I'm writing this on August 28, 2024. First year students at Brown are moving into their dorms. There's a few big trucks outside on Thayer St. It's also really hot (like 88 degrees). I'm sure moving in today is not fun. Today is also the first day of school for my children, so we spent last weekend buying school supplies and making sure summer work was finished. Summer is ending and Fall is beginning. I personally am getting excited for apple picking, the start of football season (and basketball slightly afterwards), but mostly the World Series, which is my favorite sporting championship.
And of course, the start of classes. I have even written my syllabus (up on CAB) and created my Canvas page, so I'm feeling slightly ahead of the curve. Mostly, what I'm trying to do is finish up some projects that I told myself I would do over the summer, but are not yet 100% complete.
But that part of my job - the research part - is ongoing. This part - the teaching part - starts anew every semester. What I want to do in this entry is talk about some advising guidelines for returning students entering the Fall semester here at Brown. I'll try to do this by class year.
For Returning Seniors:
Probably the most important thing to do is to make sure that you are satisfying your concentration requirements. Meet with your concentration advisor to make sure that you have satisfied the requirements that you think you have satisfied, and that the classes you are taking will satisfy the requirements left to take.
If you are going honors, fill out the honors declaration and talk with the honors advisor about your project. Make sure that your honors advisor knows about your project and that you are all on the same page about the expectations. Register for CLPS1980 under the appropriate section (note: SOON, we will change from CLPS to CPSY, probably in Fall 2025, but for now, the courses in our department are still labeled CLPS).
If you are not going honors, make sure that you have a Capstone course. For some concentrations (BDS), this is obvious (it's CLPS1960). For other concentrations, you have to talk with your advisor to ensure that one of the seminar classes you are taking meets the requirement of a Capstone.
If you are thinking about graduate school, read the section of the blog about applying to graduate school and all of the things you can do now, even if you might not want to apply this year.
For Returning Juniors:
Probably the most important thing to do is to make sure that you are satisfying your concentration requirements. Meet with your concentration advisor to make sure that you have satisfied the requirements that you think you have satisfied, and that the classes you are taking will satisfy the requirements left to take. (Hey, that's the same as the seniors!)
If you are thinking about honors, this is a good time to start talking with faculty for a potential advisor. If you are thinking about research opportunities, now is a good time to apply. If you're thinking about study abroad, learn about the programs. Note that many of the research opportunities in the department are paid, so be on the look out for those opportunities, often through internal emails in the department or through Student Employment through Workday.
For Returning Sophomores:
You haven't declared your concentration yet, so the biggest challenge is deciding on a concentration. If you are reading this blog, it means you have some interest in our department. I've written about the differences among our concentrations. This is a good time to meet with your sophomore advisor to start planning out a possible curriculum towards satisfying concentration requirements. Of course, you can also meet with a concentration advisor during their office hours. In the Fall, it's too soon to contact them about declaring - that will happen in the Spring. For now, work with your Sophomore advisor.
Aside: Yes, I know that the Sophomore advisor program is now called "Exploratory" advisor, but that just seems wrong to me. "Hi. I'm Prof. Sobel. I'll be your exploratory advisor." It makes it sound like I'm the explorer. That would be fine if I were Indiana Jones. (by the way, I can't tell if students will get this reference - the last two movies were so horrible that it's hard to imagine this has permeated pop culture, but when I was a kid, Indiana Jones was just about the coolest character I could imagine. If you told me I could be a professor by day and an global explorer in my spare time that uses my knowledge of psychology to fight Nazis and find treasure, I'd sign up for that.