Washington and Lee University
Academic Advisement
Life at Washington and Lee centers around an exciting academic experience with excellent faculty and resources that will allow you to become a successful student.
First-Year Advising
The academic success of a first=year student begins with the academic advising process. First-year advisers are trained to work with students in all of their General Education requirements and to assist first-year student as they begin to choose a major. Each first-year adviser has no more than six other first-year advisees.
The summer before enrolling, incoming first-year students receive a password to access the W&L Registrar's Office web site to pre-register for their fall academic schedule. Then, during Orientation Week, first-year students meet with their faculty adviser to review their fall schedule and finalize fall semester registration. All of this begins with a dinner hosted by students' academic advisers where students can also meet other advisees who share the same adviser.
The faculty adviser remains the same for students until declaration of major. Faculty advisers are not major specific; they are trained to work with all incoming students. If a student would like a different faculty adviser, he or she should complete a request in the Registrar's Office.
Before coming to W&L, first-year students should carefully review the information in the New Student Guidebook regarding curriculum. You can also link to the first-year curriculum information here.
Placement Tests
Students undergo placement testing during Orientation Week. Both the French and Spanish placement exams will be administered at 20-minute intervals from 9:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 31. We will identify ahead of time any incoming students who listed either French or Spanish as their language for the W&L entrance requirement.
From there, you will be assigned a time slot for the Sunday exam which you will receive at Check-In on Saturday in the Early-Fielding University Center. Your test score will determine the French or Spanish class you will be eligible to take at Washington and Lee during the fall 2008 term. The remaining Foreign Language Placement Tests occur on Sunday, August 31 and are listed on the Orientation Schedule.. Math and English Placement Tests occur at specific times as found in the Orientation Schedule.
Tutoring Services
The Peer Tutoring Program is available to all students at Washington and Lee University, free of charge. Upper division student tutors are available to all students in most entry-level courses. Students can request a tutor through their faculty member, faculty adviser, Dorm Counselor or the Dean of First-Year Students. All Peer Tutors undergo a rigorous departmental application and screening process followed by a training program to help them assess the best way to work with students.
The Writing Center
The Writing Center is an additional service available to all Washington and Lee University students. It is highly recommended for first-year students. The Writing Center can be accessed on-line at http://writing.wlu.edu/
Study Skills Programs
Washington and Lee University sponsors the Baldridge Reading and Study Skills Program. This program emphasizes reading and study techniques designed for the highly competitive college or university and is taught by licensed educators. The cost of the program is $155 and the two-week, five day per week, course can be taken as many times as a student desires. Students register for this course through the Office of the Dean of First-Year Students. For more information, e-mail the assistant to the Dean of First-Year Students, Kati Grow, at kgrow@wlu.edu.
As first-year students face similar issues at other colleges and universities, below you'll find hyperlinks to sites at Virginia Tech, the University of St. Thomas, the University of Virginia and Southern Methodist University which provide excellent study skills advice particular for students in their first year of college. Students are encouraged to explore these sites:
General Study Skills Self-Help Information
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
Study Guides and Strategies
http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/
Tips on How To Study
http://wsrv.clas.virginia.edu/~rjh9u/howstudy.html
General Tips for First-Year Students
http://www2.smu.edu/alec/tips.html
Summer Readings
While Washington and Lee University does not have specific summer readings for incoming students there are some steps the successful first-year student will take to get a little head start.
Think about the kinds of courses you might be interested in taking and then go to the home pages of faculty members who might teach such classes. Look at what texts have been used in these courses. For example, if a student has an interest in Politics as a possible major or field of study, then he or she could reference Professor Rush's home page and find he teaches a course called Comparative Government, referencing several texts he uses for this class. While it cannot be guaranteed that the professor will use the same book used previous years, the background knowledge can be invaluable.
Know your current events - if you're not regularly reading the newspaper or news periodicals, you should be doing so.
Enjoy some pleasure reading! Go to your local bookstore and ask to see a list of recent Pulitzer Prize winning books. Or, if you've never read poetry, give it a try. Summertime is a time for personal development and can also be a time for academic enrichment. Enjoy!
University Scholars
In 1984, the faculty of Washington and Lee University created the University Scholars Program in order to provide extra challenge and opportunity for some of our best prepared, most able students. First-year students and sophomores, with a minimum grade point average of 3.500 at the end of fall term are invited to interview for this program. The program combines broad yet intensive studies in the liberal arts with independent study leading to a thesis. The University Scholars Program builds on the personal attention made possible by Washington and Lee's traditional emphasis on teaching and our low student-faculty ratio. It includes students of widely varied backgrounds, talents, and interests who nonetheless have in common active and curious minds, and an enthusiasm to explore ideas among themselves, with faculty, and with distinguished visitors to the campus. For more information about University Scholars, visit: http://scholars.wlu.edu/.