Need Advice? Get Some Advising

A Guide to Getting an Advising Appointment

Making an advising appointment at UGA is so easy and simple… As a new student, whether a freshman or a transfer, you will go to orientation and be given an appointed time to meet with your advisor for the first time. This is where you set up your classes for your first semester at UGA and gain insight on credits, hours, and become familiar with the classes you need to take to achieve your goals. This will get you situated for your first semester at UGA, whether that is for the fall or spring semester.

Once your schedule is set, you may find that you still need to meet with an advisor. This link will take you exactly to where you need to go to make one of those appointments. Some advisors only advise during office hours which can be found out via email or on each advisor’s profile on the advising website.

SAGE (Student Advising and Guidance Expert) is another resource to use when looking for advising hours, you can see drop-in hours on this site when logging in with your UGA identification username and password or you can make an appointment and specify your reason for needing a meeting.

At some point in October, you should receive an email from your advisor reminding you to make your end of semester advising appointment. This appointment is where you plan the classes you will take along with where you talk about goals for majors, minors, and certificates for the next semester. This will happen every semester to clear your “advising hold” that is placed on your account each semester.

The “advising hold” means that you will not be able to register for classes until you meet with your advisor. At this meeting, your advisor will clear the hold for registration, and then you will be allowed to register. The purpose of this hold is to make sure you meet with your advisor each semester and get any and all questions answered. This is also a way for your advisor to check on your mental health, stress load, and overall opinion of UGA.

Office hours are another great way to get help and advice from professors on how to be successful in their class, your major, or your program of study. Most professors will have their office hours located in a section of their syllabus and typically to get an appointment, you just have to email them with the date and time that you would like to meet. Some like to meet in person while others prefer zoom, either way, these are a great way to get help or to cultivate relationships for mentorships, letters of recommendation, or jobs in the future.

Although these meetings might seem like a pain, they are put in place to ensure success and wellbeing for every student on UGA’s campus and are extraordinarily helpful.

Madeleine Morris, UGA Intern

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