 Hi everyone, welcome to the first in our series of Tuesday talks with the CSU AO, the computer science and engineering undergraduate advising office. I'm very excited for our very first conversation to be joined by one of my colleagues, a fellow staff advisor in the CSU AO. So kind of a conversation where we're talking to someone who knows a lot of the same things that I do so it feels like a strange just back and forth of people who know all the info but I think that can be really useful. Hopefully answer some frequently asked questions you have. So first things before I introduce Shelby, my name is Gray strain I use they them or she her pronouns and as I said, I am a staff academic advisor in the CSU AO and I want to introduce my fantastic colleague Shelby if you want to introduce yourself. Yeah, hello everyone, my name is Shelby Eddie and the pronouns I use or she her. I am also an undergraduate staff advisor in the CSU undergraduate advising office. I've actually been in this position for a little over two years. So I've likely met with some of you and maybe an individual appointment or maybe virtual drop in advising on Wednesdays. As an advisor, I meet with students and appointments and in these appointments, I'm typically discussing their course selection with them may be connecting them with campus resources. Discussing their post graduation plans and a variety of other topics that may impact a student's experience as a CSU student or just a student at U of M. So advisors are really here to help you explore options and make plans to achieve your goals. I think that's a perfect encapsulation of what we do. So ditto to all that that Shelby just said, I've been here since November so coming up on almost a year. Shelby is of course the senior and the in the wiser advisor so happy to chat with her about some of the questions that I think we often get and some stuff we want to share with you all for the fall. So jumping right in we have a pretty long list but hopefully going to get through all of them and get some info out there. So first question. This is something we're talking with students about all the time right now. You know the fall semester is just about to start many of our students are currently on wait lists for various EECS courses. What do you recommend that students on the wait list should do. Yeah, yeah this is a really big question for students in general and I think like you said particularly RCS students so first and foremost we recommend staying on the wait list for your first choice course. But with a caveat that you should be enrolling in something an alternative course that is open key keyword is open so that you have some placeholder on that schedule in case you don't get off of the wait list you have this backup plan built in. To help you identify, excuse me identify an alternative course, we do suggest taking a look at your program guide so for CSLSA students looking at yours, and vice versa, you know for the DSN, Gen CSN students. We also recommend generating your degree audit report or unofficial audit you may hear us refer to it as you can do this in Wolverine access. And also, we are here to help you navigate this too so if you aren't quite sure what you should kind of add as a backup or be exploring, we can help you talk about those options. I do want to know though some some good news is that we have been in communication with our EECS 183 203 280 281 370 and 376 instructors about their plans for the fall and they do want to accommodate all the students who are currently on the wait list. So that is what they're pushing to do. They're still working on that now so if you are not off of the wait list by the first day of classes, go to class, you know so you're not missing out on any of the material you can always talk to the instructor then to get an update. Definitely the advice that I think we always share with students it is so frustrating when you're on a wait list for those courses you need. But I really liked that point about checking the program guide, you know, for a CS LSA students, maybe there's LSA distribution requirements, you know chat with your new advisor for LSA, or for CS or DSM students, you know, certainly looking at those other requirements, flex tech, intellectual breadth, common requirements that you can hopefully take care of as well. That was a really good point. So we're definitely approaching like I said earlier the beginning of the semester so I think students are still trying to decide what their schedule looks like at this point maybe enrolled, you know, in some extra courses maybe going to decide what they want to take once the semester starts. Could you talk a little bit about the add drop deadline and how that differs from the late add drop deadline for the fall. The deadlines to be navigating even depending on the school that you belong to so happy to clarify that students have until 1159pm on Monday, September 19, 2022 to add drop classes without assistance and without it being recorded on their transcripts so it's really your time to kind of make any changes at will that you need to your schedule so you don't need to, you know, submit that via like via our office or anything like that you go in and you make the changes. So that is just the the first three weeks late at our excuse me drop and deadline. Any changes to your schedule after September 19 is considered a late add drop. And so this will have to be requested via Wolverine access there is we won't deny these, but we want to let you know where you go and do this. And this will be recorded on your transcripts there will be a w if you are late dropping a course. So you have until 1159 on the last day of classes that's Friday December 9 to submit a late drop request. And so these are, so this is a big reasons to will come and talk to us to kind of say is this the right call for me should I be doing this it really is up to you, but we're here to kind of help you talk about if that's the right option. You know, depending on what what's going on with you during the term. I really appreciate you know the point of coming and talk to us when you're making this decision just to make sure you're not you know dropping a class you really need can get back into easily later on. I also like the point about you know late drop requests typically are never denied you know if you need to. We also recommend in addition to talking to us, you know, certainly talking to the instructor, because they might say wait this student is on track to pass this course and do really well why are they trying to drop it. So certainly you know if you're making these decisions, just be in communication with your advisor and with your instructor as well. So I'm asking another policy question Shelby I'm so sorry but I think there's so many floating out there and students always have these questions. So I'm curious are there any you know grade related policies that you want students to be aware of at the start of this year whether there are changes, or just reminders that you like to offer. Yeah, no that's, I know it's not the fun stuff but it is the important stuff so these questions I'm happy to answer. So I like to remind students you know passfield