HELP! For Parents of Letters & Sciences Students
This webpage is designed to help parents and families find quick answers to questions they may have; and, at the same time, learn how to access the resources provided by Letters and Sciences (LTSC) which assists both their students and LTSC families while navigating their students’ academic progress.
We’re glad you’re reading and interested in how things work in our office!
- How can parents and families help their student’s advisor or the advising process?
- How can my son/daughter meet with his or her advisor?
- May I also meet with my son or daughter’s advisor?
- What’s the difference between individual advising and walk-in advising?
- My student cannot get into a course. Can his advisor get him/her into the course?
- When should my son or daughter declare his or her major?
- How can my son or daughter change his or her major?
- How can he or she access resources across campus?
- Does LTSC recommend any websites for the parents of students?
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What other things can parents do to help their students at Maryland?
1. How can parents and families help their student’s advisor or the advising process?
The most important thing parents can do to assist their students is to ask that their children be responsible for themselves. Today’s college students face a more complex world than past generation of students (Smith & Gordon, 5); and, as a part of becoming responsible adults, it’s incumbent upon them to reach out for assistance while also being proactive in learning about what University policies may affect them during their stay at Maryland. For many students, the difference between their experience in high school and college is tremendous.
Understand students put a lot of pressure on themselves to excel and often call home when they are upset or confused. Listen to what your son or daughter says, but try not to overreact. If you talk to them a day or so later, the “crisis” has often passed. Recognize that this is a time of exploration and self-discovery for students. Show interest in your son or daughter’s academic decisions, but try not to influence him or her unduly (University of Illinois at Chicago).
When your son or daughter expresses concern about their progress or academic planning, ask them, “Have you scheduled an appointment with your academic advisor?” and “Who is your academic advisor?” When they first express concern about a course, you might ask, “Have you spoken to your professor or your teaching assistant?”
LTSC advisors reach out to students through email, introducing themselves and asking that students arrange appointment times with them, so conversations can be had about planning and troubleshooting any problems that may have come up. However, understand that advisors have many students on their “caseloads,” and they are not able to contact every student individually about when advisors are available. Students should make themselves known; this goes for professors too. Students do very well to introduce themselves to their professors each semester, sit close to them during classroom time and seek their assistance if needed. Who knows? Those professors may become terrific references and mentors in the future.
Bottom line? Push your son or daughter to get involved in not only their social lives, but in the main reason they are here—academics. By investing time in making themselves a known entity among 25,000 undergraduates, the dividend they receive is having professors, administrators and advisors take a personal interest in them. It’s a powerful combination.
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2. How can my son/daughter meet with his or her advisor?
Every LTSC student has an “assigned” advisor, and the group of students assigned to a particular advisor is called a “caseload.” The absolute best way for your son or daughter to meet with his or her advisor is to schedule an appointment with the advisor well in advance of any early registration period and definitely before any problems arise. By calling 301-314-8418 during our business hours M-F between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., your student can start the process of meeting their advisor one-on-one. Our website also gives the infrequent times our office may possibly be closed due to orientation.
We sometimes hear concerns from parents that their son or daughter isn’t able to see an advisor in the Letters and Sciences office. Know that LTSC exists because of and for our students; we make ourselves available as much as possible to them in as fair a manner as possible. From the time students meet with us at orientation, they are reminded how they can reach an advisor (email, individual appointments and telephone calls—some advisors now even make themselves available through instant messenger programs online). All LTSC students are also alerted during approximately the third week of class each semester as to whom their advisor will be; advisors reach out to their students through email, introducing themselves and giving students information about how to schedule appointments.
While there is no limit on how many times a student may schedule appointments during the semester, we do require that all NEW students, NEW TRANSFER students and students on PROBATION meet with us at least two to three times per semester.
As noted before, this process is predicated on students reaching out to make appointments with their advisors. Most often when students complain about being able to get an appointment with their advisors, it’s because they’ve waited until the last minute or a possible deadline…or worse, a serious problem has occurred…to reach out to their advisor. When this happens, it’s very difficult to fit in a student when other students who have scheduled appointments well in advance and also require the advisor’s time. The office is unable to schedule same day appointments, and during our busy registration periods students may find they may have to wait a week before meeting with their advisor.
