First-year students now have individual advising appointments to look forward to at summer orientation while parents can meet with an increased variety of university offices.
This year, for the first time, each student is sitting down with a faculty mentor or first-year or staff adviser on day two of summer orientation for an advising appointment, according to Buffy Stoll, director of new student programs.
"So far it's going well," Stoll said. "We've gotten great feedback from students."
Stoll added first-year students meet in groups with a divisional adviser on the first day of summer orientation so they have a general understanding of class requirements.
When they get to their advising appointment, students already have heard about the Miami Plan and liberal education, according to Stoll.
"Many come into advising appointments with classes written down that they're interested in," Stoll said. "They typically know they need English, math, etc."
According to Andrew Beckett, associate dean of students, each student gets paired with an adviser in the department of the students' major or in a related department at the individual advising appointment.
Beckett said the goal of these new individual advising appointments is to enable students to do well during their time at Miami University.
"The whole new advising thing is a great example of faculty and staff working together for student success," Beckett said. "There is a collaborative effort of faculty and staff from different divisions."
The meetings take place in Benton Hall. Beckett said students will never have to wait in line for their appointment or to schedule classes and that faculty and staff advisers already have information on students to assist with advising.
"We create an adviser folder with profile information of every student they're advising," Beckett said. "It has ACT scores, their high school transcript, advice for courses and more."
Though students do not have to wait, they are asked to arrive 15 minutes early to their appointment and are welcomed to a small "Mega Fair"-type setting where they can look at different activities that have tables set up in Benton.
Students find out the time of their appointment during the first day of summer orientation. According to Beckett, the times are spaced out throughout day two so there is never crowding in the computer lab where students schedule.
"It seems to be going very smoothly," Beckett said. "Most of the students have really appreciated it."
Beckett said they have received fewer complaints about this new advising process than expected.
"We thought we would get complaints about students with later appointments," Beckett said. "Only a handful have said anything about that. Most are getting the courses they need."
Beckett added the appointments begin at 8:20 a.m. on day two of summer orientation and the last appointment is around 10:45 a.m. There are 40 to 45 faculty and staff individually advising students during these times.
He said very few students have requested to change the time of their advising appointment, and usually it is because a student has changed their major and would then meet with an adviser in the department they are now in.
"There are about 10 changes made each morning," Beckett said.
Beckett said when students change their major during summer orientation, all of their information is given to the new adviser so students can get the best advising possible.
Parents are also getting advising information at this time. Beckett said various university offices have tables set up in McGuffey Hall to serve interested parents.
"In the past we've had one session for parents in Hall Auditorium with five different offices providing information about services," Beckett said. "Some offices parents didn't need to hear from because they might already have a child at Miami."
Now, Beckett said parents choose which offices they want to meet with, and the number of offices presenting information has doubled this year. Offices that have tables for parents to visit in McGuffey include the bursar, financial aid and IT Services, to name a few.
Stoll said her office has already received feedback from the first orientation sessions that met this summer, which has helped them continue to shape orientation based on student concerns.
"Looking at the post-orientation assessment, we realize that students have the same anxieties," Stoll said.
She added students are usually the most nervous about meeting new students and creating relationships with faculty, which is why those two aspects are stressed during summer orientation.
