Academic Advising

The undergraduate academic advisors for the School of Journalism, Theresa Thomas and Wendy Boggs, interact daily with faculty, students and visitors. Primarily, they advise students on course selection and degree planning; they also consult with students on specific issues, both academic and nonacademic.

During your time at UT Austin in the College of Communication, you’ll be assigned to one of the School of Journalism academic advisors and she will remain your advisor until graduation. Your academic advisor will be able to provide you with a link to academic departments within the college and to other departments across campus, as well as to important university administrative offices.

You should visit with your academic advisor about specific questions related to your major courses or your area of interest in journalism as well as for the following:

• Adding or dropping a class

• Changing a course to pass/fail

• Withdrawing from the university

• Learning about your Interactive Degree Audit (IDA)

• Applying to graduate

• Applying for a tuition rebate

While you attend the university, we encourage you to visit with your advisor at least once per semester. By staying proactive in this manner, you can be sure to stay on track to graduate in four years, that you are taking the correct classes, and that you are kept abreast of any changes in your degree plan.

Although there is a specific time each semester set aside for registration advising, you are strongly encouraged to schedule an appointment with your academic advisor before that period as their available appointments during that time typically fill very quickly. Although each advisor’s schedule may vary, you can generally schedule advising appointments for anytime during the workweek except during the lunch hour (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) and the weekly staff meeting (Fridays from 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.).

During registration advising, only journalism majors will be advised. Prospective transfer students, students from high school, and those coming from other universities or colleges are encouraged to visit with the academic advisor for prospective students or to reserve a space in one of our Transfer Information Sessions.

If you have general policy and procedure related questions, you may want to consider using the School of Journalism’s advising via Instant Messenger (IM). IM advising is available Monday through Friday from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Add JournalismatUT as your buddy to access IM advising. We will not be able to answer any questions over IM which would require us to reference your private academic records.

To schedule an appointment with the academic advisor, current journalism students should use the online appointment system for the College of Communication Office of Student Affairs.