Advising and Selecting Courses
As a student with a disability, you should consider disclosing your disability to various members of the UT community who are here to help you! One key group of individuals who need to know information pertaining to your disability would be the ACADEMIC ADVISORS who you will be working with throughout your stay at UT. While enrolled at UT, you and your advisor will work together to develop your academic plan. To ensure that your personal and academic needs are met, you will want to articulate to your advisor your values, goals and career objectives. Further, your academic advisor is knowledgeable concerning many aspects of University life and can provide you information and advice on utilizing the opportunities available on campus. While working with your advisor, you will:
- Learn how to be a successful college student
- Become connected to the University
- Explore major and career options
- Develop your academic plan
- Reach your educational, career, and personal goals
Frequently Asked Questions
- When to meet with your advisor
- Talking to your advisor about your disability
- Course Selection
- Number of Credits to Take
- Days and Times of Classes
- When classes are not available
WHEN TO MEET WITH YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR
Students first meet an advisor during their orientation session. Your advising center will be determined based on your declared major. If you are not sure of who your advisor is, you can go to the Student Success Center website or feel free to ask your ODS coordinator for more information. If you are a student who:
- Has earned less than 30 credit hours at UT (Knoxville)
- Is on academic probation
- Has transferred to UT and has earned less than 30 credits
- Then, you must be advised EACH SEMESTER.
- If you do not fall into one of these categories, then you are not required to meet with an advisor both semesters.
Students with ID numbers ending in EVEN digits are advised in the Fall (for the Spring semester).
Students with ID numbers ending in ODD digits are advised in the Spring (for the Fall semester).
Keep in mind:
- You can meet with an advisor as often as necessary, so take advantage of this opportunity to build an academic plan that will meet your goals!! Make sure to schedule your advising appointment IN ADVANCE of the registration date!! Otherwise it may make it much more difficult to get into the classes that you need!
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TALKING TO YOUR ADVISOR ABOUT YOUR DISABILITY
You can come and talk to your ODS Coordinator if you need help building your self-advocacy skills and learning how to discuss your disability, strengths, and limitations with your advisor. We are here to help you develop these skills, as it is imperative to your success in college and beyond.
There are various benefits to disclosing your disability to your advisor. The primary reason would be that they are here to help you, and the more information that you can share with them about your needs, strengths, limitations, and goals; then the better off you will be! Advisors are not experts on disability-related issues, so it is very important that you can explain your needs when it comes to selecting appropriate classes!
Things to think about:
Know your strengths and limitations!
- Take a balanced course load. Take some classes that play to your strengths, but also make sure to mix in other classes that may be a little more difficult for you.
- If possible, try to take a few classes that are interesting to you.
- Read the course descriptions in the "Undergraduate Catalog" to get an idea of whether or not you might be interested in a course.
- Based on your strengths/limitations and possible courses to select, determine the best number of credit hours for you to take to meet your needs.
Is Math a difficult subject for you? If so then:
- You may want to look into taking fewer total credit hours if you plan to take a math course. This will give you the additional time that you will need to put toward your math studies.
- Discuss your options
- Can you take the course(s) in the Summer, through Independent Study & Correspondence, at another school (e.g. community college), etc. Ask if there are math courses that play more to your strengths, but that will still count toward your math requirement. (Not ALL Math classes are the same, so it's worth looking into!)
Does your disability impact reading?
- Inquire how much reading is required in the courses you will be taking. If your advisor is not sure, you can contact the professor directly to get a feel for what will be required in the course.
- Get texts early and begin reading ahead.
- Ask ODS about books on tape or other technology to help with reading texts.
What foreign language experience have you had? Is it required for your major?
- Identify options & information (e.g. majors or schools w/o language requirement, grading options, etc.)
- Even if you did not take foreign language in high school, you still may be required to take it at UT.
- Talk with other students, faculty within the foreign language department, advisors, and your ODS coordinator to determine the most appropriate foreign language for you to take based on your strengths and limitations.
Ask your advisor if they know anything about the instructor's style of teaching.
- For example- is the instructor more/less interactive? Does her or she use multiple formats to get the material across? Are tests mostly essay, multiple choice, etc.?
- Advisors can't be expected to know all of this information, so you may want to look at "Tennessee 101" online for more feedback about specific instructors.
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COURSE SELECTION
At UT, your advisor will help you to select the appropriate courses to complete your academic program, but in most cases it is up to you to determine your course schedule. These are things you should consider when putting your schedule together:
NUMBER OF CREDIT HOURS TO TAKE
It is always important to listen to the guidance of your advisor when determining how many courses you should take, however they do not know you as well as you know yourself, so you must consider your needs. Typically, students take around 15 credit hours per semester (4-5 classes), BUT it is perfectly normal to take 12-15 credits.
Taking 12 credits will allow you to maintain your "full-time" status, and will give you more time to focus on classes that might be difficult for you. This is especially important during your first semester, since college will most likely be a HUGE adjustment!! The downside of taking 12 credits each semester is that it could take you longer to graduate, if you do not take summer classes or increase your credit hours per semester later on. One option is to gradually increase the number of credit hours that you are taking each semester. In addition, you will want to consider how many credits you need to take to meet financial aid and scholarship requirements.
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DAYS AND TIMES OF CLASSES
Your schedule will depend on your needs, but it will also be determined by what courses are available at the time you go to register. (This is another reason why it is so important to meet with your advisor EARLY in the semester).
These are some things to consider when scheduling your classes:
- Are you more alert and focused early in the morning? If so, look for early morning classes. If not, try to schedule classes later in the day or at night.
- Do you have joints/body aches or other issues in early morning, which may make it difficult to get to class on time, harder to sit for longer periods of time, etc? If so, consider classes offered later in the day, or on MWF.
- MWF classes are approximately 1-hour long; T/Th classes are approximately 1 ½-hours long. What difference does that make for you?
- Is it better for you to be in class more frequently, to maintain continuity? Then MWF classes may be good for you.
- Is it difficult for you to pay attention for more than 1 hour at a time, if so, then maybe T/Th or longer night classes are NOT the best option for you.
- In addition, if attention/concentration is a problem for you, try to schedule classes that appear to be more interesting to you during the longer time slots (T/Th or 3-hr night classes).
- In order to break up the workload during the week, try to avoid scheduling all of your classes on certain days. (All on MWF or All on T/Th)
- How many hours do you think that you want to take?
- The rule-of-thumb is 1-hr in-class = 3-hrs out-of-class preparation
- If you take a minimum of 12 credits each semester, it may take you longer to graduate; but it is possible that taking more credits per semester may have a negative impact on your GPA
- How much time are you allowing between classes?
- Give yourself time to get to the next class! (look at the map!)
- Do you have time to get organized before beginning class, to re-focus?
- Do you need time in between classes to prepare for the next class? (e.g. read, write lab report, review notes, complete project)
- Schedule in time to relax, study, eat, take medication(s), etc. throughout your day.
Talk with the instructor/department and/or look at a syllabus BEFORE enrolling in a course. This will help you to get an idea of what will be required and expected of you in a class, which may help in your decision of whether or not to take the class. Many syllabi are online.
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WHAT IF I CAN'T GET INTO THE CLASSES I WANT?
Make sure when you meet with your advisor that you have some good "alternate" classes to choose from in case you can not get into the classes that you want.
Ask your advisor what it means to "waitlist" for a class, and consider doing that if you can not get into a section of a course.
If all else fails, go back and talk with your advisor about other options.
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