Academic Advising and Student Resources

Program Description

The Advising Program at Washington and Lee operates at two distinct levels:

1. From the time students enter as freshmen until they have declared a major, students are served by an adviser whose role is to guide the selection of courses that satisfy general education requirements, or that permit exposure to elective courses that may help a student to choose a major. These General Education advisers come from all of the undergraduate academic departments, and since their mission is to support students’ exploration of the liberal arts curriculum at W&L, they are not matched with advisees based on the students’ potential academic majors.
   
   
2. When students declare a major (no later than winter term of sophomore year), they also select an adviser in the major department or program. The role of the Major adviser is to help students develop a plan for the timely completion of major requirements, along with any remaining general education coursework.

Students may only register for courses via the web after they have obtained their registration password from their academic advisers. Advisers are not obligated to give a password to any advisee who has failed to meet with the adviser to discuss a plan for the upcoming academic term. Beyond the beginning of the freshman year, it is the students’ responsibility to schedule advising meetings prior to all pre-registration or web registration periods to discuss class scheduling options for upcoming term.

Questions or comments about academic advising at Washington and Lee should be directed to the Associate Dean of the College in charge of student support.