Advising

 

Like many undergraduate programs at Duke, the psychology and neuroscience programs offer transactional advising and faculty mentoring. 

Transactional advising involve general understanding of degree requirements, course codes, course offerings, practical steps for applying for practica/independent study/Graduation with Distinction, processing course transfer, tracking progress in the major/minor, and connecting to supporting campus resources. Transactional advising is offered by program coordinators in each of our Offices of Undergraduate Studies (Natalia Silva Harwood for Psychology and Tyler Lee for Neuroscience).

Faculty mentoring is one of the most important connections students will develop during their college career. At Duke, upon declaring a major, students are assigned a faculty advisor in their major for the purpose of encouraging such connection. Students must meet with their faculty advisors at least once per semester to discuss students’ academic and professional interests, course selection for subsequent semesters, curiosity about pursuing research, exploring career options, and developing strategies for applying to post-Duke training (i.e. graduate schools, medical schools, etc.) 

Meeting with a faculty mentor is required in order for students to be marked as eligible to enroll in classes each semester.

Faculty advisor assignment in the major is done based on professors' availability until the capacity number of advisees per faculty is reached. Some students have preference for a few professors, while others indicate no preference. All students will be assigned to a faculty advisor in their major!

Students who have specific professors in mind are encouraged to take a proactive stance on their advisor assignment and reach out to their program coordinator to introduce themselves and list the names of at least three faculty members they would like to have assigned as their faculty advisors in the major (only one will be assigned). Find out more about faculty members in the Psychology and Neuroscience Department by reading their bios here: https://psychandneuro.duke.edu/people/primary-faculty . All other students are assigned on a first-come first-served basis.