Advising Guidelines

1. A student’s file is confidential, open only to the student and you. It is illegal to discuss a student’s record with other students.
2. Provide adequate meeting times with students. Each term, during advising days, you may want to provide 50% more time slots than advisees to accommodate schedule conflicts. Although meetings are often scheduled to last 15-20 minutes per student, you may want to provide longer time slots if possible.
3. Familiarize yourself with Academic Regulations and Graduation Requirements: distribution, writing, and RAD. Check your advisee’s progress at each meeting.
4. Make sure your advisee knows about the school’s policy regarding academic honesty. You can refer them to “Academic Honesty in the Writing of Essays and Other Papers." First-year students are given a copy of this pamphlet, and additional paper copies are available in the Dean of the College Office.
5. Encourage students to devise a balanced course of study, which will help them to make a more informed choice of major.
6. If you receive notification that an advisee has received a "warning" notice from the Dean of Students Office, expect the student to contact you to discuss the matter, as well as the affect it may have on the student's choice of courses for the following term. Many advisers will drop an advisee a note to come see them. You may want to remind students of the College’s Academic Support Services: tutoring, Math Skills Center, The Write Place, English and a Second Language (ESL), and the Language Center.
7. Let students know that advice is available outside the context of Advising Days, and encourage them to take the initiative.
8. Ask periodically about future (post-Carleton) plans, encouraging career exploration and flexibility. Alert students to the Career Center and its functions.
9. Make it possible for students to talk about non-academic circumstances if they feel a need to.
10. If time permits, let students know of opportunities (internships, new courses they might be interested in, off-campus study, etc.) as notices of these activities circulate.
11. Your signature on registration forms, petitions, etc. acknowledges that you have had a chance to discuss the issues with your advisee, but not necessarily that you approve.