A major component of New Student Orientation is meeting with your academic advisor and planning out your fall semester. Come prepared.
Dear Tigers,
During Orientation next week, you’ll meet with your faculty advisor and register for your remaining fall courses. We would like you to take some time now to learn about Oxy’s curricular requirements, and to think about which classes you would like to take. So you can make the most of the advising and registration process, we have prepared a few resources to help you get ready.
To start, we recommend watching the three short videos linked below. They will introduce you to some of the requirements you will need to complete during your time at Occidental:
- Intro to Advising, Part 1: Graduation Requirements
- Intro to Advising, Part 2: Core Requirement
- Introduction to Course Counts
After you have watched these videos, it's time to start looking at the courses that are being offered this fall semester. To do so, visit Course Counts, our online course library.
New students can enroll in up to 18 units during their first semester. Most students take four 4-unit courses during their first semester for a total of 16 units. There are also many optional 1 or 2-unit courses you can sign up for as well. To make steady progress toward finishing your degree in four years, you will want to take an average of at least 16 units each semester.
Once you have had a chance to explore Course Counts, we recommend using the Course Planning Worksheet (below) to create some possible schedules. Later this month, you'll share this worksheet with your advisor and look at it together as you discuss different options.
Here are some useful resources:
- Course Planning Worksheet : Complete this worksheet to the best of your ability and share it with your advisor prior to your meeting so that you can discuss it together.
- Areas of Study : This webpage lists all of Oxy's majors and minors, with links to all of the academic departments.
- Advising Handbook : This resource has entries for each major with guidance on course sequences and sample 4-year academic plans.
- Course Catalog : The Catalog includes all of the College's academic policies, as well as listing the requirements for all of our majors and minors.
- Course Counts : This website shows all of the courses that are being offered during a given semester. Watch the video (linked above) for a guided tour of all of its features!
While the official deadline for online placement exams was last week, you still have a few more days to complete the online exams for calculus, chemistry, music theory, French, German and Spanish if you need to do so.
If you are planning on taking one of the in-person placement or exemption exams during Orientation, please fill out this RSVP form (Note: Students will still be able to take an exam even if they forgot to RSVP) . To find out more about placement exams, visit the Advising Center's Placement Exam page .
Feel free to reach out to us at advisingcenter@oxy.edu if you have any questions. To see the schedule for advising and registration, please visit the Orientation webpage and click on the "Fall 2023 New Student Orientation Full Schedule" drop down.
We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!
P.S. Wondering when or how you’ll buy textbooks? The Oxy Bookstore has you covered! After you register for classes at Orientation, you’ll be able to pick up everything you need.