Advising Programs Office

Advising Programs Office of Harvard College

1414 Massachusetts Avenue, Floor 3R
617-496-0218 
advising.college.harvard.edu
advising@fas.harvard.edu

The Advising Programs Office (APO) cultivates quality academic advising for all Harvard College undergraduate students. The APO promotes the intellectual and personal transformation of students across the four years by encouraging exploration, planning, reflection and informed decision-making about curricular and co-curricular choices and opportunities.

The APO leads the pre-concentration advising network, inclusive of faculty, administrative and residential staff, and graduate and upper-level students by providing them education, training, resources, and support to ensure students receive robust and equitable academic advising. The APO collaborates with colleagues in academic departments, partners in the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Dean of Students Office, and other constituents to ensure that students are well prepared and empowered to access the full scope of Harvard College’s liberal arts and sciences education.  

The APO offers resources and webinars for incoming students over the summer prior to matriculation, and the office works with the following adviser roles: 

Board of First-Year Advisors (BFA)  

The First-Year Advisor is a faculty member, administrator, Proctor, or other University affiliate  who helps first-year students select courses and advises on questions regarding the curriculum, academic requirements, educational goals, summer opportunities, and extracurricular interests.  

The Board of First-Year Advisors (BFA) is comprised of three groups:

  • Proctors: Graduate students or staff who live in residence with first-year students, serve as academic advisor for ~10 first-year students  

  • Non-Resident Advisors: Staff/administrators, graduate students, and faculty from around the University who advise between 4-10 first-year students   

  • Pre-Concentration Advisors: Non-ladder faculty who teach a part-time courseload within a department and work part-time with the APO to advise 50-55 first-year students (this is a new pilot program as of 2023-24, with the hope of scaling-up) 

In the past, BFA members were asked to support a student through the entirety of the first-year, August through May; however, with the shifts to prior-term course registration coming into effect Fall 2023 for the Spring of 2024, we are asking our volunteers to support students through Concentration Declaration in late October of sophomore fall. Although a slightly longer time commitment, the concentration deadline is moving up to late October (from the third Thursday in November) and sophomore fall course selection will take place the previous spring. Upon concentration declaration, students will transition into departmental advising structures. We are also asking our advisors to take on a minimum of four advisees. 

Peer Advising Fellows Program (PAF) 

Peer Advising Fellows (PAFs) are upper-level students who are assigned to first-year students to facilitate their transition to the College and their acclimation to Harvard, roughly 190 students serve in this capacity. PAFs provide advice on student life at the College, including sharing their own academic experiences, helping with course selection, and identifying co-curricular opportunities like research and study abroad. PAFs are also there to listen to and talk through challenges with first-year students. They can give advice on anything from extracurricular to social experiences and refer first-year students to other resources when appropriate. PAFs are expected to have thorough knowledge of campus resources so that they know where to send advisees for information in each concentration. Finally, the PAFs play a key role in helping to build community within the entryway and dormitory by working with the Proctors and each other on study breaks, other entryway activities, and dorm-wide events. 

Sophomore Advising 

Each sophomore is assigned a Sophomore Advisor, who serves as the primary academic advisor guiding students in choosing courses for the third semester, exploring and selecting a concentration, and reflecting on co-curricular opportunities including research, study abroad, public service, and internships. Sophomore Advisors connect students to resources and guide students in how to pursue their interests. Concentrations will assume primary academic advising responsibility for sophomores in the fourth term, while House Sophomore Advisors will continue to offer on-going academic advising as students explore curricular and co-curricular endeavors outside of the concentration. Each House appoints a Sophomore Advising Coordinator (SAC) to manage this work and plan House-based advising events for sophomores. Given the changes to prior-term course registration and the shifts in advising, the Sophomore Advising program will sunset after the 2023-2024 academic year, allowing for fewer advising transitions, less role confusion, a more consistent group of individuals, and of course, alignment with the new faculty approved registration process. 

Concentration Advising 

Concentration advising seeks to guide students in three phases: into an appropriate set of introductory courses in the field of study, to advanced work in the field of study and, when applicable, through a final project or thesis in the senior year. Each concentration plays an important role in pre-concentration advising through collaborative efforts with the APO and the Houses. Students are encouraged to begin exploring concentrations in the first year especially during the Exploring Fields of Study (EFoS) program in the spring where students are invited to attend concentration events and meet with advising teams. In the third term, Sophomore Advisors encourage students to seek out information from the concentration advising teams before the declaration deadline in October. 

Once sophomores select a concentration, their primary academic advisor will be assigned based on the policies of their concentration. Most use a team approach: the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) or Head Tutor, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies (ADUS) or Assistant Head Tutor, and Undergraduate Coordinator (UGC) will advise various students, splitting duties as needed depending on the student, situation, and time. Some concentrations make use of the House Tutors to advise students by House, coordinating with the Faculty Deans in the hiring process. 

Each concentration has its own requirements. Several of the humanities and social science concentrations have a tutorial system (ranging from one to five semesters), and many students receive additional advising from their tutorial leaders. Basic concentration information, including gateway courses and contact information for each of the concentrations can be found on the APO's Exploring Concentrations page here.   

Advising Resources & my.harvard.edu 

Students can access records tracking their academic progress in my.harvard. In the “Advising Network” tab, students will find the photos, names, and contact information for all of their assigned advisors. They can also view their Academic Advising Report which outlines their progress towards completing the requirements for their degree and other important advising materials, such as advising questionnaires, score reports from placement exams, and a “What If?” report to help students plan their path to degree. Students’ advisors can also access the my.harvard portal to see the photos, names, and contact information for all of their advisees. Advisors are strongly encouraged to update and consult the “Advising Journal” frequently to facilitate communication between the advising network team. 

Official advisors in the network also receive access to an Advisor Portal. A SharePoint site that has been created as a centralized academic advising hub of resource information for all members of the advising network—including the BFA, PAFs, and many residential advisors. These individuals also receive support from the APO via regular newsletters, access to a Slack real-time messaging channel, and regular Advisor Learning Series workshops to stay abreast of everything academic advising.  

Finally, perhaps the most important resource is the Student Handbook and Fields of Concentration. The Harvard College Student Handbook contains the rules and procedures of Harvard College which students are expected to be familiar with and to follow. Specific requirements for each of the fields of concentration, secondary fields, and language citations can be found in the Fields of Concentration handbook.