Questions to Ask My Academic Advisor
Questions for an advising appointment that usually lasts twenty or thirty minutes. They start with the degree audit and requirements, then move to schedule choices, research and references, aid rules and what to do before you meet again.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Can we open my degree audit together and check I'm on track?
Why ask it
Doing it on screen with them is the single most valuable use of the appointment, because errors in how credits are applied are common and invisible until your final term. Bring your own reading of the audit so you can point at the lines you did not understand.
Which requirements do I still have left, and are any of them offered only once a year?
Why ask it
Courses that run in one semester, or every other year, are what force people into a fifth year. Ask for those to be marked in your plan now, since missing a single offering can cascade into a prerequisite chain you cannot finish.
Is anything I've already taken not counting the way I assumed?
Why ask it
Transfer credit, placement tests, a course taken pass or fail and a class that satisfied one requirement but not two are the usual culprits. An advisor can see the coding you cannot, and this is the question that finds a wasted semester while it is still fixable.
If I keep this pace, when do I graduate, and what would push that back?
Why ask it
You want a date and a list of risks rather than a reassurance. Naming the specific things that would delay you, one failed prerequisite, a dropped course, a required class that fills, is what lets you watch for them.
Of the courses I've picked, which are known to be heavy, and should I avoid taking two together?
Why ask it
Advisors see the same combinations wreck the same students every year, and will often tell you plainly if you ask about pairings rather than about difficulty. Credit hours are a poor guide, since a three credit lab course can take more time than two lecture classes.
Who is teaching this course next term, and does that change the workload?
Why ask it
The same catalog description can be two different courses depending on the instructor. Some advisors will not comment on colleagues, in which case ask whether the course is being redesigned or newly staffed, which is safer ground and nearly as useful.
What are the real deadlines for dropping or withdrawing, and how does each appear on my transcript?
Why ask it
There are usually two or three dates: one where the class disappears, one where it becomes a withdrawal, one where it becomes a grade. Write them in your calendar during the meeting, because nobody will remind you and the difference matters for graduate applications.
If I'm struggling in one class, what are my options besides dropping it?
Why ask it
Advisors know about arrangements students do not: tutoring attached to specific courses, a late change to pass or fail, an incomplete, retaking with grade replacement. Ask early in the term, since most of these have deadlines well before finals.
If I switched majors, what would that do to my graduation date and my aid?
Why ask it
Ask even if you are only curious, because the honest answer is often less alarming than students assume in the first two years and more alarming later. Aid packages are sometimes tied to program or to satisfactory progress, so those two effects need checking separately.
Is a minor worth it in my case, or would those credits do more elsewhere?
Why ask it
A minor adds a line to a transcript and a real constraint on your schedule. Advisors can usually say whether employers or graduate programs in your field notice, and whether the same credits would be better spent on a research course or a language.
What do students in this major usually do in the summers, and when do they arrange it?
Why ask it
The timing is the part nobody tells you. Many programs and internships in technical fields recruit six to nine months ahead, so hearing in April that applications closed in December is how a summer gets lost.
Which faculty here take undergraduates into their research, and how do students approach them?
Why ask it
This is a question your advisor may be uniquely able to answer, since they know who has funding and who is on leave. Ask what a good approach email contains, because most students send one that gets ignored.
What do I need to do so that someone here can write me a strong reference letter?
Why ask it
The answer usually involves being known by two or three faculty members over more than one course, which takes a year or two to arrange. A letter from someone who only has your grade is polite and weightless, and this question is how you avoid needing one.
What are graduates of this program actually doing two years out?
Why ask it
Ask for what they have seen rather than the department's published figures. Vagueness here is worth noting, and a good advisor will name a handful of real paths, including the ones that went outside the field.
If I want to apply to graduate school, what should be true of my record by the end of next year?
Why ask it
This turns a distant intention into a checklist with dates: which courses, what kind of research, which tests, which relationships. It also lets an advisor tell you early if your current record makes a particular route unlikely.
How does credit work if I study abroad or take a class somewhere else over the summer?
Why ask it
Pre approval in writing is the whole issue. Students routinely take an outside course that looks equivalent and discover it satisfies an elective rather than the requirement they needed, and by then the money is spent.
What deadline or piece of paperwork do students in my position most often miss?
Why ask it
Asking an advisor to name the common failure is a fast way to get institutional knowledge that appears in no handbook: an intent to graduate form, a declaration deadline, a residency rule about final credits. They will usually have a ready answer.
Is there anything I'm eligible for that I'm not using?
Why ask it
Departmental scholarships, fee waivers for applications and tests, priority registration, tutoring, disability accommodations, emergency funds. Much of this is not advertised and some of it goes unclaimed each year, so it is worth one open question.
If my grades slip below a certain point, what happens to my standing and my funding?
Why ask it
Better to know the thresholds while you are above them. Ask what warning you would receive, when, and what a student in that position is normally offered, since the process is often recoverable if you act in the first term rather than the second.
What should I have done before our next meeting, and when should that be?
Why ask it
Ending with actions and a date is what makes advising cumulative rather than repetitive. Send yourself a summary email afterwards, and copy your advisor, so there is a record of what was agreed if a requirement is later disputed.
Getting real value out of an advising appointment
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the meeting
- 1Run your own degree audit and read it line by line. Bring the two or three lines you do not understand rather than asking what you still need.
- 2Draft next term's schedule, with an alternative for any course that might fill or clash. Advisors respond much better to editing a plan than to producing one.
- 3Write your three questions in priority order at the top of a page. Appointments run short and the last question often goes unasked.
- 4Check the catalog year that applies to you, since requirements change and you are usually held to the ones in force when you started.
- 5Note any deadline coming up in the next two months: registration, declaration, withdrawal, funding.
During the meeting
- Ask them to show you where an answer comes from on screen, so you can find it yourself next time.
- Say plainly if something is going wrong, including illness, money or a job that is eating your week. Advisors can only route you to help they know you need.
- Take notes on names and deadlines as they are said. Reconstructing them afterwards is where errors enter.
- If you disagree with an interpretation of a requirement, ask which office makes that determination rather than arguing it there.
- Ask what they would do in your position. It is a different question from what you are permitted to do, and often a more candid answer.
After the meeting
- Send a short email summarizing what was agreed and any approval you were given. This is the record that matters if a decision is questioned later.
- Do the one or two actions in the first week, while the reasoning is still fresh.
- Book the next appointment before the registration rush, when advisors have no slots left.
- If a requirement question stays unresolved, take it to the department chair or the registrar's office rather than waiting for the next semester.
What an advisor can and cannot do
They are not the only source
Career services, financial aid, the registrar and faculty in your field each hold different information. An advisor's job is often to route you, so ask who else you should be speaking to.
Caseloads are large
Many advisors carry several hundred students. Coming with a written plan is not politeness, it is the difference between a useful appointment and a repeated introduction.
You remain responsible for the requirements
Most institutions state that the student is accountable for meeting degree requirements even after advice is given. Keep your own record and get approvals in writing.
If the fit is wrong, ask to change
Advisors vary, and some know your field far better than others. Requesting a different advisor, or finding a faculty mentor in the department alongside the assigned one, is an ordinary request rather than a complaint.