First and Second Year Advising

To ensure that first-year students have the guidance and support they need to make informed choices, the University assigns each incoming student two advising partners: an academic advisor who is a Brown faculty member or administrator, and a student peer advisor. While the academic advisor can provide a long-term institutional perspective on educational options, a peer advisor offers a student perspective on the ins and outs of course registration, course reputations, prerequisites, and the like. The faculty, staff, and student advisors thus work together to inform, encourage, and challenge incoming students.

Some incoming students may elect to take a course with their first-year advisor as part of our Curricular Advising Program (CAP). Others who have interests in serving the community may choose to participate in our University-Community Academic Advising Program (UCAAP). Both of these programs are described in the links below.

After the first-year, sophomores will continue to work with their first-year advisors, as they explore the curriculum and hone in on an academic concentration. They will naturally want to seek out concentration advisors in individual departments for information about specific concentration degree requirements. And they are also encouraged to become involved in a departmental undergraduate group (DUG), in order to gain a student perspective on a concentration that interests them. All sophomores must file a formal petition and plan for their chosen concentration before they are allowed to pre-register for classes in their fifth semester. For more information about our first-year and sophomore advising programs, please contact Dean Ann Gaylin.

Download the Sophomore Guide.