Hi HES students, A little note on how advising works in Health and Exercise Science (HES): In groups. We would love to do individual appointments with each of you, but at this point it would just be impossible to do in real life (as opposed to... celestial life?). What I mean by impossible (in real life): Most professors have fewer than 15 advisees (15 is at the high end). With that load, individual appointments are realistic. Professors in HES have approximately 100 (Van Ness has, like, 150 or something). So if we were to meet with each student individually, we would wrap up our final appointments shortly after your children's children's children graduate from... UC Lodi. In 2076, Lodi will be a thriving college town, I'll be in hospice, kept alive by Sauron's ring, and you'll have Alzheimer's (after a long, successful career, of course). When we finally met for our appointment, we would be completing it for the sake of completing it. Like a bucket list item. I'm picturing a 90-year-old you in a rocking chair, longing out loud: "I always wanted to spray paint a poop emoji on a wild lion's hip... and finish my advising appointment with Jensen." So we now do "open advising sessions" instead. (You can do the lion thing on your own time. And at your own risk. And I'll probably read about it in The Stockton Record.) Okay, let me answer a few questions: DO I HAVE TO GO? I mean, you should. It's like brushing your teeth. If you set aside a couple of minutes and get it done, it's probably good for you. And minty. WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON'T GO? Nothing. But part of that nothing is that your registration hold doesn't get released. So it's helpful to go. And, again, minty. WHEN DO THE OPEN ADVISING SESSIONS BEGIN? Now maybe. Check your email, ask the office administrator; it's posted somewhere. You'll have to pay attention to the signs, just like if you're driving somewhere. In this case, driving to your graduation. HOW MANY OPEN ADVISING SESSIONS ARE THERE? A bunch. Typically, they're every Tuesday and Thursday at noon throughout the entire duration of the advising period. Again: look for the signs. WHERE ARE THEY? Main Gym, room 118. There will be a sign-in sheet. If you write your name on it, it helps us keep track. And it gets your hold lifted. I JUST SHOW UP TO ONE OF THOSE? Yeah, show up. But don't "just" show up. You have to come prepared. If you haven't read the relevant information on PacificLectures.com, you won't be ready for advising... which means you won't be advised. All the factulty do during these sessions is catch your mistakes and release holds. "I didn't prepare" is not a catchable mistake. The type of sentence you should say at advising is, "Here's the schedule I put together; do you see any mistakes?" Then we'll say, "Nope, looks good" or "That course might fill up, so just make sure you identify an appropriate GE as a backup" or "Hahaha, where's your real schedule?" WHERE CAN I FIND THE NECESSARY INFORMATION TO PREPARE FOR OPEN ADVISING? First, look for the signs. Second, Miguel Medrano (mmedrano@pacific.edu) is the department's Administrative Assistant; he knows things the rest of us don't. And third, PacificLectures.com. The Pacific Lectures site should be able to answer all (at least most, but probably all) of your questions. It answers all of the questions about major requirements, diversity requirement, and foreign language requirements, all of that. But you can also learn that stuff in the catalog. Pacific's official catalog. Just Google it. It's not hard to find. Advising isn't an exercise in Googling in tandem. "What do I need to take in order to graduate?" is a question that will annoy every advisor in the galaxy, even those with 6 advisees. So don't do that unless you want your professors to wonder (genuinely) how you graduated middle school. If your professors sincerely harbor that kind of curiosity about you, it won't be good for you when you need letters of recommendation. So... use the resources available. They're abundant. WAIT... WHAT ALL DO I NEED TO KEEP TRACK OF? 1) GE requirements, 2) Major requirements, 3) Foreign language requirements, 4) Diversity requirement, and 5) If you plan on applying to graduate school, what is required to apply to the program you plan on attending. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT A CATALOG WAS, SO I DECIDED TO JUST SHOW UP KNOWING NOTHING ABOUT CLASSES. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING. PLEASE HELP! Umm... I know you're all smart, talented, and resourceful. And you probably have an iPhone app that can solve Fermat's last theorem while capturing a really sneaky Pokemon. We're well into the digital age and you don't have microcephaly. Within 10 minutes, you can figure out exactly everything about everything. So if you decide not to figure out your graduation requirements, your advisor will stare blankly at you for a minute and then say, "Why don't you you come to the next group session." WHAT DO I NEED TO DO BEFORE COMING TO THE OPEN ADVISING SESSION? This isn't what to do during the appointment, but what to do before you arrive: 1) Prepare a list of courses you have completed (you can access your transcript from InsidePacific or BannerWorks). 2) Have a complete list of courses you have yet to complete in order to finish your program. 3) Create a tentative schedule for spring semester. 4) Create a plan of study through graduation. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT OTHER STUFF, NOT JUST SCHEDULING. All right, good. We (professors) love those talks. But now is not the time. "Advising" is not a time for that kind of advice (the nomenclature is confusing, I realize). We can talk about career goals, grad applications, and beekeeping in a later conversation. Okay... here are some closing thoughts: We (your advisors) would love more than anything to do individual appointments... Actually, that's not true. Not more than anything. But definitely more than many things. For example: I would love to do individual advising way more than I would love to have a dead opossum touch my lips. And somewhat more than I would love to see you (successfully) spray paint a wild lion's hip. Serious point: My favorite part of the day really is chatting with all of you. It's my favorite part by a lot. I've heard Drs. VanNess and Ciccolella say the same thing. The best part of the job is (and will always be) the conversations with students. Unfortunately, with over 300 HES students and a comical shortage of professors attempting to manage that bundle, we have some impossibilities to cope with. (What is the collective noun for students? Like a flock of seagulls, a litter of puppies, a pack of coyotes, a swarm of bees, an army of ants, a quidditch of students?) Anyway, we're doing our best to keep the student experience personal and meaningful, but it's a bit strenuous at the moment (just until we can hire, like, four new professors to balance the ridiculously-unbalanced student-to-faculty ratio). Again: we're legitimately, genuinely sorry about that. But our sorrow is not something that can solve the problem. All right...... I'll see you all soon, my favorite quidditch of students. Courtney