Your Freshman Adviser

During the summer before the freshman year, each student entering Weinberg College is assigned to a Freshman Adviser. Freshmen Advisers are members of the faculty with a special interest in working with first-year students and in helping to guide them through their freshman year.

Almost all Weinberg College freshmen take a freshman seminar in their first quarter; the seminar instructor serves as their Freshman Adviser throughout their first year. This is true for all students except for those in HPME, ISP, MMSS, and the five-year BA/BMusic program. If you are in one of these programs, your Freshman Adviser will be someone with special expertise in your particular program, and you will take your freshman seminars in the winter and/or spring.

Your first meeting with your Freshman Adviser takes place at the beginning of New Student Week. Each adviser holds an informal gathering with all of his or her advisees. This is a chance for the group to get to know each other and to chat about some general guidelines for planning a first-term schedule. You will then meet individually or in small groups with your adviser to discuss your own plans, as well as any questions you might have. And if your Freshman Adviser is also your fall seminar instructor, then you’ll see him or her regularly throughout the fall quarter—at every meeting of your Freshman Seminar.

You will also meet with your Freshman Adviser near the end of each quarter of your freshman year in order to plan your program for the following quarter. This includes a spring quarter meeting to plan for the first quarter of your sophomore year. Beyond these required meetings, it’s a good idea to get together with your Freshman Adviser whenever you have questions or concerns about your academic life. Your adviser may be able to make phone calls to the appropriate people to help resolve problems that you need to deal with. Your adviser may not be able to answer all of your questions about course planning or about Northwestern, but he or she can probably tell you how to get in touch with people who can.

Each Freshman Adviser’s group of advisees is also assigned a Peer Adviser. Peer Advisers are upperclassmen selected for their knowledge about the university and their commitment to helping new students. Your Peer Adviser will be another important resource for you during New Student Week as you finalize your fall quarter plans.