Advising First Year Students
Advising first year undergraduate students helps you build a strong relationship with them, helping their integration into the Linfield community. As an advisor and mentor, your first year students will come to you for help on a variety of topics including academic planning, scheduling, but also about things beyond the classroom and academics.
Students not only benefit from your experience and knowledge around navigating academics, they often seek your help understanding our systems, opportunities outside the classroom, as well as assistance in completing tasks that are part of the "business of being a student". Sharing your knowledge, connecting them to appropriate campus resources, and just listening to their story all go a long way to creating the Linfield experience we all cherish.
The First Semester Seminar Program
As an advisor to first year students, you are also assigned as their instructor for their IDST*007 course. The First Semester Seminar Program has two components
- Lecture Section called IDST*007 where the students meet with their advisor five times over their first semester typically on Thursdays at noon.
- Lab Section called IDST*007L where the students meet with their Registration and Orientation Leader and go over important student support information including information about International Programs, Career Development, Academic Advising, etc. The Lab section for the First Semester Seminar is typically scheduled on Monday evenings.
Together, as a result of participating in the lecture and Lab sections of IDST, students will:
- Define what academic advising at Linfield is
- Understand the student’s role and responsibility in meeting degree requirements
- Explore the value of a liberal arts education
- Explore their academic interests and consider possible majors
- Identify campus buildings relevant to their academic schedule and requirements
- Identify student life resources, and summarize their usefulness and/or relevance
- Make at least one meaningful social connection with a peer
- Identify at least one faculty and at least one administrator/staff member of whom they can ask questions about the Linfield experience
- Identify opportunities to engage in student life
Helping First Year Students with Course Scheduling
First-Semester Scheduling
By the time you meet a new first year advisee, most likely the student has already planned and scheduled their courses for their first semester. This process is done in partnership between the student and the Academic Advising office as part of the on-boarding process. Included in the on-boarding, Academic Advising gathers information about the student through the "Advising Profile" students complete, meets with the student to over over registration details, helps students create a class schedule in alignment with their academic and personal goals, and connects them to Department Chairs or Program Directors as appropriate based on the student's needs and questions.
Academic Advising utilizes the scheduling information on the Academic Program Maps to help guide the scheduling conversations with students. If you have conversations with students who need to make scheduling changes, the Academic Program Grids page is a good resource for what each department or program recommends students take if they are interested in one of their majors.
Second-Semester Scheduling
Part of the First Semester Seminar Program involves meeting one-on-one with your advisees to plan and prepare for the second semester. Remember that all students need to submit a "Request Approval to Register" Etrieve from and be cleared by you before they can register for classes in their second term. Please see the Resources and Trainings page for a tutorial video on how this process works.
Academic Advising is currently working to develop and make available 4, 3, and 2 year program maps for each major that can be used to assist advisors and students in the planning process.
Declaration Process for First Year Students
All new first-time full-time students at Linfield enter with an Undecided program designation. While many students already know what major they intend on declaring, this designation allows students at Linfield to explore and engage in the Liberals Arts before choosing a major or program of study.
Students can declare their major once the registration window opens and they have met with their advisor to plan and schedule their classes for the following term. These windows are typically in early November for new fall students, and in early April for new spring students.
Please see the student page on Declare Your Major for additional information.