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As you begin course work at Wellesley you will soon find that your classroom experiences differ greatly from what you were accustomed to in high school. The same is true for advising. In high school, many students “receive” advice from guidance counselors or college placement advisors. You will find that Wellesley asks you to be a very active participant in the advising process, a process that will involve a team of people whom you will call for assistance during your college years. One of your challenges this year is to start to develop the team of advisors that is right for you.
Faculty Advisor
You will be matched with a faculty advisor over the summer, and this is one important member of your team of advisors. In most cases, your faculty advisor is assigned to you on the basis of your general academic interests, and so will be a valuable resource as you begin to explore the liberal arts curriculum.
Advising during the Summer
In order to help you prepare for choosing and registering for your first Wellesley courses, you will have access to a wide range of academic information on the MyWellesley portal. Check this site regularly for information about placement exams, for news of courses that are designed to appeal particularly to first-year students, for advice about choosing courses and majors and about how to read the online course catalog, for a description of how you will register, and for discussions with other new students and advisors already on campus about academic questions you may have.
During Orientation Week, you will meet students, faculty members, and administrators who are all ready to help you make the initial choices you face in getting started at Wellesley. One set of choices you will make during Orientation is the courses you will enroll in for the fall semester. There is time in the Orientation schedule to gather information about different academic departments that are interesting to you, to learn about academic fields you may not be familiar with yet but which may turn out to be your future passion, and to get impressions about how other students have approached the decisions you are about to make.
Advising during the First Year
As we move into the year, you will continue to meet with your faculty advisor, and our hope is that you will use this advisor to start a conversation about your long term goals, as well as to continue thinking about the specific choices you will have about courses and other academic opportunities. College is a time to make some important choices about academic interests and possible careers. Faculty advisors are well-suited for the wide-ranging conversations about these kinds of goals.
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