Summer 2024 Update: Undergraduate Pre-Major Advising

August, 2024

The College is pleased to announce that we’re delivering on our promise to create a second-to-none undergraduate academic experience through innovative and student-centered advising. We're excited to provide our students with what they need to navigate and discover the rich resources the liberal arts and sciences provide.  

Over the past year and a half, the College has embarked on an unprecedented evaluation of our principles and priorities for pre-major advising. We’ve conceptualized and discussed many ideas to create a sustainable and transformative advising approach. Since the announcement in April about the decision to connect pre-major advising with our first-year Engagements shared curriculum, we’ve quickly: 

• Built an innovative professionalized advising model that draws on faculty expertise and relationship-building.
• Hired an inaugural Senior Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Advising.
• Hired 13 advising specialists who will teach and advise students within the Engagements program.
• Created an academic advising community of practice that is focused on the student experience.

The advising community of practice is a testament to our commitment to collaboration. It brings together pre-major advisors, major advisors, and Advising Deans in a shared ecosystem designed to provide integrated support, fostering student success on Grounds and beyond. This collaborative approach ensures that everyone is part of the team, working towards a common goal of student success.

The new advising ecosystem is fully prepared and ready to go for the Fall 2024 semester. This year, for the first time ever, all incoming first-year students will be paired with an advising professional either through curricular enrollment or curricular interests. This personalized approach ensures that each student's unique needs and interests are understood and catered to. Students will receive personalized guidance to explore their academic interests and plan for their major. With these increased resources, we have also designed specialized support for students pursuing pre-health and STEM studies and for special populations such as student-athletes. 

This student-centered advising model fosters meaningful and transformative student-advisor relationships and is designed to be sustainable over the long haul. Connecting excellent advising to shared academic experiences, all the while focused on the student experience, is integral to our path of being both good and great.