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3. May I also meet with my son or daughter’s advisor?
We understand that parents play a major support role for any University student, and we appreciate parents being involved. Parents can attend advising sessions with their students; however, there are a couple of things to remember before doing so:
- Because of the Buckley Amendment (“Family Educational Right to Privacy Act of 1974), advisors are unable to discuss any academic specifics with parents about their students unless the student has signed a waiver to the amendment allowing us to speak freely about their academic situation. There are no exceptions to this policy. Students should ask for an amendment waiver in our office and sign the document in person. Faxes are not accepted for this form.
- Provided the student signs the waiver to the Buckley Amendment freely, we’re happy to involve parents in the academic process. However, please note that it is always preferable that our students act independently and responsibly when working with their advisor. It’s important to make note of the fact that while we strive to nurture, it’s critical they learn to take responsibility for themselves and their academic progress. A best case scenario is one in which the student meets with his or her advisor and then relays what was discussed with his or her parents.
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4. What’s the difference between individual advising and walk-in advising?
As you have already read, all Letters and Sciences students have “assigned” advisors. The exception to this relates to students who have declared themselves with Letters and Sciences after the first few weeks of the semester. Because these students take a small amount of time to assign to an advisor, we allow them to take advantage of our walk in services—we don’t want to make them wait too long to see an advisor in our office and get started on the right foot. Individual appointments are very important for all students, and they offer opportunities for students to meet with their assigned advisor for 30 minutes (per session) to receive advising assistance. Advisors will extend this time with students if their students email them in advance and request the need for more time. Students call (301) 314-8418 or stop by 1117 Hornbake Library to set up an appointment.
Walk-in Advising is for students not assigned to a LTSC advisor because they only recently switched to our department. They may obtain 15 minute, same day appointments with LTSC advisors. We do ask that all students changing their major status to Letters and Sciences first attend a “Change of Major” workshop. Student can sign up for these workshops here: http://www.ltsc.umd.edu/form-changeofmajorworkshop.html.
At this time, LTSC cannot advise students who have majors declared outside LTSC, have not attended a “Change of Major” workshop or who have not yet matriculated into the University of Maryland College Park. If you have a son or daughter who is new to Maryland, we’ll be sure to take terrific care of all of their concerns during their orientation session.
Among many items, students can receive the following services during Individual and Walk-in advising appointments:
- Removal of their (academic) registration blocks
- Advice on course selection options
- Information about possible majors
- Answers to general questions
- Referrals to campus resources and services
- Review of your Four Semester Plan
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5. My student cannot get into a course. Can his advisor get him/her into the course?
It’s important to remember that advisors in LTSC have no authority in regard to courses in degree granting majors. Like students, we rely strictly on information we see via Testudo (http://www.testudo.umd.edu) as to what classes are available and open.
We do understand the trials and tribulations occasionally that our students (freshmen and sophomores) must endure to complete a full schedule that fits our students’ expectations; however, the best we can do is direct students to place themselves on waitlists and hold files and monitor class enrollment—especially during the first two weeks of classes. We call this the “drop/add period.” One of the most important things we tell our students is to remain extremely flexible (accept 8:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. courses, class on Fridays, etc.) and have many backup courses whenever possible, especially when fulfilling CORE requirements. In extremely rare cases, where a student finds they absolutely have to have a class immediately in order to make themselves eligible for a Limited Enrollment Program (LEP), we may instruct them to approach a department or college office.
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6. When should my son or daughter declare his or her major?
The answer to this question is near and dear to every LTSC advisor’s heart, and there is no easy answer. We do have one basic rule in LTSC, however, and we’re very clear with students that this one rule is pretty much set in stone: All students at the University of Maryland must declare their major by the time they reach their 60th credit (junior standing). While there are exceptions made surrounding folks with lots of AP credits, and some consideration for transfer students who come into Maryland with a lot of transfer credits, most students declare by this time.
