses in the Data Science major and Statistics minor overlap and student must make individual choices in his/her minor.

» If the contents of the major or minor studies deviate from the contents of the curriculum, you will need to have the contents of the study module approved by the teacher being responsible for the study module. Please follow these instructions:

• List the courses which you are suggesting for the study module clearly and send your suggestion to the teacher who is responsible for the study module. The teacher responsible for the minor is always mentioned in the study guide of the minor.
• If your proposal is approved, please forward the reply you have received from the teacher responsible for the study module to bsc.tech (a) aalto.fi.
• Edit the study module in your HOPS by using the free edit mode.
• Apply for approval for your personal study plan in a normal way according to the instructions. Please note that when you have edited your HOPS by using the free edit mode, Apply for approval button is not activated next to the edited study module, instead you will need to apply for approval in the free edit mode. In that case the Apply approval for … is activated.

In Sisu, you can have several versions of your study plan. Do not add planned exchange studies into your primary study plan. Create an alternative plan as follows:

• Create a new study plan and name it according to your chosen destination (e.g. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven).
• Include the planned exchange studies in your plan. Select the study module in which you want to add them and press Add a study draft.
• If you plan to substitute a mandatory course with an exchange course, first add the planned course in your study plan. Once you have added the study draft, you can remove the course that will be substituted (use free edit mode -> remove course).
• If you plan to do a minor during your exchange, add International Studies Minor to your study plan.
• In elective studies, you can add the planned exchange studies as such by using Add a study draft.

If your primary study plan already includes planned exchange studies, you don’t have to make an alternative study plan. Please note that you have to apply for exchange. Creating a study plan with exchange studies does not guarantee your place abroad.

When you have completed the courses and the credits are transferred to Sisu, you can modify your study plan and add the courses there. Remove your study draft and add to the plan the completed courses from the selection on the left side.

Select for a minor the module Minor completed at a Finnish university. Click on the level Minor completed at a Finnish university and activate FINU-CHEM/ELEC/ENG/SCI Studies completed at another university. Choose the module and press Add a study draft, fill in the required information and press Add. You do not need to send the draft to be approved. When you have completed the courses and the credits are transferred to Sisu, you can modify your study plan and add the courses there. Remove your study draft and add to the plan the completed courses from the selection on the left side.

Please note: You have to apply for the JOO study right separately. In other words, adding the courses offered by another university in the HOPS does not give you an automatic study right for them.

When you have completed the courses and they have been transferred to Aalto study register, please edit your minor. Add the courses you have completed to your HOPS through Add to the plan selection assistant on your left hand side.

For more information, contact the student services of the programme.

Application process

Changing one’s major occurs once a year at the beginning of May.

How to apply: Changing major within Aalto Bachelor's Programme in Science and Technology

Other possibilities to change the study track

The best time to change the study track is between the BSc and MSc degrees. It is possible to continue studies at a different master's programme that the student originally had the study right for. You can check the criteria for continuing studies in a different school of technology after a Bachelor's degree.

Currently, it is not possible to be admitted to this programme by changing one’s degree programme or applying for transfer from another university.