Academic advisors play a crucial role in helping students navigate the complexities of college life by providing academic, career, and personal support. Advisors serve as a resource and advocate, empowering students to make informed decisions contributing to their educational success and personal growth. The IU School of Public Health – Bloomington (SPH-B) offers students the services of expert professional advisors who provide guidance and support, helping them make informed decisions regarding their educational goals and requirements. Because the advisor-student relationship is so beneficial, students are required to meet with their assigned SPH-B academic advisor each term. During these meetings, the student and advisor will:

• Work to create an individualized plan for degree progression based on a student’s goals, interests, abilities, major(s), minor(s), areas of specialization, and career aspirations.
• Explore the curriculum, course content, class, department, school, and university expectations to help students make well-informed choices while building a well-rounded education.
• Identify co-curricular opportunities to augment the student’s academic plans, including student organizations, skill-building courses, overseas study possibilities, and more.
• Monitor academic progress to ensure students recognize potential academic hurdles and are satisfactorily progressing in their degree while responding to the needs of their individualized plan in real-time.
• Investigate professional opportunities and develop career plans regarding practical experiences, internship prospects, graduate education planning, and other career-related opportunities.
• Consider the student’s personal and developmental needs to support success holistically through the building of study, time management, and self-care skills.
• Ascertain the logic of the institution to better understand the policies and procedures of IU and SPH-B, allowing the student to take responsibility for and ownership of their education.

As part of this holistic collaboration, each semester advisors and students will work to construct a schedule plan for subsequent terms and help students understand the systems and tools for course planning and registration. These tools include Student Center, iGPS Plan, Student Online Advising Records (SOAR), Degree Maps, Academic Advising Reports (AAR), and more. Additional registration information is available on the Student Central website. Once students have completed their required meeting, the academic advisor will remove the advising hold, allowing students to register when their enrollment window opens.