Finally you can exhale, you have endured the lines of placement testing, financial aid, registration, bookstore, counseling and advising, and you have settled into your courses and schedule. You now know where all your courses are located and you have your study schedule set up. Wow, finally everything on your check list has been done. However, you have one more ‘to do” for your list. Add scheduling an appointment with a counselor to discuss course planning for Spring Summer and Fall/15.

If you are graduating this semester, the application deadline is February 15. 2015. I highly recommend you see a counselor for an unofficial degree audit to insure that you have met all of your requirements for graduation.

If you are not graduating, you should see a counselor during February and March to begin your course planning for Spring, Summer and Fall/2015.The spring and summer schedule comes out sometime in March, 2015 and the Fall/2015 schedule comes out shortly after spring and summer schedule. So, now is the best time to see a counselor to plan your schedule for these upcoming semesters.

Another reason for scheduling an appointment now, you can meet with a counselor for an hour. To obtain an hour meeting with a counselor, request a career counseling session when calling to schedule an appointment. After March career counseling appointments are limited due to the increased volume of students.

Once the schedule is available to students online for preview you can pre-select your courses and place them in the pre-selection area located in the WebAdvisor, like a “shopping cart”. Once registration begins you simply go to pre-selection and submit the courses and if they are open you are registered.

Also if you have 20 – 30 credits and you are planning to transfer to a four year college, this is the right time to meet with a counselor to begin preparation for your transfer. The importance of seeing a counselor is to ensure that you are following the college of your choice transfer plan. Also, this is time to meet with admission offices of the colleges you are considering. On that note, many of the colleges that students transfer are often on HFC campus; college recruiters are located in the lobby of the cafeteria. The list of scheduled sessions is located in counseling and advising office.

Beginning February 2, 2015 Counseling and Advising and the Career Services office in a joint effort will open the Career Resource Center located in the Student Success Building (formally the Learning Resource Center). Basically it is a “one stop shop” to obtain career exploration and academic advising. In the next column more information will be provided in the Counselor Corner.

To schedule an appointment with a counselor, please call 313845-9611.