Advising First Year/Incoming Students

Advising first year students usually requires more time commitment than advising students in their later years. It is a critical time for mutually defining the task and the boundaries. It involves an initiation of contact on the advisor’s part and an orientation to the student’s background, experience and goals. (Advisors are expected to commit an average of 10 hours per year to advising each student.)

Initial Contacts: June-August prior to Semester 1 – approximately 1 hr.
Initiate contact with your advisee soon after they are assigned. Prior review of admissions materials may be useful to you. Be prepared to answer questions about first year curriculum. Entering students have only limited course choices. They are limited to 5 classes during the fall term and may elect to take 6 classes during the spring term (with advisors approval) if they are academically able to carry an increased load. Clinical Interviewing may be a wise choice for those students who are new to the field or who have not had prior experience sitting with individuals in some clinical setting. Other electives such as Adult Psychopathology or Forensics have often been found to be too advanced for the entering student. It is also worth considering the balance between more theoretical and applied skills/clinical courses. An Advisor must be aware of the courses required for internship readiness which need to be taken before third year. These are detailed in the Policy and Procedures Manual and may change with curricular revisions Students with a known history of writing problems or ESL students may benefit from an early referral to the writing program, overseen by our librarian.

Discuss Field Placement.
Make sure the advisee has contacted the Field Placement Office immediately after having accepted an offer of admission to MSPP in order to begin a practicum search. The Field Placement Office meets individually with each entering student during the summer to explore the ‘best fit’ of a particular field site for an entering student.

New students also may have many stressful life demands associated with entering graduate school. Appropriate referral to resources in order to address such issues as housing, visa requirements, financial questions, etc. can be helpful. The Admissions Office, Financial Aid Office, The Dean of Students’ Office, The Dean of the Doctoral Program, The Student Coordinating Committee, and The International Students Group are all possible sources of assistance for entering students. Finally, describe your availability over the summer (and where the student may find support or assistance in your absence) and plan a meeting for September.

First Semester

• Reintroduce a discussion on your understanding of the advising process and solicit the student’s perceptions and expectations.
• Discuss the circumstances under which you will disclose information shared with you.
• Try to monitor the success of your advisee’s transition into the program. The Clinical Seminar instructor often has a good sense of this. The first year faculty meets monthly as a group and discusses the progress of all entering students; this forum is a good resource for inquiring about how your advisee is doing.
• Be aware of “warning signs”; if you do not hear from your advisee or if you feel your advisee is avoiding appointments--check in with him or her about satisfaction, progress or problems.
• During the Fall Semester, The Associate Dean of Students will convene groups of first year students in order to explain how to develop an overall 4 year academic plan at MSPP and to begin the process of filling out the Degree Audit/Curriculum Planning form. Filling out this form allows the student to get a sense of what the next 4-5 years will be like and makes them aware of what choices may become available later in the program. The Advisor is responsible for reviewing, monitoring, or amending this plan with the advisee.
• Elective choices are limited to 16 of 128 credits and should be chosen thoughtfully.
• Early discussions about initial career and applied training aspirations and future field placement options should include the consideration of general training as well as the opportunities for specialization.
• An advisor helps select second semester courses, accepts the registration via the SSIG portal for the second term and if necessary convenes an Intermediate A & P (usually required when some problem or difficulty has arisen academically or in the field).

Second Semester

• Meet with your advisees
• Review progress
• Discuss Field Placement for Next Year

Updated 5/8/08