Academic Advisement

Psychology Department

Buffalo State College
Text Box: What is Academic Advisement? In Psychology, we treat academic advisement as a process, where students and faculty advisors work together to plan your future, not just your schedule. We don’t view advisement as a meeting once a year during registration week where we pick your courses for you. Instead, we have an open door policy where you can make appointments throughout the year to discuss issues relevant to graduate school and/or your career. Yes, we will help make sure you are on the right track for graduation, but also the experiences that will help you achieve your career goals (e.g. advice about service, research, volunteering, internships, graduate training etc). Who Picks My Schedule? Contrary to what many think, your advisor doesn’t pick your courses for you. The reason is that within the psychology and Intellectual Foundations requirements, there are a number of options that you can take to satisfy those requirements. Your advisor will help make sure you are choosing courses from among the proper courses to satisfy each category, and will help you plot out a plan to fulfill each category over time, but ultimately it is you, the student, who knows which courses you are interested in and which courses will fit into your home/work/life schedules. So what we ask each student to do is come to advisement prepared—having read over the courses that will be offered by the college each semester and prepare your own draft schedule that we will then compare against your current and future needs. How Do I Find Out Who My Advisor Is? You can check the list online (use the link to the left). This list is updated several times per semester, but if your name does not appear on the list, you can ask the secretary in the main office (Classroom Building room C312). How Do I Make An Appointment With My Advisor? You should be aware that your advisor is also a faculty member in the department who has other daily duties including teaching, research, committees, and community service. This means they won’t be available at certain times of the day but you will be able to contact them by telephone, voice mail, or email and make an appointment. For contact information use the link on the left. Remember, you can make an appointment any time during the year—don’t just wait until registration begins. Be proactive and plan ahead. What is Peer Mentoring? The Peer Mentoring Office is run every semester around registration. It is run by more senior students from Psi Chi and Psychology Club and is intended to give students another resource for information. THIS IS NOT ADVISEMENT! Rather, it’s a place to ask questions about the advisement process, who to ask about certain issues, when events take place etc. Ultimately, the goal is for students to help direct their fellow students towards advisement. The schedule can be found outside the office (C315). What’s the Difference Between GE2K and IF? GE2K is one of the previous general electives requirements for Buffalo State College Students while IF (intellectual foundations) is the current set of requirements. Click the links on the left for a more detailed description. Basically, everyone (even transfer students) entering any college Fall 2006 or later must complete IF requirements—no exceptions. If entering any college before Fall 2006 you cannot enter as an IF student. What is Degree Navigator? Degree Navigator (DN) is the college’s audit system that can be used to check your progress toward your degree(s), previous grades, requirements etc. Each student has their own DN userID and password and you can log in any time to check your audit sheet (see the link on the left for more information on DN). What is Banner? Right now Banner is the system BSC uses for student registration but will eventually evolve into an integrated system that also includes online admissions, student records, housing, disability services, financial aid etc. (click the link on the left to l earn more about how to use Banner). Who Makes Changes To My Audit Sheet? The department’s advisement committee can make changes ONLY to psychology related courses (e.g. moving courses between electives and major). All other changes are handled by the college. Who Handles Transfer Credits and Equivalencies? Admissions determines which credits are transferred into the college and how they are assigned equivalencies at BSC. However, if a psychology course has been transferred but not as a specific course (i.e. you received a general credit like PSY3XX) and you believe that it is equivalent to a specific course we offer, you can bring the syllabus from that course at a different college to a professor that teaches that course in our department. If we feel that it is equivalent (similar content, number of tests, book etc) then the advisement committee can make a special note on your DN sheet that says we believe it is equivalent. How Does a C Minus Repeat Work? You can repeat a course in which you receive a C– or lower. Some special considerations are that you will receive the 2nd grade, regardless of whether it’s higher or lower, you can’t repeat that course again, and you can’t use a pass/fail for the repeat. Also, repeats can impact financial aid so check that out before you make this decision.