First Advising Appointment Checklist

Introduce yourself and explain the roles and responsibilities of the academic advisor and the advisee.

Give advisees your office phone number and e-mail address.

Get the advisees’ local address and an in-use e-mail address.

Ask advisees about their career goals.

Explain the Core, the Regents Testing Program, and program requirements for all majors that fit their career goals.

Explain the appropriate sequences of courses and the importance of maintaining accurate records. Emphasize the importance of taking the courses in sequence because of prerequisites. Remind them not to drop a course without first checking with you.

Ask them if they are on the HOPE Scholarship. Explain academic load, credit hours and full time designation and how that may affect scholarships and funding.

Explain Academic Warning, Probation, and Suspension.

Explain the Intent to Graduate Process and timetable for processing the appropriate forms.

Tell them to sign up early for pre-registration appointments, review the schedule prior to the appointment, bring their copy of their records to the appointment, and KEEP their appointment.

Check for College Preparatory Course deficiencies and any Advanced Placement courses.

If they are a transfer student, check for any areas of the core that may have been completed at another state institution. Check their records carefully, it is a good idea to review transcripts, and submit all courses substitutions at this time. This will help to avoid having a student take a course at VSU that could have been substituted from another school.

Make sure that they have alternate courses on their advising form.

Make a copy of the proposed courses for the student’s files.

Remind them to contact you if they have any academic advising problems

Remove the student's advising flag and warn them if any other flags are on their records that would prevent them from registering.

Make sure that you note each visit in the student's advising file.