Depending on the student's level of transfer credit, the student may immediately apply for Advanced Standing and thus to a specific faculty advisor or the student may remain in Pre-advanced Standing, in which case he or she is treated the same as a new undergraduate student. A temporary faculty advisor is assigned until such time that the student selects a permanent advisor. Typically during the first or second semester in residence the student selects a permanent advisor from among the tenured or tenure-track faculty members of the Department. This person also serves as the Thesis or Internship advisor, until such time as the student completes the MS degree or selects a new advisor. The advisor and the student collaborate in the selection of a graduate committee, prior to the end of the second semester in residence, and the committee provides advising concerning course selection and submission of an approved graduate program.
Advisors are available during regular office hours and at scheduled times for advising meetings.
The entire Psychology curriculum was revised for the 1996-98 catalog. New options were introduced at the undergraduate level and the graduate catalog was updated. Revisions of the undergraduate curriculum were accompanied by the development and implementation of a new advising form. This form has simplified advising and made it easier for students to track their progress in any of the 3 options. However, since Pre-advanced Standing advising is more routine, this has led to an overall improvement in advising quality.