This week, all students attending the University of Wyoming are getting ready to register for the upcoming semester, Fall 2018.
The Advising Week for Fall 2018 takes place from March 26-30. Registration for continuing students opened on March 28. New and re-enrolling students will be able to register starting on May 2.
“I would say it is a challenge, but I like that challenge because most of the students are still exploring,” Justin Stewart, academic adviser and senior academic professional lecturer of the UW Communication and Journalism Department, said. “I think this is the time of your life when you could do that. College is the time when you can figure out what kind of adult you want to be.”
UW policies require all the students to visit their advisers to receive their PERC numbers in order to register for upcoming courses in the next semester.
According to the UW website, “your PERC (Personal Electronic Registration Code) is a 6-digit number that you will enter one time each semester to clear the Adviser Approval hold prior to registering for each term (some exceptions apply). Your PERC will change every semester. You will get your new PERC from your adviser each term during advising week or prior to registering. You will need to use your PERC number when you register for the first time each semester.”
UW graduate student Manish Bengani said, “I can clearly see that career services (that includes counseling), together with advising is beneficial. Advisers help us show what lies ahead and leaves us in an enlightened state from where we can choose the right courses that would get us the most out of our education.”
Advising is meant to help students take the right route in their education, however, they themselves should do some work before coming to the adviser’s office.
“It is very important in creating the relationships with your adviser, being prepared before you go,” Academic Adviser from Advising Career and Exploratory Studies Center Ben Herdt said. “Being prepared means understanding your degree program, walking in the door with questions, having looked at the course schedule, having an idea of what courses you want to take.”
Herdt also said that in order to make advising useful, students should meet with their advisers more than just once a semester.
At UW, faculty advisers are only available once a semester, that’s why the Advising Career and Exploratory Studies Center is available to offer students a professional adviser year round.
“On campus, we actually process a new initiative,” Herdt said. “The whole bunch of students’ fees is going towards opening advising centers in each of the colleges. Some students will still have faculty advisers and that’s bad, because faculty members have lots of responsibilities in addition to advising.”
One week during the fall semester and one week during the spring semester is not adequate time for effective advising, Herdt said. Therefore, advisers are available throughout the entire year.
“There are tons of people on campus who are professional advisers available all year long,” Herdt said. “We can help students with academic plans, academic questions. It’s important for students to know that they can be advised all year long.”
