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Advising Resources

Honors Student Handbook

The Honors College offers advising resources for Honors students, including the opportunity to talk with a Peer Mentor or Professional Advisor.

 

How Advising Works

All students at UNCW, including students with transfer credit and early college credit, enter UNCW categorized as undeclared, first-year students. As an undeclared student (e.g., a student who cannot yet officially declare their major), you will be advised by a designated honors advisor who has a general knowledge of majors, minors, honors curriculum, and University Studies requirements.

This advisor will help you explore potential majors and paths and select classes that enable your goals or expand your horizons. You will need to get a PIN from your designated advisor before you are able to register for classes each semester. Once you complete 24 credits at UNCW (usually 2 semesters), you will be eligible to declare your major.

You do not have to declare your major at this point and can wait until you're more certain. Until you declare a major, you will be advised by Honors College generalist advisors.

Most students declare a major at some point in their 2nd year of college. Declaring a major is not a binding decision, you can still change it later. Declaring a major changes your advisor. Rather than the general UNCW Honors advisor you have been working with previously, you will have an advisor in your major.

You will meet with that new person each semester to secure your PIN and register for classes. The Honors Advisor is no longer able to provide your PIN. 

One important thing to know is that major advisors don't always have a perfect understanding of Honors requirements. We encourage you to track your progress closely and maintain advising on Honors matters with our professional advisor. 

 

Continue to make progress in your major and finish up your University Studies and Honors requirements. The Honors Advising team is still happy to provide advice and feedback on completing your honors requirements. This is when students need to begin to think about their potential honors thesis projects.

Most students complete their honors thesis projects during this year. Honors staff are still happy to help you navigate honors requirements (including the honors thesis), but you will still primarily meet with your major advisor to select classes.

Your Assigned Advisor

Your academic advisor can speak with you in depth about your schedule and give you your Registration PIN (the code you must have to register for spring courses). Although Peer Mentors and Honors Advisors can be extremely helpful with the details of honors requirements, your main academic advisor is the only one who has access to your PIN.

Until you declare a major (which will be after you complete 2 semesters at UNCW), you will be assigned an advisor from the Honors College advisors. After you declare your major, you will be reassigned to an advisor who specializes in your major. But you can always return to Honors as needed basis for additional advising.

Determine Your Advisor

Peer Mentors

Peer Mentors provide the perspective and experience of an older student in the College and help support students with common questions and challenges to completing requirements for graduation.

Peer Mentors can help if you:

  • Have questions about the Honors curriculum requirements that neither the degree audit nor your primary advisor can answer
  • Need advice on the thesis process (searching for a topic, finding a mentor, paperwork…)
  • Want to know more about the resources that CSURF (the Center for the Support of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships) has to offer
  • Want to be more involved with Honors or campus activities, clubs and organizations

You can contact your peer mentors by email to ask questions or set up an appointment. Mentors will be available via Zoom or they can make in-person appointments outside and in other places on campus.

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