Undergraduate Advising

Mandatory Advising Requirements

Second-Year Students

Second-year students are required to meet with an advisor once during their year, and will be assigned a hold quarter. Art and Cinema and Digital Media students have group advising. Design, Art History, Theatre and Dance, and Music students can make an appointment online. Select “Mandatory Advising 2nd Years” as the reason for the appointment.

First-Year Junior Transfer Students

First-year junior transfer students meet with an advisor in their first quarter at UC Davis. Art and Cinema and Digital Media students have group advising. Design, Art History, Theatre and Dance, and Music students can make an appointment online. Select “Mandatory Advising Junior Transfers” as the reason for the appointment.

Please complete the First Year Goals form, available on students.ucdavis.edu under Forms and Petitions, before your advising appointment.

Fourth-Year Students

Fourth-year students are required to participate in one engagement to prepare for transitioning out of college. Students are encouraged to choose the option most relevant to their post-graduation plans.

To have your registration hold released, complete one of the engagements below during your hold quarter and submit the Mandatory Advising Senior Engagement Form.

Senior Engagement Form

• Participate in an Arts Group Work of Art: Career Series event, a departmental career development event, or a workshop as announced.
• Participate in any Internship and Career Center workshop.
• See an Internship and Career Center advisor during drop-in hours.
• Participate in any Center for Leadership and Learning workshop.
• Participate in any Educational Opportunity and Enrichment Services pre-graduate workshop.
• Schedule an individual appointment with an Educational Opportunity and Enrichment Services pre-graduate advisor.
• Participate in any Health Professions Advising workshop.

FAQ

• Why do I have a mandatory advising hold?
• Our goal is to help you achieve your academic and personal goals. Research has proven that interacting with academic advisors early in your university career can enhance your college success. Comprehensive advising is provided by the College of Letters and Science Dean’s Office and our office, the Arts Group Advising Center.
• How can an academic advisor assist me?
• Your academic advisor is one of your best all-around resources on campus, with connections to — and knowledge about — many of the programs and people that can help you achieve academic and personal success. Mandatory advising is an opportunity for your advisor to meet you, learn about your goals, and help you chart a path to success.
• When will I need to see an advisor, and how will I know where to go?

• You will be assigned to your required advising appointment during fall, winter, or spring quarter. An advising hold will be placed on your record for the assigned term to remind you to see your academic advisor, and you will be notified via MyUCDavis when the hold has been placed. Schedule your appointment during the quarter of your corresponding hold:

  Fall quarter hold — October 10 to December 15

  Winter quarter hold — January 23 to March 15

  Spring quarter hold — April 17 to September 15

• How often will I have a mandatory advising hold?

• The College of Letters and Science believes advising is important to your success, and has made it mandatory for the following class levels:

  First-year freshman — meet with an advisor in the Dean’s Office of the College of Letters and Science.

  Second-year sophomore — meet with a department major advisor in the Arts Group Advising Center for individual or group advising, depending on your major (see the advising hold note for details).

  Third-year junior — complete a degree check online through the College of Letters and Science, or meet with an advisor in the Dean’s Office.

  First-year transfer junior — meet with a department major advisor in the Arts Group Advising Center for individual or group advising, depending on your major.

  Fourth-year senior — participate in one campus engagement to obtain resources related to transitioning beyond UC Davis. Optionally, meet with a department major advisor in the Arts Group Advising Center.

• Can I visit an advisor at any time to release the mandatory advising hold?
• Mandatory advising appointments are only scheduled during the quarter assigned to you. Because all first-year students have a mandatory advising requirement, and we serve the advising needs of all students in the Arts Group, it is important that students in the mandatory advising program adhere to the assigned schedule. That said, we encourage all students to meet with their advisors at any time for reasons not related to mandatory advising.
• How do I get an appointment to release a mandatory advising hold?

• If you have an LC or LE hold, schedule an advising appointment by following the specific instructions in the comments section of your mandatory advising hold in MyUCDavis. If you have an LF hold, see Fourth-Year Students above.

  Schedule a 30-minute appointment with a major advisor in the Arts Group Advising Center at appointments.ucdavis.edu.

• Where do I go to meet with a major advisor?
• Major advisors have both in-person and remote appointments available. In-person appointments are located in the Art Building on Hutchison Drive; students check in for appointments in Room 101. Majors include Art Studio, Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance.
• What can I do to satisfy my senior-year requirement?
• Choose one of the engagement options listed under Fourth-Year Students above.
• What do other students say about getting the most out of the senior-year requirement?
• If you are going to meet with an Internship and Career Center drop-in advisor or an Educational Opportunity and Enrichment Services advisor, go into the appointment with a set of questions written down so you can be efficient with your time.
• What happens if I do not meet with an advisor or complete my engagement requirement?

