New Student Academic Advising

Every first-year student must complete the survey to help us build your first semester schedule.

Transfer students (who earned college credits after graduating from high school) do not need to complete the survey; your fall schedule will be based on your college transcript(s).

At Ithaca College, we prioritize your success. Your responses to the Academic Interests Survey help us build your fall schedule to include courses in your major or potential area of interest and a mix of core and elective courses to ensure that every one will count toward your degree. If you are enrolled in our Exploratory Pathways or Pre-Health Professions Program, the Academic Interests Survey is your critical first step in exploring areas of interest toward your eventual choice of major.

The survey is due June 2. We start building schedules in early June, so it is to your advantage to get your survey done as soon as you are able, as the information will help us to craft the best schedule for you.

And don’t forget to complete your math placement assessment as soon as you are able to do so. Some majors, minors, and even courses of general interest may require that students receive a minimum placement score to enroll. Without such a score, we may not be able to guarantee spots in classes or build schedules that include areas of interest.

Access the Academic Interests Survey via your New Student Checklist in IC Connect. To complete the survey, you'll need to first activate your new Ithaca College student account (if you haven’t already). More information about activating your new Ithaca College student account can be found on your New Student Checklist.

As a first-year student, you are guaranteed at least one class in your major or a potential major, but the rest of your classes may not match your interests as well as you—and we—would like.

The survey will remain open even after the deadline, but we will start creating schedules at that time, so please complete and submit it ASAP! If you miss the deadline, we will make every effort to get you classes that align with your interests, but that will be more challenging since we start building students’ schedules in June.

Contact New Student and Transition Programs at NSTP@ithaca.edu; they will put you in contact with the right person.

Contact New Student and Transition Programs at NSTP@ithaca.edu and they will put you in contact with the right person.

Even if your intended major does not require a math course, it is important for you to take the math placement assessment. We require this because we know many students eventually discover that they want a major, minor, or even just a course that requires a math placement score. Best to do it now while your memory is fresh. It even comes with a prep guide to help you get ready, so it’s not scary! 
Get more information.

Your math placement score will appear immediately after you submit your exam. It will also be stored in Degree Works, the Ithaca College student information system. 

Math, physics, some quantitative literacy (QL) core curriculum courses like statistics, and some quantitative research courses within majors are only open to students with a minimum math placement score. This is to ensure that you have the skills you need to complete that course successfully. If you do not have the minimum score, you can retake the placement exam four more times, but you are required to take time and complete review modules between retakes. IC also offers a Math Boost course to help students improve skills and scores. Since some majors have carefully sequenced courses, it is to your advantage to prep and do your best on the Math Placement Assessment from the outset.

If you do not take the Math Placement Assessment and the score is required for courses in your major (such as business, economics, natural sciences, and others), we cannot accurately build your fall schedule. If you are exploring different possible majors or minors, you also want to be prepared for classes that may require math. The assessment remains open, and you can even do it once you arrive on campus, but you will have many demands on your time once you arrive, so it is to your advantage to get it done by June 2 .

First Year Students: At Ithaca College, we prioritize your success. After you complete your Academic Interests Survey, we use your responses to build your fall schedule to include courses in your major or potential area of interest and a mix of core and elective courses to ensure that every one will count toward your degree. If you are member of our Exploratory Pathways or Pre-health Professions programs, the Academic Interest Survey is a critical first step in exploring areas of interest toward an eventual major.

Transfer Students : You will receive an email from your dean’s office inviting you to set up a virtual meeting with an academic advisor who will guide you through course selection to build an effective fall schedule, based on your previous coursework and on requirements for your major.

This varies by school and by major, but first year students will have:

• At least one course in your major or a potential major.
• Your required first year seminar. Check out our Ithaca Seminar offerings here.
• Depending on your major, you may have room for one or two elective or core curriculum courses that help you meet graduation requirements, learn transferable skills, and test drive some new subjects that align with your interests.
• A total of 13-17 credits. Though tuition covers up to 18 credits we advise that you NOT exceed the credits in your fall schedule in order to be most successful in your first semester.

One thing that makes a college class schedule different from a high school class schedule is that you may have extended time periods when you are not scheduled to meet in class at all! In high school, most classes may meet every day. By contrast, depending on the courses you are registered in, each class you are registered in may meet two or three times a week.

