New changes to Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR) aim at improving advising for incoming freshmen by removing placement testing from the program.
The SOAR core planning team discussed the 2012 programming changes at an open forum Friday.
Instead of completing placement testing at SOAR, students will take their placement tests at regional testing facilities or ACT testing facilities throughout the country.
""Where we're going [with placement testing] is very complicated,"" said Wren Singer, Director of the Center for the First-Year Experience. ""But I think that it's actually better than where we used to be, but may not seem so at the first glance.""
Singer said the change will give students advising opportunities on the first day of the program. In the past, the first day has been used for placement testing.
The Vision 2012 Committee, which is in charge of advising policy and structure, introduced new advising models for incoming freshmen.
""We started by thinking, if we could do anything with SOAR what were we going to do,"" Vision Committee chair Diana Maki said. ""We challenged our group to think
really big.""
The new model puts more emphasis on one-on-one advising. It will guarantee students an individual advising appointment during their orientation.
The model will also include advising on both days of SOAR, rather than just the second day.
According to Maki, advising on the first day will give incoming students the opportunity to discuss their decisions with peers and parents before enrolling in classes on the second day.
SOAR dates will no longer include sessions on Sunday. This means the program will have access to resources that are closed on Sunday.
The committee will hold another forum in December to report further progress and ask for more feedback.
