Registering for classes can be one of the most stressful parts of being a college student. Deciding which classes to take first and fitting them into various time slots throughout the week is no easy feat. This can be especially taxing on students just beginning their college careers. The transition from high school senior to college freshman is alarming enough without the added pressure of class scheduling.

On October 6, 2015, Kean University and the School of General Studies hosted Advisement Week in the Center for Academic Services (CAS) to assist in the process of new students deciding on the best schedule for them.

Advisement Week was a compilation of all of Kean University’s different subsidiary colleges, such as the Michael Graves College of Architecture and the College of Humanities and Social Science. All of these subdivisions make up Kean University’s large selection of offered degrees and contain all of the different college majors and minors.

College of Humanities and Social Science table during Advisement Week
Michael Dumaine l The Cougar's Byte

Advisement Week also offered a raffle with the winning prize of a new pair of over-ear headphones. To be eligible for the raffle, participants must have answered a random trivia question regarding the event.

Each college had its own table with multiple advisors and representatives. Dan Gover, English professor , stated, “this is an important day because a lot of students do not follow what they specifically need to graduate, which is the most important part of class scheduling.”

One of the most beneficial aspects of Advisement Week is the ability to come and meet face to face with the head faculty of a pertaining major. Rose Gonnella, executive director of the Michael Graves College of Architecture, commended the idea of Advisement Week. “It allows freshmen to come and sit-down and speak with their advisors [with whom they may have never met] and get a full class requirement form that must be signed and revised before the student leaves,” Gonnella said.

Advisement Week also touched upon the importance of mastering KeanWise, as well as the guidelines for registering for classes and observing what classes have been completed already. This allows students to organize and plan their lives even more in depth by looking into their future years as a student and getting an idea for what is to come.

Gwen Beloti, Transition to Kean (T2K) coordinator, stated, “The individual one-on-one experience is the best thing that can be offered to a freshmen student. A lot of students are not sure who their advisor is, so allowing them to meet and talk with them is truly beneficial.”

The ability to learn multitasking, time management and scheduling are important facets of life. College forces you to learn these qualities by making them imperative to a student’s overall success. Without proper time management, a student will have difficulties keeping track of class, sports, work, homework, a social life and any other aspects of their daily lives. These qualities are not easily learned by all, and Kean University has recognized this and implemented Advisement Week for the freshmen class. The idea is to help students learn these qualities early on so that by their later years, they can handle it themselves, thus becoming a more independent person overall.

College of Business and Public Management 
Michael Dumaine l The Cougar's Byte