Tutor Contact: Sonja Plesset
Sophomore Advising – the Basics
The primary goal of sophomore advising is to support you as you transition into your House and your concentration.You have been matched with an adviser in your House based on common interests. This sophomore adviser will serve as your primary academic adviser in your third term. S/he will sign your Study Card and your Plan of Study. S/he will alsohelp you identify advisers in the concentrations who can answer concentration-specific questions.
Concentration choice will be a primary focus for sophomores and advisers in the third term. After you declare a concentration, you will be assigned a concentration adviser or advising team. From then on, you will get your academic forms signed by a concentration adviser and/or your resident dean. However, your House sophomore adviser will continue to offer you supplemental support throughout your sophomore year, working with you on academic issues such as study abroad, secondary fields, and research opportunities.
Who Is My Sophomore Adviser?
You should receive an e-mail from your sophomore adviser in late August or early September. However, if for some reason your adviser can’t reach you, you can find her or his contact information by logging into the Advising Network Portal after September 2nd.
Go to www.fas.harvard.edu/advising, and click on Advising Network Portal. Once you log in, your sophomore adviser should be identified on your Portal page. If you do not see a sophomore adviser listed, contact the sophomore advising coordinator in your House, who will be listed on your Portal page and on the Advising Programs Office’s (APO) website.
Why Was I Matched with My Particular Sophomore Adviser?
The sophomore advising coordinators in the Houses match rising sophomores with advisers. Usually students are matched with advisers along divisional academic lines. So, for instance, if you identified government and history as potential concentrations on your Sophomore Advising Questionnaire, then you most likely were matched with an adviser whose own work lies in the social sciences. Occasionally, however, the sophomore advising coordinators identify similar interests other than academic division that they feel are important to a good match. Because sophomore advisers, like freshman advisers, are pre-concentration advisers, any match should be a productive one, as long as both parties invest in it.