Academic Resources

End-of-Fall-Semester Travel Plans — Hold Off on Ticket Purchase

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While it may seem early to be thinking about this, some of you are already looking at plane, train, or bus schedules for a trip back home or elsewhere at the end of the fall semester.  Don’t buy your ticket yet!  Wait until you know your final exam schedule.  While some courses have papers, others have sit-down exams that can be scheduled up to the last day of finals, so you should wait until you have confirmed your course schedule before purchasing any tickets.   You should not assume that you will be able to take your exam earlier than its scheduled time.

Course meeting days/times determine the exam period to which they are assigned.  There are three exam periods a day for three hours each from December 12 at 7 p.m. through December 16 at 5 p.m.

Check out the Registrar’s website for other calendars as well as the academic regulations.

Academic Reflection Essay — Do It!

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If you have not had a chance to do your Academic Reflection Essay, located in your “Orientation Checklist & Resources,”  make sure that you complete and submit it in within the next week.  It is a good exercise in processing the past as you think about the future and helps you to focus in on how best to take advantage of your educational opportunities at Wes.

Although essay submission was requested for last month (ahem), this is the chance to get started on the right path.

The Four Competencies at Wesleyan

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COMPETENCIES AT WESLEYAN:  Approaches to Consider in Your Plan of Study

Flexible Framework for Considering Competencies

While at Wesleyan, students engage in the deep study of an academic field once they have declared a major, and they develop academic breadth through their general education coursework. In addition, they will also build broad, interdisciplinary skills through all of their curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities. Wesleyan has developed a flexible framework built on four competencies to allow students to engage voluntarily in a process of reflection (both in conjunction with advisors and on their own).

The four competencies:

  • Mapping = navigating complex environments (NCE)
  • Expressing = writing, expressing, communicating (WEC)
  • Mining = quantitative analysis and interpretation (QAI)
  • Engaging = negotiating intercultural differences (NID)

Mapping = Navigating Complex Environments (NCE)

Mapping is defined as the ability to examine the relationship of objects and spaces in the material and imagined worlds. It involves developing tools to create, manipulate, and navigate constructed and natural environments and charting movement through and interactions with space and its consequences.

Mapping courses may include courses across the curriculum, from the arts (e.g., dance, studio art, and art history), to the natural sciences and mathematics, as well as courses from interdisciplinary programs. Example skills include typography, computation, material science, modeling, and mapping.

Expressing = Writing, Expressing, Communicating (WEC)

Expressing is defined as the ability to express thoughts, ideas, and emotions to others effectively and concisely through a variety of media.

Expressing courses are principally but not solely in the humanities, arts, and social and behavioral sciences. These courses assign written, verbal, and creative projects, and performances that help students develop their ability to express thoughts and ideas to others.

Mining = Quantitative Analysis and Intepretation (QAI)

Mining is defined as the ability to use numerical ideas and methods to describe and analyze quantifiable phenomena. It involves learning about the measurement, analysis, summary, and presentation of information, including about the natural world, as well as answering questions, solving problems, making predictions, and testing and constructing theories by employing mathematical, statistical, logical, and scientific reasoning.

Mining courses are principally but not solely in mathematics, natural sciences, and social and behavioral sciences.

Engaging = Negotiating Intercultural Differences (NID)

Engaging is defined as the ability to comprehend and respect diverse cultural heritages and perspectives in relation to their wider historical and social contexts. It involves reading, speaking, or understanding a second or third language (contemporary or classical); gaining experience working, studying, or traveling abroad or in other unfamiliar cultural contexts; and participating in the political and social life of local and global communities.

Engaging courses may include courses across the curriculum, from language, literature, and culture courses, to courses in history, science in society, religion, government, and philosophy, among other areas.

The Advising Guidelines!

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If you haven’t checked out the Advising Guidelines, do so ASAP.  Important advice about how to think about your planning your course of study and specific advice about a range of topics.  It includes pearls of wisdom from your class dean–really! ;)–and sage advice from professors and the academic peer advisors.  Selected topics will be featured over the next couple of weeks, and reading now (or again) will reinforce all the good info you know.