When is it best to declare a major? It’s best to declare a major when a student is at least “pretty sure” they’ve found a major in which they’ll excel and enjoy. We love to work with totally undecided students and students trying to get into the Limited Enrollment Programs, but once a student has an idea in mind it’s best to declare that major and work with advisors who know about academic planning for that major in depth. There’s always the added benefit of having “major only” courses available to students once they have declared! Remember, it’s almost always possible to change a major again later (with proper planning) if a first choice doesn’t work out.
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7. How can my son or daughter change his or her major?
The major declaration process varies by college and department. If students are interested in a Limited Enrollment Program (Architecture, Business, Chemical and Life Scicences, Communication, Criminal Justice, Engineering, Government and Politics, Journalism, Psychology, Landscape Architecture) they must complete a set of gateway requirements before applying to the major. For more information, see this website: http://www.lep.umd.edu/. For the remaining majors (over 90), students must contact the departments directly to register for an appointment or workshop to begin the major change process.
Note: More and more, colleges now rely on their own “Change of Major” workshops. Most departments and colleges publish the times and locations for these workshops online and update them each semester. To find out more about these, a simple search on Maryland’s main website will reveal most of them. Also, check out departmental websites themselves. All academic information can be found there; look for items like “Undergraduate,” “advising,” “four-year plan,” “academic plan,” and “advising” when checking out their sites.
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8. How can he or she access resources across campus?
There are several ways to identify and access campus resources. First, students can visit the University of Maryland homepage (http://www.umd.edu) and do a search for the resource in which they are interested. Second, they can call the main campus information number (301.405.1000) and get directly connected to the resource. The last and easiest option is to visit the Student section of the LTSC website where one can view and access the resources by category: Academic Majors, Student Services, Special Programs, Registration Resources.
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9. Does LTSC recommend any websites for the parents of students?
We absolutely do. The very first website you should make yourself aware of is the “Terp Parent” site found at http://www.terpparent.umd.edu/. This page has tremendous information for parents.
Also, we suggest you also look at these pages:
(This site explains the FERPA rules surrounding your son or daughter’s privacy rights. It’s a thorough discussion of the rules we are bound by when working with your son or daughter.
This page speaks to allowing students to grow and become responsible adults on campus. We suggest this site only as your own tool in pushing your student to take responsibility for himself or herself and getting involved in their own academic progress.
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10. What other things can parents do to help their students at Maryland?
Want to be more involved without pushing too much? Here are some more suggestions for assisting your son or daughter. You’ll quickly see that at its most basic, it asks that you keep a good line of communication open with your son or daughter.
- Review with your son or daughter academic dates and deadlines at the beginning of each semester. This way, you can also mark on your calendar dates when a semester’s classes have to be settled; when a deadline might exist for dropping a course; or even when all of a semester’s courses might be dropped at once.
- Quiz you son or daughter on who their advisor is. Ask if they know the name(s) of their advisor(s) and how to contact them. Ask if they’ve met their advisors each semester.
- Let your son or daughter know it’s their responsibility to stay on top of their academic progress.
- Encourage your son or daughter to use campus resources, especially when learning more about themselves in regard to choosing a major. This is a critical time for students, and they’ll begin now to make some decisions which may affect their lives after school.
- Discuss with your son or daughter their course choices; listen to their rationale for taking what they’re registered for and what they hope to register for in the future.
- If your son or daughter expresses some personal or academic concerns, push them to seek assistance on their own or to meet with their advisor.
- Celebrate their accomplishments in and outside of the classroom!
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Thanks for reading! If this information has not answered your questions, or you need more specific help in association with Letters and Sciences office, you are welcome to write our Associate Director, William Bisese, at bisese@umd.edu. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible. If you have any suggestions for this page, or additional information you believe we should add, let us know that too!
Works Cited
Salisbury University. “Parents: Keys To Helping Your Student.” School of Business.
Salisbury University, 2009. Web. October 2, 2009. http://www.salisbury.edu/
perdueadvising/Parents/keystohelp.html.
Smith, Donald C. & Virginia N. Gordon. A Family Guide to Academic Advising.
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 2003.
University of Illinois at Chicago. “Undergraduate Advising Questions and Answers for
Parents.” University Parent Connection. University of Illinois at Chicago, 2009.Web. October 2, 2009. http://www.universityparent.com/uic/2009/05/19/undergraduate-advising-questions-and-answers-for-parents.
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