Academic Guidance

Each department and program in the College of Arts and Sciences appoints at least one member of its faculty to serve as a mentor to majors and minors. These professors use deep knowledge of their disciplines to help students find academic paths that develop their interests and strengths. Faculty mentors also offer crucial aid in career preparation and advancement. They help students to identify career possibilities; to find internships, research experiences, and other off-campus learning opportunities; to find and apply for fellowships and grants; and to identify and apply to appropriate graduate programs. They take pride in writing letters of recommendation that reflect personal knowledge of individual students.

The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to balancing breadth of academic experience with depth in the major field — an approach that requires careful attention to the details of degree requirements and opportunities for experiential learning. Curricular advisors review proposed course schedules every semester to ensure that each student is making progress toward a degree. They help students petition for appropriate exceptions to published requirements — an internship in a field outside a student’s major, for example — and review requirements for majors, minors, and concentrations. In some departments, faculty mentors help students negotiate the nuts and bolts of curricular requirements. In others, this role is fulfilled by specialized curricular advisors.