August 25, 2011

Here we are less than one week before classes begin.  This summer, we've seen first-year freshmen, transfer students, international students (today), non-degree seeking students, post baccalaureate students and even high school concurrent students--those high school students who are so academically talented Maryland lets them take one class per semester during their senior year. It's been an eventful summer!

The LTSC files!

It's common during this time of year for our office to begin seeing students from previous semesters who have not completed their registrations and suddenly find they need to speak with an advisor...now! We do our best to take care of everyone as quickly as possible, but it's difficult because we have orientation sessions every day, advisors are responding to emails from their own advising caseloads, and we are all gearing up for the academic year. Luckily, there are no real emergencies when it comes to academic advising, but I constantly wish students would be more mindful in planning ahead for their courses and any eventualities they may have facing. For the students that do take care of things ahead of schedule, they rarely have emergencies. Finally, we're all ready for a nice break since we'd been running orientation sessions throughout the entire summer.  No rest for the weary! This is one of our busiest times of the year. Folks often confuse anyone who works in education as having their summers off. Not academic advisors. We're most busy during the summer, the beginning of any semester and the end of any semester.

We're very excited this particular year because we are about to launch our first ever, "LTSC Convocation Rally" for all students who enrolled in our UNIV100 courses! UNIV100 is a one-credit class which assists students in making the transition from high school to college. We address academic advising planning issues, how to do well in college courses and other general transition issues our students will face--time management, making good decisions, parcipation in the Maryland community--the list goes on and on. We're excited, however, because next Thursday we'll get a chance to briefly meet our 30+ sections of UNIV before starting those classes the week of September 5th!

Summer 2011 Orientation Session

Students often think that once they have left orientation, nothing can be changed on their registration for the semester. We let them know that the belief is not necessarily true. While advisors have made every effort during orientation to assist a student in getting a course schedule that meets many demands (major prerequisites, student preferences, work schedules, etc.), we know that sometimes students may want to change minor things like a section meeting time or perhaps add a "wait-listed" course. Academic advisors covered how to do this with students on our scheduling system (www.testudo.umd.edu), but we count on them to contact us in the event they want to assure any changes they have made are good changes and not detrimental to a successful semester. They are all welcome to write us at askltsc@umd.edu or give us a call at 301-314-9402 until they have been assigned to an advisor. Our academic advisors staff our front desk operations, so when students call, they get to talk to an advisor immediately. Once students have been assigned to an advisor's "caseload" (the group of students they will have under their advising responsibilities), then students are asked to contact those advisors directly through email or by making an appointment to see them...and keep those appointments!

I've got to run now! We're ready to meet about 70+ international students who have just arrived on campus from all parts of the world.