Drafting a Four-Year Plan

As a tutorial advisee, you will draft a four-year plan in your second semester. This helps us meet several objectives:

• Learning how to plan for a major (even if you change it)
• Making sure you can meet pre-requisites for upper-level courses you are interested in
• Keeping slots for introductory courses outside your major interest areas early

Toward this end, you will not only complete a course plan but will also reflect on how your plan meets the elements of a liberal education.

Four-Year Plan

Extend your four-year plan with one major in mind. While this plan is not a commitment, it is very important that you consider some of your larger goals (such as your spikes and bumps ) and plan carefully to achieve them. Allot at least 2-3 hours for a combination of reflection, exploring the catalog, and using it to make sure you've gotten all the pre-requisites and semesters correct. You may even need to contact faculty members to determine when courses that are not offered every year may be offered next. This is an important exercise that can have real consequences for your satisfaction with your education. Make sure you give it adequate attention. You will use your Wiki in our Advising group to document your plan. Please include for each course:

• The three-letter department abbreviation
• The course number
• The full course name

In addition, you will notice that at the bottom of your four-year plan table, there are four columns for you to tabulate how many credits and courses you are taking in each division. Note that some courses and concentration listings are non-divisional (e.g., GWSS, GDS, NRS, TUT, etc.). Please list only the course department and number here, along with the credits. This portion will help us both ensure you have a good representation of studies across the curriculum. If you are planning to study abroad, you can include that semester in your plan (typically during third year). While planning, you may want to consider your eligibility for Phi Beta Kappa. You may find the requirements in the College catalog.

Essay on the Elements of the Liberal Arts

Once you have completed your four year plan, please write a short essay where you tell your reader (e.g., yourself, me, your future adviser) what your spikes and bumps are and how your courses connect to them. In addition, tell your reader how you've incorporated each of the six elements of a liberal education listed in the catalog. Note that you will want to be thinking about these even as you are planning. When you are finished, post (copy and paste) your essay to your curricular journal.

Completion and Feedback

Although the PioneerWeb software will e-mail me when you've made updates to your wiki and journal, you may be working incrementally, so I would appreciate if you would send me an e-mail when you feel your work is complete. I will then review them and make comments for you. If you are not already, you should subscribe to both your Wiki and Journal, so that you too get e-mails when I make comments. You can do this by clicking the "Subcribe" link at the top of each.