The main thing to know is that college classes expect you to spend twice as much time in “supplemental work” – that is, studying/preparing assignments outside of class —as you spend in class meetings. This means that those “free times” in your weekly class schedule are not really “free”; they provide space for you to use your time productively to complete class assignments, including reading and studying for tests, as well as to participate in co-curricular and other opportunities.

The Ithaca Seminar (ICSM) is a four-credit course that combines an interdisciplinary topic with information and skills you will need to be successful in your transition to college. Every incoming student takes a seminar in their first semester at IC. First year students will take seminars that are aligned with the interests you will identify in the Academic Interests Survey. Students in most programs can even share up to five seminars that most interest you. It is helpful for you to review these before completing the Survey. Check out the seminar descriptions on our Ithaca Seminar webpage.

If you are a student in the H&S Pathways program or who has been accepted into the H&S Innovation Scholars program, you will be registered for one of the specific Ithaca Seminars, associated with that program, based on the interests you have identified your survey.

No, there is no language requirement at Ithaca College. There are a few majors that require students to have proficiency in a second language. There are two paths to demonstrating proficiency in a major: 1) by taking the appropriate level language course(s) at Ithaca College, or 2) by taking a language proficiency examination once you have arrived on campus. You can get more information about proficiency exams from the World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Department at wllc@ithaca.edu.

If you have studied French, German, Italian, or Spanish in high school, or if you grew up speaking one of these languages at home, and you are interested in continuing to study that language once you arrive at Ithaca College, you may need to take a language placement assessment to identify the right course/level for you.

First year students: if, when filling out your Academic Interest Survey, you indicate an interest in continuing to study one of these languages, the department will reach out to you with information about next steps.

Transfer students : if you’re interested in continuing language study, be sure to discuss that during your advising meeting this summer, and also reach out to the department about next steps, via email at wllc@ithaca.edu.

The federal requirement for full-time status is 12 credits. Dropping below this number can affect your financial aid and housing. For international students, dropping below 12 credits can affect your visa status. For athletes, dropping below 12 credits can affect your eligibility to participate.

To earn your minimum of 120 credits for your bachelor’s degree, you need to average 30 credits a year. Taking only 12 credits on a regular basis will not enable you to graduate on time. That said, if you have earned credits from AP, IB or dual enrollment courses, you may wish to use a few of these to make your transition to the first semester of college less demanding. If you have a registered accommodation (such as an IEP or a 504 plan in high school), and 15 or more credits will be extremely challenging for you, you may benefit from registering for only 12 and making up the other 3 credits in a summer session (at additional cost).

On July 30, you will receive information from your dean’s office about how to see your fall course schedule. Any information you see regarding fall classes before that date is not official, as changes can be made up until we release the information about fall schedules.

Once you arrive on campus for orientation, you will have the ability to make changes to your course schedule. Remember that your schedule represents the best academic advice from our advising experts, so while you can change your schedule, we recommend that you not do so without first consulting an advisor (someone from your Dean’s office, your faculty advisor, and the director of the ICC and the ICSM program can all provide guidance). At orientation, academic advising experts are available during the Academic Sessions if you want or need to make limited adjustments to your schedule. You will be able to make changes to your schedule until the last day of the first week of the semester. Instructions on how to make changes to classes will be available when your schedule is ready.

Once you have registered with the Office of Student Accessibility Services, contact your dean’s office and they will work with you to ensure that your courses align with your documented accommodations.

Each school handles this a little differently. Typically, faculty advisor assignments are made in August, prior to the start of orientation.

Please reach out to your dean’s office to talk to an expert advisor about this.

You can review your student information at degreeworks.ithaca.edu to see if your transfer credit is reflected there. If you’re not sure how to do that, please contact your dean’s office.

If your college/transfer credit is not reflected, contact the institution where you took classes or College Board for Advanced Placement Exams and have an official transcript or official score report sent to the office of the registrar at Ithaca College as soon as possible. Note that transfer credit cannot be awarded from your high school transcript. We must receive an official transcript directly from the credit granting agency (e.g., the college or university that offered the course). (Students should not send themselves official documents to be forwarded to Ithaca College, they must be sent directly to Ithaca College.)

Please see the registrar's web page for more information, or reach out to them directly at registrar@ithaca.edu for assistance.

Some schools require particular computers. If that is the case, that information will be available on the web pages for your School.

The college bookstore has an online site where you can explore required texts for classes offered at IC.

The office of the registrar has a glossary that you may find helpful.