Winter 2024 Frosh

ADVISING RESOURCES

We are so excited to welcome you to the Crown and UCSC Family. Your next four years will be filled with opportunities, fun, and, of course, some learning too. As your Crown College Advisors we will be working alongside you as part of your team on your journey to graduation. We are here and ready to answer any questions you may have, and to connect you with other resources on campus. We may not know every answer, but we are a great place to start and can direct you to the best resources for whatever you are facing. Feel free to read our bios and get to know us a little better–we look forward to getting to know you over the next few years.

Another member of your team are your Major Advisors located inside the Academic Departments across campus. You will work more with your major advisors when it gets closer to declaring your major and upper division coursework. Your major advisors are a huge asset but you will mostly be working with us in your first two years.

Finally, we want to introduce you to your Crown Peer Advisors. Our Peer Advisors are undergraduate students who are available as a resource to their peers for basic academic advising. They are trained to provide assistance through student-to-student interactions, and may also share personal experiences for further support. In the Fall, your Crown Peer Advisors are available everyday to assist with navigating your MyUCSC portal, guiding you through enrollment (adding, swapping, editing classes), finding and choosing GE and elective courses, helping you find the correct form, and providing other helpful tips, just to name a few. You will also find helpful advice from our Peer Advisors throughout this webpage.

Getting Started/Orientation

The most important thing you can do this summer to prepare for your transition to UCSC is to complete your Slug Orientation. You will get information on everything you need to know. The best part is you can go through it at your pace, so if the information gets overwhelming, take a break and then get back to it. This is definitely one of the benefits for online orientation. Just make sure you are completing each of the sections by their deadlines.

The Crown Element

Crown Activities

Crown might have a lot of science elements, but all majors are welcome here! Crown students connect through creativity and community. It is very easy to feel welcome at Crown and to get plugged in.

The Crown Programs Office hosts a variety of events throughout the year. You can start connecting with them now via the Crown Instagram

Crown Core Course

As part of your Crown Core Course, you will do readings and assignments to help prepare you for the Crown and UCSC experience

Crown CAFE

To continue your orientation to UCSC and Crown College during your Winter quarter, the Crown Advisors will provide a canvas course during the Fall called Crown CAFE (Crown Advising for the Frosh Experience). More information on this will be provided soon.

Selecting a major at UCSC

Most people think they need to know exactly what they want to major in before coming to a university, and that is not true. If you have ideas about what you would like to study, that is a great start, but it is possible your major will change. Finding your fit is likely to take some time. The ideal major should be the combination of skills and passions–if you don’t have both it’s likely not a good fit. Major does not mean career–some careers do require specific majors, but most do not. It’s important to do the research to find out what major is best for you, and we are here to help you with this process. As you try out new subjects or learn more about a subject you are already interested in, you may find that your preferences change. So even if you have a major already selected, make sure you are paying attention to what you like, or don’t like about your major courses; this may allow you to add a minor, or adjust your major courses to make the perfect fit

Undecided?

It is completely normal to come to college unsure about your major! And in many ways it’s better to be undecided and explore at the beginning versus changing halfway through your time at UCSC. Here are some tips and things to think about:

Use the Getting Started Guides to see a list of all the UCSC majors and videos about each major—intrigued by a subject or major? Explore your level of interest by taking an introductory course!
Read through the catalog page for any majors of interest and pay special attention to the upper division courses, as this is where the most interesting classes of the major will be found. Pay attention to what sparks your curiosity!
UCSC groups majors into Advising Clusters–this can be a good way to connect with multiple majors at once.
Use GEs to your advantage – explore majors by taking one of their courses for a GE credit
Thinking about med school or grad school? Some grad schools do not care what you major in, but others have specific requirements. If you aren’t sure about yours, look into specific grad programs to see what they require.
Any information is good information. If you take a class and didn’t enjoy it at all, you can probably cross that subject off your list.

Think critically about your skills/interests using self-assessments

Enrollment

We know enrollment is one of your top priorities this summer and we understand. Much of what you need to know is found inside the Slug Orientation Course 2. We will also be talking more about enrollment during Virtual Advising Days (more specific information on this to follow). However, we can point you towards several resources and things to think about when planning your fall schedule.

Major Classes

You can find information about each major inside the UCSC Catalog. A catalog is the contract of policies between a university and its students and is a wonderful resource for all kinds of great information. Another great place to find information on requirements for your major is the Getting Started in your Major Guide. But every student is so unique and so is their schedule.

Finding the Right General Education courses

Many people come to college not looking forward to their General Education classes (GEs) because they don’t see the value. Your major classes are important, but your GEs are what makes a bachelor’s degree comprehensive, provides you with a well rounded education, and helps you develop a wide set of skills important for your life beyond UCSC. Look at this as an opportunity to explore and enjoy. UCSC offers some very diverse classes so take advantage! However, make sure you sign up for classes that are numbered 99 and below (lower division) for your first couple of quarters–you will be in upper division classes before you know it, but not just yet. Many of your major classes will also satisfy GE requirements, so don’t worry about satisfying them immediately. We can help you work on a long term plan to make sure all your GEs are completed by the time you graduate.

Actually enrolling in classes

The Orientation Office has some great videos for enrolling in courses and will have their wonderful Orientation Leaders available for help when enrolling. Please reach out to them first, if they feel like the question would be better answered by us, they will refer you.

In future quarters, you will be enrolling on your own so we recommended meeting with Crown Advisors or Peer Advisors in advance to answer any questions you may have.

Academic Resources and Tips!

College is all about learning in collaboration. You will learn from faculty members and with faculty members. You will also learn from and with your peers, and campus as a whole. No one makes it through their college years alone, and you are not expected to figure everything out on your own. This is why advisors and other academic resources exist!

Learning Support Services offers a variety of tutoring and group support services. Often tutoring is less about turning an F into a C, but turning a B+ into an A or actually grasping the subject matter to best serve you as you continue to build on what you learn.
There are a variety of cultural resources centers, health services, and student involvement through the Division of Student Success.
You can find support through so many areas at the university, including these listed on Admissions’ website.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is here to help you as you navigate any stressors, anxiety, or other mental health challenges you may face during your time here at UCSC. They can help you process something going on in your life that is impacting your school work, help you develop strategies for managing your stress and anxiety, or help you in understanding yourself and your needs better. All UCSC students get 5 free sessions per quarter!

Campus Involvement

Studies have shown that students who are involved on campus do better academically and graduate sooner. Involvement can help you feel more connected to your major and to UCSC. College is about learning but also about the connections you make. You don’t have to know what you want to get involved with right away, but it’s definitely a great time to explore your options!

List of all UCSC registered clubs/organizations
Engineering clubs/organizations
Athletics, recreation and fitness
Getting involved in research on campus
You don’t have to be an art major to be involved in the arts
And so much more! Trust us, if you are interested in something, there is likely a group to get involved with. If not, you can create your own!

We hope you found this information helpful! We are so looking forward to you joining us here at Crown and please reach out to us at any point (CrownAdvising@ucsc.edu, CrownPA@ucsc.edu).