All Northern Michigan University students are encouraged to meet regularly with their advisers. Freshmen are required to meet with advisers before registering for the next semester's courses. Along with providing guidance on course selection, advisers are an invaluable resource to students in that they usually know who to contact to get questions answered and problems solved.
Advising and registration
Make an appointment with your adviser well in advance of registration. Also, take care of any holds (adviser, financial, medical, etc.) as soon as you can. You will not be allowed to register until the holds are lifted. If you don't know who your adviser is, you can access that information on MyNMU under the Students Information – Academic Information menu.
Things to do to get the greatest benefit from advising:
- Pay attention to information coming via e-mail from the Registrar, Student Success and your adviser.
- Prepare to meet your adviser. You should do so early and often every semester.
- Go online to look at courses being offered. Remember to write down course registration number (CRN) in case you need to refer to it later without the benefit of being on-line.
- Go to your adviser with a tentative course schedule. Be prepared that he or she may advise you to take different courses.
- Talk to your adviser about some alternative courses in case the courses you chose are closed when you are registering.
- Ask for help if you need it. Your adviser wants you to succeed.
Things that will not help your advising experience:
- Don't wait until the last minute to see your academic adviser. You might be surprised to find that you've moved to the back of the line.
- Don't go to your adviser un- or under-prepared.
- Don't depend on your adviser to select your courses for you.
- Don't rely on your roommate, a friend down the hall, your landlord, etc., to serve as your adviser or to definitively provide answers to policy questions.
- Don't select courses based on other students' opinions of an instructor. They may dislike an instructor that you'll truly enjoy.
- Don't accept "I don't know" as a definitive answer. Go to other advisers in your department, department head, Student Success, until you find someone who can provide you the information you need.
- Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't leave a meeting with your adviser confused. Keep talking until you understand the information being provided.