Advising

Advising For The Upcoming Semester

Although advising is not mandatory in our department, it is encouraged to help you stay on track to “Finish in Four.”

Students may sign up for an advising appointment with their adviser on the sheets posted on the advising board in the hall by the JCM office (Reese Phifer 490). Some advisers are electronically scheduling appointments. This information will also be posted on the advising board. Additionally, students whose advisers are scheduling this way should receive an e-mail with instructions.

Students can find their adviser’s name through DegreeWorks in the STUDENT tab on myBama. Any students having difficulty finding the name of their adviser should go to the JCM office (Reese Phifer 490) for assistance. You can check on your registration time at this link.

Before your advising appointment, you should: 

• Prepare an academic plan in DegreeWorks and/or use an advising checklist before you see your adviser.
• Find the name of your specific adviser at the top of your DegreeWorks page. If could don’t see one, contact the JCM office to obtain one.
• Plan to work for one of the following campus organizations: Discovery Alabama, The Crimson White, WVUA-TV, Alabama Public Radio, Student Media Center, Crimson Tide Productions, Women and Gender Resource Center, or complete an internship at other outlets. Students can receive up to three hours in internship credit through JCM 382 and 383, if they meet the criteria (credit is not given for the CW).
• Join a JCM student organization such as
  • Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ)
    Advisers: Dr. Chris Roberts, croberts@ua.edu
  • National Association of Black Journalists (CABJ)
    Adviser: Meredith Cummings, mccummings1@ua.edu
  • National Association of Hispanic Journalists
    Advisor: Dr. George Daniels, gdaniels@ua.edu
• Check the C&IS internship website and JNews blog regularly for updates on information about events, scholarships, jobs and internships, ua.edu/internships/ and www.jnews.ua.edu.
• Consider studying abroad. Consult with the Capstone International Center, http://international.ua.edu/
• Apply for departmental scholarships by Dec. 1 of each year. See http://scholarships.ua.edu/ for the online form for ALL scholarships.

JCM juniors and seniors should:

• Conduct a degree audit with Alyson Jarnagin in Tisch Student Services, aljarnagin@ua.edu, by the end of your junior year.
  • Seniors should complete their application for graduation after they have met with their advisor and have registered for ALL of the classes for their LAST semester. There is a $50 fee for a graduation application. This fee must be paid each time a student applies for graduation.
• Create an online portfolio.
• Draft a resume and write a cover letter. You may get assistance in Tisch Student Services, https://cis.ua.edu/current-students/#career, and at the UA Career Center in the Ferguson Center, http://www.uacc.ua.edu/.
• Attend campus job fairs and begin applying for employment opportunities in your senior year.
• If considering graduate school, research opportunities and begin filling out applications. The UA Graduate School can help you explore these options.

Registration Guidelines

What to do if problems arise…

When emailing an adviser or instructor with any advising question:

• ALWAYS include your FULL NAME and CWID in the e-mail, but do not put your CWID in subject line. Include any applicable course names or numbers.
• Explain CLEARLY your problem and your request.
• Indicate if you are asking about a required course.
• Remember: JCM instructors CANNOT add you to a full class. Only the JCM office staff and chair can do that, so fill out an online override request form.
• Remember that JCM advisers cannot help you get into or approve a substitute for a non-JCM class.
• If a PIN is blocking your registration, contact your advisor or the JCM office.

When core-curriculum classes and other classes outside JCM are full:

• If possible, add yourself to waitlist
  • Type in the CRN under add/drop classes and choose to be added to the waitlist.
  • If there is no class waitlist option: Contact the department that controls the class about the possibility of an override. Also, check back every day during registration…more spaces and more sections are often opened.
• Or choose another class that fulfills same requirement.

When JCM classes are full:

• If possible, add yourself to waitlist
  • Type in the CRN under add/drop classes and choose to be added to the waitlist.
• If you have special circumstances or cannot get on a waitlist, fill out the online override request form.
• Consider another class
• No waitlist option:
  • Fill out the online override request form (lecture/lab courses such as JCM 303 usually cannot have a waitlist)
  • Waitlists are unavailable after the semester ends

IMPORTANT CATALOG INFORMATION

• If you believe that a prerequisite is blocking you in error because of your catalog year, please fill out the online override request form.