Tips for Advisors

Tips for Honors Advisors

• Add/Drop/Swap
• Major Declaration
• Meetings
• Midterm Status Reports, Reading and Acting Upon
• Registration
• Students
• Transition
  
  
  

Add/Drop/Swap

If a student wants to add a course that is closed, he/she must contact the instructor of the course. If the instructor agrees to allow the student in, a permission number will be issued. The student must use the permission number to register for the course via PeopleSoft.

If a student wants to drop a course, there are two options:

• Drop – if the student does not want the course under any circumstances, it is gone as soon as this option is chosen.
• Swap – if the student would like another course, but would prefer to keep the original course if she/he can’t get into the alternate, this option allows the student to hold onto the original course until enrollment in the alternate course is assured. back to top

Major Declaration

• Agriculture and Natural Resources: There is no application to the College, though certain majors may require an application.
• Business: Apply upon completion of 40 credits. Applications are accepted the first two weeks of each semester.
• Education: Apply by January 15 of the sophomore year (or upon completion of 54 credits). Kinesiology students should apply by February 1, Athletic Training students should apply by November 1 of the third semester.
• Engineering: Fill out a ‘Petition for School or College Change' form and submit by the end of the first semester.
• Fine Arts: There is no application to the School, though certain majors may require an application.
• Liberal Arts and Sciences: There is no application to the College, though certain majors may require an application.
• Nursing: Contact the School’s Office of Admissions and Enrollment Services. Applications are due February 1.
• Pharmacy: Applications are due January 5.
  
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Meetings

First Meeting -Topics for the Advisor to Cover

• Professional information about him/herself
• Personal information (if comfortable doing so)
• Information about general education requirements
• Information about major requirements
• Assistance registering for courses
• Information about academic and non-academic support services
• How to use a syllabus
• How to use office hours
• Students with disabilities should be certain that they request accommodations for the semester and use them. Students must request accommodations each semester and should do so as early as possible. 

Registration Meeting- Topics for the Advisor to Cover

Topics for the Advisor to Cover

• Did you get into all the courses you planned?  If not what can you do?
• Ask the student to check the degree progress report to make sure everything is recorded as they think it is. Students who are interested in exploring a major can use the “What If” option on the degree evaluation to enter a potential major and view how their course work could meet the requirements for that particular major.

Finals Meeting- Topics for the Advisor to Cover

Topics for the Advisor to Cover

• If the student has taken finals before, ask them what has worked and what has not worked in the past and how they will change their approach based on that knowledge.
• Discuss the student’s strategies for finals. Suggest they make a study plan. This allows them to allocate study time based on how much effort is needed in each course to ensure success.
  
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Midterm Status Reports, Reading and Acting Upon
From the Catalog: Instructors of 1000 and 2000-level courses notify the Registrar by the end of the sixth week of the semester of students who appear to be in danger of earning D, F, U, or N grades. The Registrar alerts the students, their advisors, and others, such as the First Year Programs Office, as appropriate, via the University’s e-mail system. These reports are not part of the permanent record. They are designed to be of diagnostic aid to the student. If a student is doing unsatisfactory work, the full responsibility for improvement is left to the student. The student is strongly advised, however, to confer with his or her advisor, with the instructors concerned, and with others qualified to assist him or her in improving his or her standing in the University.

What to do as a professor

• Submit midterm status reports to the Registrar. If you don’t notify the Registrar, talk to the students.
• One on one, tell the student of your concerns and offer whatever type of assistance is appropriate.

What to do as an advisor

• When receiving midterm status reports for advisees, express concern and suggest they meet with you. Discuss campus resources and options such as dropping or withdrawing.
• Suggest to all advisees that they do a midterm check-in with their instructors to see how they’re faring and if the instructors have any suggestions for improvement.
  
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Registration
Encourage students to know themselves and make realistic course choices. College can be tough enough without trying to go against one’s innate habits! If one isn’t a morning person, taking an 8:00 am course will be a challenge to get to. If one’s energy is at its peak in the morning, it will be wasted on afternoon courses. Deprivation isn’t helpful; it’s important to allow time for meals, exercise, and sleep. If one looks forward to a favorite TV show all week, time should be made to watch it. Of course one can’t always have the perfect schedule, but these are important considerations.

Suggest to advisees that they do some long term planning. It’s wise to spend some time thinking about how they want their remaining semesters to play out. They should look at the applicable requirements, such as general education, major(s), minor(s), Honors, and dual degree. Then figure out what has been completed and what still needs to be done, when it’s going to be done, and how completing those remaining requirements fits in with other goals such as study abroad, an internship, graduation by a certain date, etc.

• Consider credit already accrued, such as AP, ECE (Early College Experience), and transfer credit. Click here for AP equivalencies (scroll down to the Advanced Placement section). ECE course information will likely already be on the transcript. Help with transfer credit can be found at the Office of Transfer Admission.
• Register for one or two courses that fulfill general education requirements. Please refer to the Undergraduate Catalog for more information as well as links to courses that fulfill the various requirements. (CLAS has a slightly different set of general education requirements.)
• Register for courses that fulfill Honors requirements. Click here for a list of Honors courses offered each semester.
• Register for at least one class that pertains to the major of choice.
• Register for at least one class that the student is genuinely interested in. While getting requirements out of the way is productive, the student will be more engaged in learning if he/she is taking something he/she looks forward to and is really curious about.
  
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Students

Known as “millennials”, today’s generation of students:

• Have close relationships with their parents
• Are team oriented
• Are accustomed to being managed and structured. They’re used to being told what to do and getting a reward when they do it.
• Are diverse and accepting of multiculturalism
• Have always been connected to technology in their every day lives
• View education as a means to an end. Due to the rising costs of college, students and their parents want “their money’s worth”. They’re less interested in learning and exploring and more interested in getting a degree.
  
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Transition

Differences Between High School and College

College students are:

• Developing intellectual, physical, and interpersonal competence
• Recognizing, accepting, and controlling emotions
• Developing increased independence
• Establishing identity
• Developing purpose
• Less likely to see complexity in issues

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