Academic Advising
Academic advising is an important component of the learning process and Miami has a collaborative advising system in which students connect with various members of the advising community throughout their undergraduate experience. The advising community includes faculty, first-year advisers, divisional advisers, and staff in academic support and career-related offices.
Academic Advisers provide support about the Global Miami Plan for Liberal Education and the Honors Program, divisional and major
requirements, choosing a major, career planning, and making referrals to
appropriate campus support offices.
Advising at Miami
First-Year Students
The academic advising experience begins at Summer Orientation, where students receive individualized advising. Academic advising for first-year students living on campus includes direct access to a full-time adviser who lives and works in their residence hall. Often assisted by a trained graduate student, this adviser serves as the student’s primary adviser throughout the first semester. Students on the regional campuses also recieve personal advising from
faculty and staff members made possible through the Office of Academic
Advising and Retention on the Miami Hamilton campus and the Office of
Advising and Learning Assistance at Miami Middletown.
Students who have not decided on a major are assigned to the University Studies Program which is administered by the College of Arts and Science Advising Office. University Studies students receive advising from faculty members in the College of Arts and Science. Once University Studies students decide upon a major, they are assigned an appropriate adviser from the department or program of their major.
First-year commuter students meet with an adviser on staff at the Commuter Center, located in Room 100 of the Shriver Center. Students enrolled in the School of Creative Arts and the School of Engineering and Applied Science are assigned faculty advisers in the fall of their first year and will meet with both their First-Year Adviser and their faculty adviser.
Beyond the First Year
Students are assigned a faculty adviser in their department of major in the spring semester of their first year. Once a faculty adviser is assigned, he/she becomes the student's primary academic adviser for the duration of their career at Miami (specific information about each major, including divisional and contact information, can be found from our listing of majors and minors.)
If a student changes majors, he/she will be assigned an adviser in the new academic department.
Advising Support Services
A number of support services are available for students pursuing special areas of interest, including the University Honors Program, Study Abroad, Intercollegiate Athletics, and the Reserve Officer Training Corps. The Rinella Learning Center also provides services such as tutoring and peer mentoring for students experiencing academic difficulty through its Tutorial Assistance Program (TAP). Students with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit disorder can get help from the Center's Learning Disabilities Services.
All students are invited to take advantage of additional advising opportunities designed to help them explore career options, start job searching, and build professional networks. Miami offers the following resources:
- Exploring Majors Fair
- Career Services
In addition to sponsoring the popular career fairs, which bring over 200 employers to campus each year, Career Services manages an extensive career resource center and organizes practical job-search workshops.
