Advising and Placement Testing

Advisement takes place on the second day of summer orientation. 

You’ll meet with your individual advisor and discuss your high school record, questions you have about the curriculum and possible first-year courses. Together with your advisor, you’ll determine likely courses based on your interests, probable major, course availability and core curriculum requirements.

Class Schedules
You’ll receive your fall semester schedule during your advisement meeting. The standard academic course load at St. Norbert is four courses per semester (the equivalent of 16 credit-hours). A typical first-year student schedule contains two or three general/core courses, a course in your major and possibly an elective (if only two general/core courses are taken).

Changing Class Schedules
You can address schedule modifications when you meet with your permanent academic advisor the day before classes begin, or in July and August on the registrar’s website. You may also change courses during the “drop-add” period, which extends through Thursday of the first week of classes.

A Special Note About the June Orientation Sessions
Advisors register students during each orientation session. They do make an attempt to fill all classes evenly; however, keeping classes open for students who register in the later session(s) is not always possible. If you’re unable to attend an early session, you might not have first choice on class selection, but you will definitely get the classes you need. 

Early Advisement Meetings and Scheduling
Due to staffing and faculty availability, we’re unable to arrange special advisement meetings or early registration outside the orientation schedule. If you can’t make any of the orientation sessions scheduled, there will be an opportunity to register with an advisor over the phone in August.

Summer Faculty Advisors
The faculty advisor you meet with during Summer Orientation more than likely will not be your permanent academic advisor. Summer faculty advisors are trained specifically to deal with new-student scheduling. During Week of Welcome in the fall, you’ll have an opportunity to meet with your permanent academic advisor.

Writing Placement Procedures
All incoming students must take the Advisement Survey, which includes a section on Writing Placement. you will read descriptions of our two writing-focused courses for first-year studentsand then take a brief survey. In addition, you will be REQUIRED to upload a writing sample (more information below). Finally, you will select which of our two courses you feel is most appropriate for you, either a Writing Intensive (WI) cousre, or IDIS 100 College Writing.

The writing sample must be your own original work. It should be an academic/scholarly assignment (like an essay). If possible, it should be an essay that uses research (for example, it has a thesis statement and incorporates quotes and paraphrases, and it includes a Works Cited section). Microsoft Word or PDF files are accepted.

Please read below for more information on the two writing-focused courses you will select from.