policies have remained are a point of concern after the coven semesters there have been a lot of changes so we did want to remind students that all courses that are required for CS majors and minors must be taken for a letter grade so that you know is students do need to receive a C or better in those classes. If you have transfer credit a T is considered a letter grade I do like to point that out. But so no pass fail for anything required for major requirements, or even College of Engineering requirements as well. Except, there are some exceptions to that so if you are taking a course for intellectual breadth, which is a College of Engineering requirement you can convert that to a pass fail. There is a limit of 14 credits total that can be taken pass fail so that's just something to kind of keep in mind. You can also take general elective classes pass fail so if you know you're not going to be using it for your major or for a College of Engineering requirement. You can take that class pass fail again good reason to come in talk to us before you submit that request, because we can just remind you of this or kind of talk through this process with you as well. I do also want to remind students that if you. Excuse me. I do want to remind students that the deadline is at the end of the term to make that change so you have some time to kind of feel it out see how the course is going and make that decision. Later on. Oh, you're going to talk about same brain right here we're going to talk about the pre declaration stuff for CSLSA right. You got it you got it I there is a change that happened over the summer I believe and so you know this is a time we did try and notify students but at the same time. Everybody's busy everybody's doing so many different things so there was a change to the CSLSA pre declaration requirements. Students still need to complete those four classes those math courses as well as each 203 and 280. However, students used to be required to have an average GPA of a 2.5 or higher in those four courses. Now students do not have to worry about that 2.5 GPA. They just need to receive that C or better grade in those four classes. I do also want to note that again going back to that transfer credit students can have transfer credit for all four of those classes because that 2.5 GPA has been eliminated so if you are you do have transfer credit for those you are still eligible to declare. I think that's been a recent change that we're really excited about you know definitely removing some of those barriers especially when students, you know, have transfer courses and then it puts a lot of weight on those other courses to try to get to that old 2.5 minimum. I do love that we just had a moment of advisor like hive mind right there where we both zoned in on weight there's also the pre declaration, but certainly something that's been semi recent like to communicate with students looking to do CSLSA. So we are starting to run towards the end of our questions just a few more left. You know such a short time we have here but you know hopefully still good for students. So I'm curious if there are students who are seeking you know advising assistance. What sort of ways can they be in touch with our office this semester, of course, aside from following our Instagram as they hopefully are now. Right. Instagram is a great place to start I would say for all those awesome updates and just stories that you've been highlighting I think it's been really fun to see that build up. But other ways to connect with our office is definitely scheduling an individual appointment with us so you can still schedule virtual or in person appointments so whatever suits you best. There are those appointments now come in 20 or even 30 minutes so you can kind of check the schedule to see if you want a little bit longer appointment. We really do want to cater to your needs. You can still schedule with faculty or staff advisors so depending on if you have some more technical questions really want to dive into maybe some area of CS maybe scheduling with faculty would be a good fit. Staff advisors are are the experts on policy and all course related things so come and talk to us. We're all here to help. So that's another one piece I wanted to remind students about we're also offering will continue to offer virtual drop in advising so we have been doing that every Wednesday in the mornings and in the afternoons which we will continue to do. But we will also be offering additional virtual drop in advising during that first week of classes so August 29 the 30th and the 31st we will have drop in those days because we want to be available for all of those last minute questions that pop up that maybe you don't think to schedule that 20 minute appointment for but you want to come in and talk to somebody about it anyways so great opportunity to come and talk to us cues may be a little long at the beginning of the term, but we have pretty much all of our academic advisors on hand for those days so we're all there to kind of be at the ready to answer those questions. Definitely don't be scared about a long queue if you join virtual drop in advising we are pretty quick and again, most questions that students bring our smaller ones so we're able to move through as quick as we can and see most students and that's always our goal. So, I'm curious, you know, outside of advising help, what resources are available for students that maybe want some additional academic support in their CS courses. Yeah, this is a, I think a common, a common topic that comes up in advising appointments you know our courses do tend to be a little bit rigorous as I'm sure many of you have already kind of figured out on your own. So we want to make sure we're connecting you with resources that will help you through through navigate all of that. So, I like to remind students about the Engineering Center for academic success also known as ecast. So this is really, really good place to start so they have tutoring also virtual or in person. So, they have x 183203 280 and 281. So they've had those in the past, but they only had maybe two tutors per per class, and now they have four tutors per class available so we're increasing the availability. They've also hired tutors for each 370 and 376 which is new with that has not been a resource so I highly encourage students who are maybe at that point in the sequence. If you're looking for support to check out their services. They have to apply to be tutors they are interviewed and then selected so there is a selection process involved in this. And this is free. This is a free service to you so I think that's something important to underscore. Not only does ecast offer this tutoring support, but they also facilitate in person supplemental instruction or si sessions for each 203 and 280 so this is for students looking for maybe additional practice outside of class it's very collaborative it's very hands on so you really kind of work want to work through this with some other students and with somebody who's like kind of you know again facilitating organizing. This is a great space again that is in person so you know make sure to check that schedule on the ecast