Academic advising changes affect A&S

The Office of Academic Advising (OAA) has made several changes to undergraduate advising in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Among the changes are the introduction of OAA advisors for freshmen rather than faculty advisors, as was the case. Also, this year's seniors must complete a review of their curriculum by the end of September. Advising in the Whiting School of Engineering remains unchanged.

Revamping freshman advising was the main focus of the advising changes. In addition to having OAA advisors, all freshmen are now considered "pre-majors" until the end of their first year, at which point they meet with OAA counselors to decide on a major. They will then be assigned to a faculty member in their department for upperclassman advising.

"We felt that faculty members were not well-positioned to counsel freshmen," said Assistant Dean John Bader. "Students went to their advisors and found that they weren't there [or that] they didn't know anything."

After the retirement of Associate Dean of Academic Advising Martha Roseman last February, Bader was brought to Hopkins to change the program. He had previously been the policy director for the successful New Jersey senatorial candidate, Jon Corzine.

According to Bader, the previous advising system created an environment where "faculty felt rushed and uncomfortable" and freshmen felt that faculty members "didn't want to talk with students." Under the new system, Bader says that freshmen "are getting a higher level of service [from OAA advisors] than they did from faculty."

"We've been able to give [freshmen] broad answers to their questions," said Dr. Richard Sanders, interim director of OAA. "Students without appointments have had to wait an hour or more, [but] we think that students like the new system."

The other main change is the requirement that seniors must turn in a curricular review to OAA by the end of September. The review's intent is to make sure that seniors have completed the major requirements as well as University distribution and credit requirements. Although the review will normally occur during spring semester of the junior year, the new advising system was still under development last spring.

Some seniors have expressed frustration over the deadline of the curricular review.

"I don't know why it's so urgent," said Dan Chao, a senior in Economics. "A lot of people are really busy with med school applications and other things. It doesn't make much since to have it in September."

"The reason I asked seniors to do this right now is there is a group of them who had better change their schedule right now to graduate in May," said Bader. "They will find the amount of paper work is significantly less than what they think."

Upperclassmen will see minor changes to advising. They will be required to meet with their advisors once a semester, at which point the advisor will have to sign a registration clearance form.

"Most of these [meetings] will happen before the next year's schedule is out," said Bader. "We did this intentionally to change the subject" from course selection to opportunities in their field of study.

Sophomores and juniors will also have to complete a curricular review in the spring, as the seniors are doing now. They will have three months to complete the review, instead of a week, as has been done in recent years.

Advising in the Whiting School of Engineering has not changed under the new system and senior engineering majors are not required to turn in a curricular review.

"The School of Engineering is a different place," said Bader. "Students need to take a core curriculum of classes, [and] faculty oversee that."

The OAA Web site (http://advising.jhu.edu) has also been updated. The Web site now includes work sheets listing the requirements for every major and minor. Information on the requirements for the curricular review due from seniors is also available on the Web site.