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All students, upon matriculating, are assigned to an academic advisor who guides each student in all academic matters. For freshmen, this would include the initial selection of courses and general assistance in adapting to the Cornell undergraduate environment. Courses are selected on the basis of a student's background preparation and stated interests and are subject to change if advanced placement credits have been earned or if students wish to register in different classes. During the degree, advisors assist in numerous ways including course choices during pre-registration periods, helping define long-term goals and some career options, being a "listener" when problems arise for individual students - academic and other, and they play very important roles in providing letters of reference when students seek admission to internships, study abroad, jobs and are applying to graduate programs. Students are free to change advisor, for any reason, during their degree. This might be occasioned by newly emerging interests on the part of a student that could be better served by another advisor, or the result of special rapport developing between the student and another advisor. Transfer students are especially dependent upon the advising resources as they have less time to complete graduation requirements at Cornell. The equivalence of courses transferred from other colleges to those offered here is not always clear which may complicate choices in completing prerequisite sequences, as required for application to professional graduate programs. Cornell students contemplating changing their college of admission, or changing to Animal Sciences from other programs within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, should seek advice as early as possible. Undergraduate advising is coordinated by Jim Giles (jrg9@cornell.edu), with the assistance of Deloris Bevins (dgb1@cornell.edu, Telephone: (607) 255-5497). General enquiries about the Animal Sciences undergraduate program or advising matters should be directed to either of these individuals. Prospective students making contact and/or planning to visit the campus can meet with a member of the faculty to discuss their plans or obtain answers to questions about the program. Such meetings can be arranged by contacting Ms Bevins. |