Guide to Advising Undergraduates

     Food Science and Nutrition, B.S. in Food Science     spreadsheet

     Nutrition, B.S. in Human Nutrition     spreadsheet

As you switch courses around, use the comments to see when classes are offered and their prerequisites. Primary prerequisites are listed in plain text, hidden prerequisites are in italics. Generally, Food Science courses are offered once a year, with only 401 and 636.01&.02 being offered in both Autumn and Spring. It is extremely difficult for students to get around required Food Science requirements. It is pretty much impossible to get out of taking FST 696 for FSN and FBM, as it is the capstone AND 3rd writing course for both.

Go to https://dars.osu.edu/secure/darsweb352adv/servlet/LoginServlet - you will have to log in with your user name and password

Select AGR as the college and click "connect"

Enter the student's SSN and click "continue" (or search for them by name)

Under "Audits" select "Request New Audit." This will call up the interface for running the audit. You can select to either run the default (their current declared major) or run a selected program (make sure you select the proper radio button). The second feature is particularly useful if you are helping the student consider new majors, even switching from FSN to FBM. After you have indicated what you want to run, click "Select a new audit" at the bottom of the page.

Once it has completed running, click "Open Audit" to view it. I personally select the option to view all sections and print it out.

For FSN, place the chemistry as early as possible. It is never an advantage for the student to wait a quarter to take it.

Get the Math in as early as possible as well. The science classes require minimum competency in math. The amount of math needed depends on the course.

Some courses require Biology, so this should be taken fairly early in the second year.

Encourage students to take FST 401 as early as possible.

Every student must take 2 courses to fulfill the International Issues requirements. This is done by taking at least  one Non-Western or Global course (* on curriculum sheet) and a second course that is either Non-Western* or a course that is Western, non-US course (◊ on curriculum sheet). Many of the Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities, and 2nd writing courses can be used to fulfill these requirements if they choose carefully. Otherwise, additional classes will need to be taken specifically to fulfill these requirements.

Try to keep students below 18 credits each quarter and with no more than 4 classes a quarter. It is possible to have 5 courses at 15 credits, which will likely be more difficult than 3 courses at 15 credits.

Students sometimes become confused in their survey course. Those pursuing a B.S. in Agriculture, including Food Business Management majors, MUST declare a minor. It is a college-wide degree requirement. However, this requirement does not apply to our two tagged degrees (B.S. in Food Science or B.S. in Nutrition), which is what our other two majors receive (Food Science & Nutrition and Nutrition, respectively).

Minors in the College of FAES

Minors in Arts and Sciences

The new Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Minor

Students must complete an internship. We do not provide placement services for them. As Dr. Mangino is still in charge of this course, direct them to him for further details, as well as to this link. Basically, they need to get a job in the food industry, broadly construed (or for FBM, something applicable to the business side of the major), keep an events journal and write a report. The hope is that they will be doing more than moving pallets in the warehouse.

The policy for transferring credits is explained at: http://cfaes.osu.edu/future/transfer/classes/credits.html

Many courses at other universities have been identified as equivalent. These are listed at: http://oh.transfer.org/cas/index.jsp 

Simply log in as a guest, click on the Course Equivalency Guide, and select Ohio and The Ohio State University as the institution being transferred into. You will then be prompted to select the college from which you will be transferring and you will see a listing of course applicability between OSU and other colleges.

If you are helping students determine what the OSU equivalent at another university or college will be, it is often easier to find the course by selecting the other institute as the one the courses are being transferred to. If you select them in this order, the courses will be listed by the OSU course numbers rather than the other institute's.

Not all courses are obvious equivalents. Your student may ask you if a course or courses merit additional evaluation. If you feel that it does, the student needs to  contact the appropriate departmental Transfer Credit Coordinator. He/she will need to present his/her Transfer Credit Report and a copy of his/her transcript(s) to the appropriate Transfer Credit Coordinator. He/she may also need to present additional materials (course descriptions, syllabi, titles of texts, notes, portfolio, etc.) if requested by the Transfer Credit Coordinator. Although outdated, the list of Transfer Credit Coordinators can be found at:

http://www.ureg.ohio-state.edu/ourweb/Transfer_Credit/TCC_List.html

Be aware that students often have external sources of contradictory advice from other sources, including parents, professors and peers. If you run into some resistance from the student, try to find out where it is from and help them develop a solution.

Remember that these students are generally 18-21 years old. They often do not know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They should be encouraged to explore options, even if it means leaving the department. They should be encouraged to think about graduate school (if their performance merits it).

If a student is struggling, try to find out why. Too much work? Too much socializing? Unrealistic course load? Unprepared for courses?

New student struggling with all their courses? Suggest they take ED P&L 259 Individual Learning and Motivation: Strategies for Success in College. The course description is: Teaches learning and motivation strategies to improve study skills and increase college success. Students learn how to manage their time and improve their grades.

If the student is struggling in Math, The Mathematics and Statistics Learning Center offers free tutoring for almost all courses, from Elementary Algebra through Differential Equations.

The Writing Center at Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing offers free help with writing at any stage of the writing process for any member of the university community, although they do not offer proofreading as a service.

The Younkin Success Center offers a variety of services for students.

For students living in University Housing, tutoring is offered in Math, Chemistry, and Physics. Tutoring takes place on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the following locations:

      South Campus: Steeb, Smith, Park, Stradley, Siebert, and Bradley Halls

      West Campus: Morrill Tower

      North Campus: Scott, Nosker, and Houck Houses

The Office Of Minority Affairs offers free tutoring services for minority students.

You will receive notice if your student if they are placed on academic probation. If they are, it is suggested you contact them to see if there is anything you can do to help.

Ideally, once every quarter (about 2 weeks into the quarter), you should request an advising report on each of your students and contact those whose cumulative GPA has fallen into the 2.0-2.2 range and see if they need any help. You may want to contact any students whose grades have taken a sudden nose dive as well.