CCAS Orientation 2021

Cross-College Advising Service, CCAS, is an advising office that exists to serve all undergraduate students who are undecided about their major, exploring several major options, and who seek individualized help to explore academic options.

Great question! We know it can be confusing at times. While CCAS itself is not a school or college at UW-Madison, all students assigned to CCAS are students in the College of Letters & Science.

We know that many students we work with may be considering majors in other schools and colleges – and that’s great! CCAS is here to help you find the major path that is best for you. Historically about 40% of the students who begin their college career with CCAS end up graduating from a school or college other than L&S. We’re here to help you find the best “academic home” for you.

You can find information about your assigned advisor in the Academic Navigator app in your MyUW portal. While all CCAS students are assigned a specific advisor, all CCAS staff work to support all of our assigned students.

Advising is available through either scheduled appointments, or drop-ins. Scheduled advising appointments will be offered virtually, by phone, and in-person throughout fall semester, while drop-in advising will take place in-person.

Drop-in advising is available Monday-Thursday, 1:00pm-4:30pm in the CCAS office in both Witte and Dejope Residence Halls. Drop-in advising will start on the first day of classes, September 8, and is offered while classes are in session.

CCAS advisors will offer appointments in our Ingraham office location, as well as in our residence hall locations.

Per campus guidelines, CCAS requires all students to wear a face covering. If you are experiencing any of the symptoms below or have a known contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, please meet with your advisor virtually or by phone.

If you would like to meet virtually, you can contact your advisor directly, or our main office at ccas@ccas.wisc.edu to make that change.

Symptoms: Fever or chills, Cough, Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, Fatigue, Muscle or body aches, Headache, New loss of taste or smell, Sore throat, Congestion or runny nose, Nausea or vomiting, Diarrhea.

Together we can keep our campus community safe and healthy. Thank you for your cooperation.

It depends on your question and the kind of answer you’re looking for. If you have a simple or quick question, and/or a question for which you want an experienced student’s perspective, you’ll want to drop-in with one of our peer advisors. There are no appointments needed for drop-ins and you can meet with a peer advisor in real time.

If you know  that you want to have a conversation about the big picture, choosing a major/career, a question about the rules or policies of the university or want to connect with your assigned advisor, make an appointment to see one of our professional advisors.

If you need to add, drop, or swap a course, or make any other changes to your schedule, you can do that on your own; we always recommend speaking with an advisor before dropping a course or making significant changes to your schedule. Questions about this can be addressed in drop-in advising, or by meeting with your advisor.

If you are interested in dropping a course and adding another, we strongly encourage you to swap the courses. Using the swap function will ensure you do not a drop a course before being enrolled in another one.

You can go here to get step-by-step instructions on several enrollment options:

• Swapping a course
• Dropping a course
• Adding a course

You can see your advisor as often or as seldom as you want. We recommend seeing your advisor at least once a semester before you enroll in courses for spring semester.

Take a deep breath – we know this can feel stressful. The most important thing is to make sure that you have a schedule that works if you don’t get off the waitlist. Also make sure you are checking your wisc.edu email daily – if you get admitted off the waitlist, you will have a limited amount of time to enroll in the course.

Feel free to talk to an advisor about your next steps. Attending drop-in advising, or scheduling an appointment can be a good way to get advice. And know that if you do not get into the course this semester, there is a good chance you can take it in the future!

There are a few important deadlines to be aware of, regarding making changes to your spring enrollment.

The deadline to add a course for the spring semester is September 17; after that point you would need instructor or academic dean permission to add a new course.

There are two deadlines related to dropping courses: the first drop deadline is September 15. Until then you can drop any class you want and the dropped course will not be listed on your transcript.

The final drop deadline is November 5 after which courses cannot be dropped for fall semester without dean’s approval. Courses dropped between September 15 and November 5 will be dropped from your enrollment, but stay on your transcript with a “DR” notation, indicating that you dropped the course. In general, having this notation on your transcript is not something to be concerned about.

We encourage you to talk to an advisor about any feelings or doubts you have about changes or their consequences.

Enrolling for spring 2022 courses is planned for mid-November We encourage you to start planning and talking with your advisor about your fall plans in early October.

The official deadline to declare a major is when you reach 86 credits (in the College of Letters & Sciences). Many students decide on a major before then; students often declare between their third and fifth semester.

There is a great deal of variation in what timeline works best depending on the majors you are exploring. Again, advisors can help you understand how your specific field of major exploration informs when it’s best to declare a major.

Whether you have lots of ideas for majors or no ideas at all, the Career Exploration Center (CEC) is a good first destination to help you figure out which majors might be the best fit for you.

Start your major exploration here!

No matter what major(s) you are considering, there are likely many different career options that are available to you! If you are interested in starting to think about how your major might connect to future careers, the Career Exploration Center (CEC) is a good place to start.

Learn more about scheduling a virtual appointment with the CEC!

Not sure what career direction you want to take? The Career Exploration Center (CEC) can help you kick-off the exploration process.

Have some career ideas and want more information? Check out the Career Communities at Successworks!