Advising
Advising Information
Department of Health and Kinesiology
Advisor Role
There is no mandatory advising for students in Health and Kinesiology at this time. Students can use materials provided by their advisor to determine which classes to take each semester so that they are progressing adequately toward their degree. You should read every e-mail your advisor sends to you, so as to be informed of any changes. Advisors use neo.tamu.edu e-mail addresses, as this is the official method of communication within the university. Students should see their advisor if they have any questions about anything applying to their degree. Advisors are willing to give advice on course load, electives where appropriate, transfer classes from other colleges and universities as well as other general advising information.
Students who seek advice about what to take each semester should come to the meeting with several options prepared. Students who are unprepared at their advisor meeting will be asked to reschedule.
Busy Times of the Year
The advising staff strives to see each student who needs an appointment. You, as a student, must understand that there are times of the year when we are extremely busy: the week before school starts, the first week of school (add/drop period), Q-drop deadline and the pre-registration period (typically the last 6 weeks of school right up to graduation). In addition to seeing students, advisors must spend time processing pre-professional phase and professional phase applications, internship/student teaching applications, and probationary students, to name a few.
The best ways to be prepared when you come to see your advisor follow:
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Keep up with your degree plan by tracking what classes you have already taken.
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If you need help with a class schedule during pre-registration, bring a schedule already prepared. We will not look up sections or talk to you about classes to take if you are not prepared when you see us.
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Do not ask us to help you plan the rest of your degree during a peak time. A better time for that would be after the first week of school and before pre-registration. During peak times, there is not enough time during the appointment to accomplish this.
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Check the website to make sure you have all requisite forms. Don’t ask the advisor for the form as all departmental forms can be accessed from the computer and need to be filled out on the computer, printed, then turned in.
Making an Appointment with your Advisor
HLKN Advisors make their appointment schedules available one week at a time. Schedules for the following week are available first thing Thursday mornings. Students may come by the office to sign up for an appointment or call the main phone at (979) 845-4530. Sending your advisor an e-mail to set-up an appointment is not the most effective way to do so. You do not have to speak to an advisor to schedule an appointment. The receptionist can help you do this.
At least twice a week, advisors will see students on a walk-in basis. Typically this is Monday afternoon and Friday morning. Students are assisted on a first come, first served basis. This may require that you wait for a while to see an advisor. In addition, it is possible that the number of students on the waiting list can exceed the number of students it is possible for an advisor to see in that time. Waiting lists may be closed when they reach that number so that students do not wait to see an advisor but are turned away when the available time runs out.
Advisor schedules are fairly consistent during the semester, but may change during the first week of school, pre-registration period and down-time between semesters. Adequate notice will be given for these changes.
Communicating with Your Advisor
There are three potential methods of communicating with your advisor with advantages and disadvantages to each.
E-mail – this is an excellent form of communication if the answer does not have an immediate deadline. In addition, there are several times a year in which it is impossible for advisors to respond to every e-mail they receive in one day (pre-registration period, week before classes and the first week of school). Once again do not send an e-mail to set up an appointment.
Phone – this is a good way to communicate, but when advisors are seeing students all day, it is difficult to find time to return a call. If it is an answer you need within a specific deadline, phoning the advisor may not be the best way to get an answer. All of the same issues of sending an e-mail to an advisor also impact calling on the phone and leaving a message.
Appointment – this is probably the best method of communicating with your advisor, particularly if you have to have an answer by a deadline. Please keep in mind how appointments are scheduled and that they can vary depending on the time of the semester or year. Walk-in appointments are usually available twice a week, so this is a time that you can potentially get in to see an advisor with a quick question.
University Rules
Catalog – Each student is assigned a catalog number when they enroll in Texas A&M the first time. Students always have the option of switching to a newer catalog from the one they are currently under but must meet all requirements of the new catalog. The catalog currently in force for the 2008-2009 academic year is Catalog 131.
Excessive Hours – Students who started college in fall of 1999, up to the fall of 2006, are subject to being charged out-of-state tuition for exceeding 45 credit hours beyond their degree requirements. Students who first enrolled in the fall of 2006 and later will be charged out-of-state tuition for exceeding 30 credit hours beyond their degree requirements. This includes any class you’ve ever attempted (Q-drops, withdrawals, etc.) whether they count towards your degree or not. There are some exceptions and this is a somewhat difficult number to calculate. If you feel you might be close to this number, let your advisor know so you can attempt to calculate that number together.
First Year Grade Exclusion – Students who start at Texas A&M as freshmen may grade exclude up to three Ds, Fs or Us they received in their first year at Texas A&M. Students who transfer to Texas A&M are not eligible for First-Year Grade
Exclusion. If you grade exclude a course that is required for your degree, you will have to retake the course or take another course that meets the requirement. The grade for that course will still be on your transcript, but the grade will not be calculated into your A&M GPR. Students who plan to attend professional school may find that the school will recalculate the GPR with all Ds, Fs or Us being included in the calculation.
Writing Requirement – All students in degree plans starting with Catalog 127 are required to complete a writing requirement in their discipline. Beginning with catalog 130, students must complete two writing intensive courses in the discipline. All programs in the Department of Health and Kinesiology have the writing requirement incorporated into their degree.
International and Cultural Diversity Requirement – All students are required by the university to complete 6 hours of International and Cultural Diversity courses as part of the core curriculum. These courses are usually not included in the number of credit hours for the degree, as they can be met when meeting other requirements for the degree (i.e., Visual and Performing Arts requirement, Humanities requirement or Social Science requirement). Some Health and Kinesiology degrees have International & Cultural Diversity courses built into their degree.
To count a course as an International & Cultural Diversity requirement and another core curriculum requirement, compare the lists in the catalog to find a course that is on both lists. For example, in Catalog 130, ARTS 150 will satisfy both the Humanities requirement and the International & Cultural Diversity requirement.