website. Another opportunity that I'm really excited to tell students about is this new student run peer mentor program. So I believe this is the first semester that were that this has been organized for students this is available for women and non binary students but I think you know check this out if this is this is something that interests really anybody if for anyone who's enrolled in those introductory computer science courses like 183 like 203 and 280. We do have more information about this on our website to so if you want to go and check it out in greater detail. That's a good place to start. Okay, I feel like I'm running through a lot here but I'm really excited to share this with everybody. So, some of you may have been already familiar with our website where we have some tutoring resources listed there so keep checking back there will post updates for new schedules on our HKN tutoring, but we also are updating our CSC private tutor process so if you're interested in connecting with a CSC student who wants to offer their services for lower and upper level CS courses, please fill out the CSC private tutor request form that is now listed on our CSC tutoring resources page. So if that that change the private tutor list into that request form I think it's going to be really beneficial for students and hopefully get a lot more utilizing what is a really great service of getting connected to those private tutors. So just a couple more questions on this one. I think we we get a lot or we hear whispers of it you know I think rumor can spread pretty quickly and also true hopefully. It is obviously change coming kind of down the line for admission into CS, and how that would affect folks even declaring the major in the first place. So I wonder if you can share a bit of info on that, as well as any effect that would have on currently declared students. So this does our best to keep the program guys as updated as possible. Any changes to declaration requirements will be added directly to the Google doc that we keep on our CSC website we did change from a PDF to a Google doc to make sure those stay as accurate as possible since those are such an important resource for all of you. I just could keep an eye on those on a regular basis, you know I always recommend students bookmark them, so that you can always go back and reference them. We also do our best to email students directly if significant changes are made to the program guide so it's not just in the program guy we do want to draw your attention to it, depending on how significant of a change it is. And for those of you who have heard about our, the changes to the admissions process, you know we won't go into a lot of detail here but what we do want to confirm is that yes there is a new selection process for CS majors. I do understand you may have some concerns about this affecting your declaration if you are currently enrolled student, but we just want to say currently enrolled students or matriculating students to the University of Michigan prior to fall 23 will not be affected by this change this year across campus transfer student. It is only students who will be starting in the fall of 23 and after so there is a lot of information actually on our website about all this and FAQs and things like that. So you definitely recommend heading over there if you are curious and want to know a little bit more. Thanks for talking a little bit about that policy I know it's been something in the works I think for a while behind the scenes. I'm so glad that it's finally posted and we have information and again that it won't take effect until fall of 2023 so final question for students who currently need to declare or maybe hoping to declare soon. What would you say is the best way to declare and also the best way to pick up your very exciting CSC t shirt. Yes, great question so students are still able to declare an advising appointments that we kind of talked about a little bit earlier those individual appointments. But I would say the most efficient way to declare a CSLSA or CSN major is to sign up for one of our many group declaration sessions that we host throughout the term we hosted them over the summer. And we will be posting them shortly to our website as well for the upcoming academic year so we'll probably start first with the fall and add some more for winter so keep an eye out on the website for that as well. I will know that if you are a student who is, you know, in another school, and you're thinking about doing MDP that's probably a better fit for an individual appointment just a little bit more nuanced there so please make sure you schedule with us if there's just some additional layers to your declaration. And I, you know, saving what some would argue is the most important information for last the declaration t shirts. No matter the format of your declaration whether it's an individual appointment or you know you are coming to a group session, we want to make sure you get that t shirt so you're really welcome to stop by the the BBB the Bob and Betty biker building on North campus room 2808 during during the week so Monday through Friday from nine to 12 or one to 5pm to pick up that shirt will be there happy to connect you with the right right fit for you. Awesome. Thanks so much Shelby. We've been through so many questions and covered a lot of information, but I do want to give you the opportunity. There's any like final thoughts or last minute pieces, negative wisdom you want to share and just this last minute or two. Um, I just want to say you work so hard as college students you are not only working so hard in your classes, many of you are involved in extracurriculars maybe you're working a part time job or you know you're you're commuting back and forth and you just have all of these things impacting your your life as a student. We just want to see we see you we see that you're you're busy and you have so much going on and we're here to not only talk about this policy stuff which is important, but we're always here to celebrate those triumphs with you help you work through any anything that might be giving you a little bit of stress. We're here to just talk it through so please never hesitate to reach out to us whether it's, you know, through email or stopping by our office we just want you to know we're here to help you in whatever way we can. Yeah I couldn't have said it better myself Shelby. I appreciate you I appreciate you taking time as well to chat with me just about some of those questions I think we often get and given students a little bit more information, heading into the fall semester. This is going to conclude our very first Tuesday talk. So glad that it was kept in the family for the very first one. So excited next week, Tuesday, August 23. We also posted at 12pm will be our conversation with the grad program office and CSC. So any questions about the CSC master's programs, the sucks program very very popular, or the PhD program. Be sure to tune in get answers to some of those questions about the graduate program and how best to set yourself up for success for that. Nothing else to say. Thanks again Shelby and we will see you all next week. Thanks for having me.