Undergraduate Advising
The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science has a two-tiered approach to advising: the Office of Undergraduate Programs and peer advisors. Below is a breakdown of what you should and should not expect from each source of advising.
The Office of Undergraduate Programs
Drop-in advising hours
Hours are subject to change based on advisor availability and need.
Please view the CS Advising Queue for this week’s schedule.
Monday - Thursday afternoons, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Friday mornings, 10:00 am to 11:30 am
General email: undergrad@siebelschool.illinois.edu
CS Advising Queue
The school's undergraduate express drop-in advising.
CS Advising Piazza
The school's undergraduate online community: connect, share ideas, and information.
Staff
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Director of Undergraduate Programs |
Associate Director of Undergraduate Programs |
Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs
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Undergraduate Office Support Associate |
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Jacob Deters |
Katrina Jones |
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Alison B. Champion |
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We are generally available to help students navigate their degree requirements and the policies of their department, school, college, and the university. We can do the following for you:
- Review your degree requirements and assess your progress
- Help you plan your course schedule
- Explain the policies and procedures of your department, school, college, and the university
- Refer you to someone who can help if you are struggling - academically or otherwise
- Advise on transferring in or out of the school
- Assess transfer coursework (computer science coursework only)
- Make curriculum adjustments (e.g. substitutions)
- For international students: Process Curricular Practical Training (CPT) paperwork (but not I-20 extensions, underloads, OPT, and other issues – these should be sent to your college office). Non-engineering CS students will still select CS Advising for OPT request reviews; Engineering CS students will select Engineering Advising for OPT reviews.
- Workshops related to academic, career, personal, and mental health concerns.
You should not expect the academic office staff to do the following:
- Help you with questions about the content of your classes
- Get you into classes (though, in certain cases, they can provide overrides or point you in the right direction)
- Get you out of classes (though they can advise you on the ramifications of and procedures for dropping classes)
We are here to answer your academic questions. Stop by, call or email. Also see: Feedback or Report a problem
Your peers (especially advanced students)
The best source of inside information on what to expect from individual classes and instructors. Ask your fellow students in your classes, in your dorm, in our student clubs, and now in our CS Advising Piazza. Your peers can do the following for you:
- Help you anticipate the workload and difficulty of each course
- Help you anticipate the individual teaching styles of various instructors
- Give you survival tips for each course
- Recommend specific courses to take for electives and/or gen eds (though you should always confirm that their recommendations satisfy the requirements in question)
- Help you avoid difficult course combinations
You should not expect your peers to help you with the following:
- Answer detailed or complicated questions about degree requirements or university policies (these should be forwarded to your CS academic advisor)
- Suggest exceptions or alternatives to requirements or policies (you should view all such information with skepticism and confirm it with an academic advisor)
Note: It's always good to get multiple opinions, particularly regarding course combinations and opinions on how difficult/much work certain courses are. What seems relatively easy for one student might not be for another!