Wesvising, a departmental advising tool for the curricular exploration

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Use this time to begin exploring the Wesleyan curriculum through WesMaps, Wesleyan’s online curriculum, and Wesvising, as a course selection advising tool.  It is a site developed by faculty members in the different departments, programs, and colleges to inform incoming students about their disciplines and the courses they offer.  Most departments have videos and all departments have helpful FAQs to guide you as you develop your plan of study.

Like most students, you will end up with way too many courses on your planning list, but keep them in mind in case your plans change or you want to take them another semester.

The key word is EXPLORE, as Professor Szegedy-Maszak advises, so take advantage of this time and Wesvising to do so!

Advising Resources & Advice from the Peer Advisors

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Advising Guidelines

With over 1000 classes offered in 45 majors, 17 minors, and 12 certificates, students have the opportunity to explore a wide range of fields and topics their first year. While choosing the right classes may seem like a daunting task, faculty advisors and peer advisors will guide you through every step of the process, ensuring that your schedule is balanced and appropriate. For more extensive information on advising guidelines, please visit the New Student Orientation website (http://www.wesleyan.edu/orientation/advising_guidelines.html).

Over the summer, new students will have the opportunity to rank seven first-year seminars and seven introductory courses. All of the course listings can be found on WesMaps (https://iasext.wesleyan.edu/regprod/!wesmaps_page.html). For questions about specific majors or departments, WesVising (http://www.wesleyan.edu/wesvising/) is a great resource with videos and FAQs from every department. Academic Peer Advisors are available to answer questions during the summer. If you have any questions about scheduling, course planning, or major requirements, you can reach a peer advisor at peeradvisors@wesleyan.edu. Class deans are also available throughout the summer to answer questions. Louise Brown is the Dean for the Class of 2021 and you can reach her at lsbrown@wesleyan.edu.

During orientation, all new students are assigned a faculty advisor. Your faculty advisor is responsible for approving your course schedule each semester. When you meet with your faculty advisor, plan to discuss not only your fall semester course plan, but also your educational goals, hopes and concerns at Wesleyan and beyond. During this meeting, you will have the opportunity to make changes (or not) to your schedule during the Adjustment period and Drop/Add. Prior to meeting with their faculty advisor, all new students will also have the opportunity to meet with an Academic Peer Advisor who will offer advice on course registration in preparation for meeting with faculty advisors.

It is never to early to begin thinking about your course schedule. With so many classes to take, the hard part will be narrowing down the courses so that you can create a well-balanced schedule that allows you to explore and hone your intellectual interests. If you have any questions about any step of the pre-registration or advising process, please reach out to an Academic Peer Advisor at peeradvisors@wesleyan.edu.

Stephen Chen ’18

Course Pre-registration — July 10!

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On July 10 at 9 a.m., course pre-registration for the Fall semester will open!  Woo hoo!

There will be a pre-reg link in the alert box of your Wesportal.  The upper frame will open in WesMaps, the online curriculum, and the bottom frame will be where you will rank a list of seven first-year seminars and seven intro/other courses.

Students enrolled in a Learning and Living seminar already have their FYS and will see it in their course schedule.  They will need to rank only their intro/other courses.

Posts that follow on the class blog, thoughout July, will include lots of tips and advice about course registration, balancing a schedule, advising guides, and advising tools.  Many of these aids are listed in the Academic Resource bucket of the Orientation Checklist.  For additional information and advice, you can contact an academic peer advisor or Dean Brown or another class dean, each of whom will assist you or connect you with a faculty member.  There are plenty of resources for you as you build your course plan for the fall semester.  Take advantage of them!

 

Faculty and Student Advising Handbook

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June 2017

As you plan for July course registration and your arrival in the Fall, it is important to review the Faculty and Student Advising Handbook. The Handbook is designed to help you achieve your educational goals by providing advice on how to get the most out of your relationship with your faculty advisor as you build your program of study over the course of your Wesleyan career. The Handbook also provides information about academic departments and programs, graduation requirements, each year’s journey through Wes, study abroad, the major declaration process, academic support services for students, and summary procedures of the Honor Board and the Student Judicial Board.  The Common Advising Questions section is also very informative.