Academic Advisement

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Academic advisement for the undecided freshman student is administered in Exploratory Student Advisement. Transfer students and continuing students advise with their academic unit. Each unit employs a select group of professional advisors assigned to students typically by major at the point of admission. They operate under the supervision of a chief advisor who is responsible to the Director of Undergraduate Advisement.

The University accepts the importance of the academic advisement function. Insistence on receipt of transcripts and ACT or SAT scores prior to admission serves not only to determine admission, but later provides suitable educational information to advisors upon which decisions can be made relative to the proper courses to advise the student to take. On the basis of this information, an advisor can make intelligent decisions relative to students who should receive advanced standing in courses or who should be urged to take proficiency examinations in courses about which they appear to be already well informed.

The advising of individual students as to their progress is a service provided to them. It does not relieve the students of the responsibility to assure that they are meeting the requirements they need for graduation. DegreeWorks audit tool is available for students and accessed through the SalukiNet portal. This electronic audit tool verifies progress to degree for students with a catalog year of summer 2012 and later. The students should check with their advisor whenever there is a question as to how they are proceeding. For additional information and a list of advisors please visit https://advisement.siu.edu/.

Changing Majors

A student wishing to change their major must receive approval from the new school and college. A minimum of a C average is required to process a change in major; some academic units and programs require a higher grade point average. To ascertain the grade point average required for a program or school, check the Undergraduate Programs section. Students with less than a C (2.0) grade point average who desire to change from one major to another will be admitted to the new academic program only if approved by the dean of that unit. A change is initiated by going to the academic unit where admission is being sought. Current term major changes must be completed within the first two weeks of the semester and may require a change of catalog year as well. Any change received after week two will be processed for the next term.

Declaration of Major

Undergraduate students who have earned more than 45 total credit hours, but who have not yet earned a Bachelor’s degree, must declare a major in a degree granting program, if they have not already done so. Such students who do not declare a major will be prevented from registering for future terms until they do declare a major. New transfer students, regardless of the number of credit hours that they may transfer to SIU, will be allowed to earn up to 26 credit hours of SIU work before being required to declare a major. Students concurrently enrolled at SIU and in the SIUE Nursing program are exempt from this requirement.