Congratulations on declaring a sociology major! We are very excited to have you in the department.
As an academic advisor, I'm here to help you navigate your courses and prepare for your career after SCU. I've created some structure for advising to allow me to best contribute to your success at SCU and beyond. Here are a few things to know as we begin advising.
I have shared a Google Drive folder, where we will share all documents. Inside this advising folder, you will find three sub-folders: (1) a course plan, (2) a resume template and guide, and (3) a template for goal setting. This is a lot of information and will take some time upfront but this will help you get the most out of your college years! My goal in creating this structure is for you to think about how I can best guide you and how you can best take advantage of all SCU has to offer.
This folder has a template for you to input your course plan, as well as checklists to make sure you are meeting all Core and Major or Minor requirements. You can also find these resources on the college websites here:
Keep this filled out each quarter as you complete classes. When we’re getting ready to meet, please fill this out with your tentative schedule for the next academic quarter (or year for May advising).
In this folder there are also checklists to make sure you are completing core requirements and major requirements. Feel free to add other major or minor checklists here for your reference. Please also fill these out as you go.
Transfers: If you are a transfer student, make notes on this worksheet about which courses are transferring for what types of credit. It's fine if you need to add another year or another few terms - it's only meant to be an example template.
Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors: If you're an upper-division student, you should also input the information for each of your previous semesters. The Degree Audit tool is very helpful as you are completing this process. If and only if you are currently a senior, you can put a PDF copy of this Degree Audit tool in the shared Google folder as a substitute for the Four-year Planning Worksheet.
It is crucial to have a resume, no matter what your year. You should always keep an updated copy of your resume on hand. Ideally, you should update it as soon as something new happens or once a term, at minimum. Updating your resume frequently has two advantages:
it will make the process of updating your resume painless and ensure that you won't forget to add relevant information, and
it will allow you to celebrate your accomplishments as they happen.
Start by including all of your activities and accomplishments on an all-inclusive resume, which you can later tailor for specific positions. In our shared resume folder, I have provided a resume template from the SCU Career Center that you can customize. See example resumes and a comprehensive guide to creating your resume here at the SCU Career Center.
Although the course plan helps you navigate graduation requirements, it won't help you outline your career or other academic and personal goals. I've provided a Google Docs document where you can outline your goals. To begin, think about the goals that you would like to have accomplished within the next 2 years. After you have established your goals, outline the activities that you will complete to accomplish them. Completing this document will also help me get to know you so that I can provide you better guidance as we move forward. This part of my advising structure is optional for you, but highly recommended. I recommend you complete the Goal-Setting worksheet by the end of week 3 each term.
A final note on advising: It's okay if you would prefer a different kind of advising style, and thus, would like to change to a different advisor (here is the form). It's also perfectly fine if you've been assigned to me or asked me to be your advisor and then change your mind after reading more. That's all a part of making informed decisions and I hope that the information that I've provided will help you make the decision that's right for you.