First-Year Advising Timeline

August | September | October | NovemberDecember | January | February | March | April | May

Fall Term

Late-August: Send your advisees an email introducing yourself and indicating indicating that you are available to meet and look forward to meeting them. 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.

Early September: Schedule an optional second meeting during add/drop period. Check in with them about their adjustment to Yale, instruction, or other concerns.  

Optional Mid-October (midterm): 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?

November-December (during early registration): set up a meeting 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. If just completing their first term at Yale, it’s also helpful to bring up extracurricular activities and social groups.

Do you have any tips about studying for final exams? If so, please share them. Bring up summer plans and remind them that many application deadlines fall in February. Refer them to the  Center for International and Professional Experience (CIPE) to learn about internships, study abroad, summer study at Yale, and summer funding for these and other opportunities. 

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 Term

Mid-January: invite your advisees to a check-in meeting now, during add/drop period. This meeting is optional for your advisees (though you should issue an invitation) if you had an in-depth meeting with them in November/December. Send them an email letting them know that you’re available to meet to debrief the fall and discuss the spring (especially if you didn’t meet in November/December and if their thoughts or plans for the spring changed over winter recess). What went well or not so well in the fall?  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.  Check Student Profile for your advisees’ fall-term grades and keep them in mind when you meet.  Refresh your memory by reading about “meeting your advisees.”

Optional Late February-mid-March: Mid-term check-in with your advisees. Suggest a meeting, email, or phone conversation to discuss their Yale life at the 3/4 mark or upcoming mid-term exams and papers.

April: schedule a late-spring meeting with your advisees during advising period/early registration period. Discuss the spring term and any changing goals for their sophomore year. Discuss fall course selection, plans for the summer, and plans for the years ahead. Again remind them of their option of selecting a new college adviser (see “November-December,” above).

Mid-MayCongratulations on a job well done!

May-June: In response to the advising email from your residential college, let the dean know that you’ll advise again next year or that you’ll be away from campus or advising.