Student and Advisor Responsibilities

Student's responsibilities in the academic advising process

• After the initial appointment in August, YOU must initiate contact with your academic advisor.
• Contact your academic advisor to schedule appointments. If not possible, make an appointment by seeing your advisor before or after a class (see the department administrative assistant for your advisor’s class schedule). 
• Come to appointments on time and cancel appointments if you cannot attend. 
• Make an appointment to discuss mid-term grades, if necessary. 
• Discuss important decisions or questions about your education (e.g., choice of major, change of major, change of school) well before the registration period. 
• Follow through on referrals made by your advisor (e.g., a visit to the Office of Career Services) and be willing to discuss suggestions made by your advisor.
• Accept responsibility for making your own decisions -- Your adviser will provide advice, not make your decisions.
• Come prepared for appointments. During the advising period for registration, come with a list of courses you are interested in taking for the following semester.
  - Alternative course choices
  - The meeting times of these courses

Understand that your advisor is advising a number of students for whom different regulations apply. Therefore, you are ultimately responsible for knowing the academic regulations and requirements that apply to you. Refer to the Ithaca College Undergraduate Catalog for this information and use CAPP (the College’s degree audit software) to monitor your progress toward completion of your degree.   

Advisor’s responsibilities in the academic advising process

• A meeting at the beginning of the year to get acquainted. 
• Availability during posted office hours and the opportunity for individual appointments. 
• Assistance in helping advisees find academic information, including information on majors, minors, general education requirements, and other academic policies, procedures, and deadlines. 
• Referrals to appropriate people and offices if he or she cannot provide the necessary assistance. 
• A meeting each semester, prior to course registration, to help with course selection and academic planning, and to approve your academic schedule for the next term. 
• Assistance in understanding the purposes of academic requirements and their relationship to a liberal arts education and career plans. 
• Assistance in helping you to learn how to make academic decisions, how to discover the range of options available to you, and how to think through the consequences of choices.