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Year-by-Year Concerns for the English Major:

Making the Most of the Advisor/Advisee Assignment

What follows has been suggested by both successful and frustrated student advisees and faculty advisors. It is required reading for all English majors! In our experience, the advisement relationship can help make or break your experience as an English major, so please take it from us and heed this guide.

  1. Know your advisors.  All Auburn students have two advisors: one in their college and one in their major.
    • Your college advisor in the College of Liberal Arts can help you negotiate your core requirements outside your major.  Your CLA advisor can be found in the College of Liberal Arts Student Services office, phone number 334-844-2193.
      • Your CLA advisor can help you with core requirements, transient forms, GAP requests, graduation checks, and other forms and paperwork.
    • The English Department’s Academic Advisor is Dr. Tracey K. Parker, who can be contacted at 9044 Haley Center, 334-844-9044, tkp0003@auburn.edu.   Dr. Parker can help you:
      • Plan your course schedule, give you information about course enrollment and content, and ensure that all requirements within the major are or will be met.
      • Guide you through paperwork and answer any questions about the major: your records, lists of departmental course rotations, semester course descriptions, the phone number of the Study Abroad office, faculty areas of specialization, and departmental resources. Your advisor should refer questions about transfer credits to the appropriate office.
      • Help you formulate your plans for the future, be it how to begin the job search and/or the graduate school application process.
    • Additionally, you may have an athletic academic advisor, an Honors College advisor, an international student advisor, etc.  They can help you with issues specific to those areas.
  2. Consider treating all of your professors as potential advisors. Go to professors' office hours. Ask questions about your work or future plans as a major. There is a full range of perspectives on many of the issues important to work in English studies. Indeed, Auburn's English department is richly diverse in experiences with graduate school, the job market for majors, and approaches to English studies. Take the opportunity to expose yourself to this diversity.
  3. Be prepared to be a good advisee:
      • Make sure you are cleared to register. Make sure you know your registration time ticket date and that you have checked your account for holds that could prevent you from registering.
      • Keep aware of requirements and investigate course offerings.
      • Be aware of what you need to register for. Problems with registration usually arise so the more you know about your file, the better prepared you will be to handle these problems.
    • Register promptly. By registering on the first day for which you are cleared, you increase your chances of getting the classes you need before they fill up.
    • Know your advisor's office hours, office phone number, and email address. To make an appointment with Dr. Parker, e-mail her at tkp0003@auburn.edu.  To make an appointment with your CLA advisor, see the CLA Student Services website.
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Last updated August 7, 2009