As a Columbia student, you have a remarkable support network to help you achieve your full academic potential: advisers, tutors, librarians, writing coaches, and professional staff. Remember, the most successful students don’t wait until they need help — they form relationships with these experts early on to learn how to study smarter, plan ahead, and fully utilize the many services the University provides.
From now until graduation, your adviser in The James H. and Christine Turk Berick Center for Student Advising (CSA) will be your source of information for all things academic: course selection, the Core Curriculum, major declaration, requirements, tutoring, internships, preparing for graduate school, and getting the most out of your Columbia education. Advisers are also your allies in achieving academic success. Their priority is to help you excel in a course of study about which you are passionate.
To make the most of this relationship, you'll need to actively engage with your adviser, which means responding to your adviser's outreach, speaking up when you need help, acting on advice, and following up on referrals to other sources of information they give you. We recommend building a connection with them early and taking advantage of their support from the start.
By the end of July, you’ll receive an email introducing you to your CSA adviser and inviting you to schedule an appointment to discuss your plans for your first semester. Keep an eye out for a follow-up email from your adviser to learn when and how you can reach them during the summer by phone, email, and virtual appointment. Your adviser can answer your academic-related questions.
A few ways your adviser can help:
selecting and registering for classes;
exploring majors;
preparing for placement exams in foreign language, science, and math courses;
transferring AP or IB credits;
understanding Core requirements;
pursuing pre-med, pre-law, or other pre-professional paths;
answering questions about study abroad; and
answering general questions about life at Columbia.
Preprofessional Advising helps Columbia College and Columbia Engineering students and alumni identify and refine their interests in pursuing careers in the professions (law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and public health), and provides guidance and support throughout the professional school application process.
The CSA provides free peer tutoring for a broad range of courses. Students should meet with their adviser to request a tutor as soon as the need becomes apparent. Some academic departments also offer private tutoring.
Additionally, the CSA also provides Peer Academic Skills Consultants, trained upperclass students available to meet individually with students to discuss effective learning strategies. They can assist with time management, test-taking strategies, goal setting, note taking, and other study methods.
Academic success seminars are also presented throughout each semester. Topics range from time management to note taking to stress management. Seminars are open to all students. Speak with your CSA adviser at any point for more information.
Help Rooms serve College and Engineering students seeking extra academic help with subjects such as chemistry, physics, statistics, and mathematics. You can drop in during open hours to ask questions of faculty and graduate assistants and receive help with coursework. Help Room schedules are available on department websites.
Each academic department offers a number of resources. For information regarding what they provide, refer to an individual department’s website.
Office hours are times set aside by a faculty member or teaching assistant (TA) to meet with students to clarify concepts, discuss assignments, and mentor potential majors. Take advantage of these hours to ask questions, address concerns, and connect with faculty. Faculty and TA office hours are posted on course syllabi and departmental websites.
The Writing Center provides writers of all levels and abilities — from first-years to seniors working on their theses — with the opportunity to get help from writing experts. Writing consultants will work with students at any stage in the writing process.
The Language Resource Center supports students throughout the course of their language study at Columbia. The LRC provides flexible physical and virtual spaces for language learning, facilitates access to resources, and connects students to language-related opportunities at Columbia and beyond.
The LRC is also home to the Shared Course Initiative, which connects language classrooms at Columbia, Cornell, and Yale via high-definition video conferencing so students can learn less commonly taught languages.
Columbia University Libraries offers workshops, training programs, and personal consultations. From in-person appointments with research librarians, to consultations with subject experts on discipline-specific projects, to workshops on library software and research citation management, Columbia’s top-tier libraries can and should be an important part of your academic support ecosystem.