August | September | October | November | December | January | February | March | April | May
Fall Semester
Late August: check Student Profile to make sure your advisees and their information are listed; if not, contact registrar@yale.edu. Send your advisees an email reminding them that you look forward to meeting during add/drop period to discuss the year ahead; secure a meeting time, if possible.
Send your advisees an email indicating that you are available to meet and look forward to seeing them after the summer. Include scheduling information, i.e., the dates and times that you’re available, or indicate that you welcome suggestions from them about dates and times to meet.
Meet your advisees during the scheduled advising period. Read about meeting your advisees.
Ask about their prospective major — or at least inclinations toward the humanities, social sciences or STEM fields in general. Especially, if an advisee has decided on a STEM major, refer them to the DUS of the relevant department to discussing declaring the major as soon as possible during the sophomore year (some STEM majors encourage students to declare even in the first year of enrollment).
Early September: Schedule an optional meeting during add/drop period. Check in with your advisees about their courses, their return to Yale, or other concerns.
Mid-October: Mid-term check-in with your advisees. How is their term going? Do you have any tips for them about studying for midterms? Would they like to meet your office hours or at another time?
Optional November: bring up summer plans and remind them that many deadlines fall in February. Refer them to the Center for International and Professional Experience (www.yale.edu/cipe) to learn about internships, study abroad, summer study at Yale, and summer funding for these and other opportunities.
Mid-December: check in with your advisees during advising period (a week or two before the final preregistration deadline). Check Student Profile to remind yourself of their fall-term course schedule. This meeting — the third of the term (after the beginning-of-term and midterm meetings) is a good time to review the current term for lessons learned, and to talk about your advisees’ plans for the next term and their prospective major. Do you have any tips about studying for final exams? If so, please share them. Remind your advisees that, beginning in their second term at Yale, they have the option of selecting a new college adviser (a faculty member — often one of their fall-term instructors or a member of a department whose major they’re considering).
Spring Semester
Late January: check Student Profile for your advisees fall-term grades and keep these in mind when you meet. Send your advisees an email reminding them that you look forward to meeting during add/drop period to discuss their spring semesters; secure a meeting time, if possible.
Meet with your advisees during add/drop period. Focus on reviewing the fall term and winter break (see above). What went well or not so well? What will they repeat or do differently in the spring? Remind them to review their distributional requirements. Ask gently about major plans or, at least, about fields and areas of interest. Ask again about major plans, reminding them that most students declare a major at the end of the sophomore year — and STEM majors earlier than that — and that they must declare a major in their fifth term of enrollment.
Late February: Mid-term check in with your advisees (see “Mid-October,” above).
Late April: suggest a final get-together to review their first year at Yale and discuss plans for the summer and the years ahead. Again remind them of their option of selecting a new college adviser (see “Optional Mid-December,” above).
Mid-May: Congratulations on a job well done!
May-June: In response to the advising email from your residential college, let the dean know whether you’ll advise again next year or whether you’ll need to be away from campus or from advising.