Academic Advising 101 at UMBC
Did you know that every student at UMBC has an assigned academic advisor?
For most students, this will be a professor in your academic major department. Others will work with a professional (full-time) advisor, at least until they have reached their junior year or selected a major. If you are currently exploratory/undecided, you would work with the Office for Academic & Pre-Professional Advising.
Something a bit unique to UMBC is that all students are required to meet with their advisor at least once a semester, prior to registration. You will not be able to enroll in classes for the next semester until you get clearance from an advisor!
But let’s back up a bit. What exactly is academic advising?
An academic advisor’s role is to assist you in planning your academic career at UMBC. You can talk to your advisor about:
- Your adjustment to college
- Major and career choices
- Course selection
- Long-term academic planning
- Academic difficulty
- Academic “extras” such as minors, internships, study abroad, etc.
As you may surmise from this list, your advisor is a vital member of your academic support team and someone we recommend you connect with regularly, beyond the required mid-semester check in, to take full advantage of their support.
So how do you find out who your advisor is? Easy.
Below is a link to the department contacts for all majors. The person listed as “advising coordinator” or “advising contact” can help you find out who your advisor is or assign you an advisor:
In preparation for an advising appointment, it’s helpful to review your degree card on your myUMBC Profile. Here you can:
- Develop and update your degree plan
- Check your degree progress
- See how coursework transferred over from your previous institution
- Access suggested four-year pathways for completing your degree program
Additionally, you will want to develop a list of questions/topics to discuss with your advisor in order to give the meeting some structure. To help with that conversation, ask yourself:
- How am I doing in my major? Do I need to make any changes or seek academic support next semester?
- How long will it take me to complete all my coursework?
- Does my academic plan contain all my GEPs, upper-level credits, and writing intensive?
- Should I plan to take a winter class?
- Are there other topics I’m interested in exploring by adding a minor or certificate program?
In terms of spring advising and registration, the schedule of classes will be available on Monday, October 25th. You can review the course offerings and discuss them with your academic advisor when you meet.
Be ready to discuss any outstanding items or questions you might have from previous advising meetings. We also recommend that you take notes (your advisor will as well and you have the ability to access these notes in your Advising History on myUMBC)!
Spring 2022 registration begins Tuesday, November 2. Your exact registration date depends on the total amount of credits earned. Information regarding your exact registration time is available here.
Have questions?
Check out information on several personalized degree planning tools offered at UMBC.
Contact the Office of Academic & Pre-Professional Advising at oapa@umbc.edu.
If you have a quick question, you can also send us a DM on Instagram @umbc_advising or pop into our virtual walk-in advising front counter Monday-Friday from 10am-2pm.
Posted: October 14, 2021, 9:32 AM