• If you do not meet with an advisor before the deadline of the advising hold, you will be unable to make changes to your class schedule or register for courses for the following academic quarter until the hold is removed. This may affect your ability to get the classes you need during the subsequent registration period.

  Plan ahead and come to mandatory advising before the deadline — do not wait until the deadline to get your hold lifted. Take action before finals week of the quarter of your hold. Students have at least two months in their assigned term to fulfill the requirement.

• How do I prepare for a meeting with an advisor to release an advising hold?
• Academic advising is an ongoing process built on a partnership between you and your advisor. A few steps to take ahead of time to get the most out of your appointment:
• Create a degree worksheet in OASIS to track your progress toward the major.

• Read about the requirements for your major.

  Write down questions you would like to address during the appointment.

• What if I am planning to change my major out of the Arts Group majors — should I still come to mandatory advising?
• Yes. Until you officially change your major, you are considered an Arts Group student in the College of Letters and Science, and are required to engage in mandatory advising. Your current academic advisor can still help you with the logistics of changing your major, and can discuss any general topics or concerns about UC Davis.

About

The Arts Group Advising Center reviews department course equivalency requests for students in our respective majors/minors. We do not review course equivalency requests for application to majors/minors outside our departments or for general education requirements. 

Submitting a Petition

To submit a petition, you must use your UCD email to access the form, and you will need to prepare and format all materials below into one (1) PDF file or it will be denied:

• course syllabus/syllabi
• course description(s): can be obtained by institution's course catalog
• Design Only
  • Design Major Lower Division Studio Equivalency Petition (Google Form) 
  • You may consider authoring the portfolio using Illustrator or InDesign, or any other software of your choice, then export the file into a PDF that can be viewed with good quality on screen. 
    • A portfolio layout template is available for both landscape and portrait images.
    • Maximum of 10 images of student work from the course.   
• Art Studio Lower Division Studio Equivalency Petition (Google Form)
• Cinema and Digital Media Lower Division Equivalency Petition (Google Form)
• Contact Jane Lee or Vincent Cheng for Art History, Music, and Drama course equivalency and substitution requests.

Courses taken at a California Community College

Courses from California Community Colleges (CCC) are a little different when it comes to equivalencies. These courses are already reviewed and approved through a statewide system called Assist.org, which lists how community college courses transfer to UCs and CSUs. What you see on ASSIST is final. 

It’s also important to know that all community college courses transfer as lower-division credit.

• Lower-division courses (numbered 001–099) usually cover foundational concepts.
• Upper-division courses (numbered 100–199) go deeper into theory, research, and application.

So even if the topics sound alike, a community college course can’t replace an upper-division UC Davis course because it’s not taught at the same level of depth or rigor.

Visit Assist.org

General Education 

• What do I do if don't have the syllabus yet for the course I want evaluated?
• If you are seeking an evaluation of a course at UC Davis that you haven't taken yet, email the instructor or department to see if they can provide you a syllabus.
  
  If you are a seeking an evaluate of a course outside of UC Davis that you haven't taken yet, locate the department's contact information and email them to see if they will provide you a syllabus.
• If my course is granted equivalency, will it show up in my Academic Record?
• If a course is granted equivalency, we always make a record of it by writing a note in your OASIS account. The note is only visible to advisors, not students. When we verify your degree requirements, we will refer to the notes to know how these apply to your major.
  
  If you want the course officially updated in your Academic Record, please email us so we can request the update. This is typically done for courses that are prerequisites for other courses you need so you don't need to fill out a prerequisite petition each time you register for courses.
• I plan on studying abroad. How do I know which courses will count towards my major requirements?
• Check our previously evaluated courses to see courses that students have taken abroad and if they were granted equivalency. If you can't find your desired courses on our database, you can submit equivalency requests ahead of time. You will need to provide the syllabi for the faculty to review. Contact the university or the department directly to see if they would be willing to provide you a syllabus.
• I plan to take courses elsewhere in my last year at UC Davis. Is that ok?
• Maybe. Students are subject to the UC Davis Campus Residence Requirement (or Senior Residence), which requires that at least 35 of your final 45 units before graduation must be UC Davis courses. For questions about this, contact L&S Advising.
• How can I get General Education credit for a class I took somewhere else?
• Use the General Education Credit Request in OASIS and contact L&S Advising (or your college, if it's not L&S) for any questions about GE.