Academic Advising 101 at UMBC

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 16:30:10 -0400
freshman, sophomore

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 (in the case of our office who work with undecided/exploratory students).

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.

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 and 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 this 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.

Departmental Advising - Main Campus

Departmental Advising - Shady Grove

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.

In terms of spring advising and registration (I know, we just started the fall semester, but time flies!), the schedule of classes will be available on Monday, October 26th. 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 2020 registration begins Tuesday, November 3. Your exact registration date depends on the total amount of credits earned. Information regarding your exact registration time will be available in early October.

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 front counter M-F from 8:30am-4:30pm.