Advising

Source: https://csadvising.seas.harvard.edu/advising/ Parent: https://csadvising.seas.harvard.edu/firstyear/

Need advice or information for navigating Computer Science at Harvard and beyond? There are several resources available to you.

Directors of Undergraduate Studies and the DUS Team

The DUS team is the Directors and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies for Computer Science, plus the Undergraduate Program Administrator. The DUS team can help advise any Harvard student, including concentrators, secondaries, pre-concentrators, or anyone else interested in Computer Science. They are especially knowledgeable about concentration requirements and administrative issues, and can serve as backup advisors for things like releasing advising holds. See the for how to contact the DUS team, including drop-in office hours.

Concentration Advisors

Every Computer Science concentrator is assigned an advisor from the Computer Science faculty, shown in the my.harvard Advising Network with the role “Ind Concentration Advisor.”

Your concentration advisor is there to help guide you through your CS degree. They are your faculty point of contact, and they are responsible for releasing the advising hold placed on your record each term during registration. But they are not just there to release the hold. We encourage you to consult with them about different areas of CS, research and summer opportunities, and your plans for Harvard and beyond.

Concentration advisors have different advising styles and strengths. We assign advisors to students, including newly-declared concentrators, at the beginning of each term. We try to maintain continuity from term to term, but faculty sometimes go on leave or change their advising capacity, so students can change advisors. When you declare, or if you want a new advisor, you can express your advising preferences by filling in this form well before term time.

Here are some general guidelines for contacting your concentration advisor.

• You should meet with your advisor at least once per term. Most students do so during preregistration.
• Some advisors will proactively schedule advising meetings, but others expect students to reach out to them.
• Advising conversations around registration go more smoothly when students have done some homework first. Add a couple courses to your Crimson Cart before meeting with your advisor—or add a ton of courses that seem like they might be interesting—so your advisor has something specific to discuss. You can change your Cart even after the advising hold is lifted.
• A consistently effective way to meet your advisor is to show up at their office hours. Faculty generally post their office hours on their personal web pages. If you’re not sure of your advisor’s office hours, email them; contact their faculty coordinator (visible as “staff contact” on their SEAS faculty page); or contact the .
• Concentration advisors know a lot about their area of CS expertise, and about computer science, both at Harvard and more generally. They may not know about, say, the best gen eds available this term. Of course you can ask them anyway—they may have heard from other students!

Peer Concentration Advisors

Peer Concentration Advisors (PCAs) serve as peer advisors for current CS concentrators and pre-concentrators. As fellow undergraduates, they know a lot about the Harvard undergraduate experience. They provide valuable perspective and can help students discover additional resources and opportunities. Students can reach out to meet with PCAs with similar academic, career, or extracurricular interests.

More information is on the .

Online Resources

Answers to many common questions and issues are available on this website. Other resources (such as online guides and the Piazza CS student forum) are listed on the Resources page.

Harvard College Advising Programs Office

The Harvard College Advising Programs Office is charged with coordinating, supporting, and facilitating academic advising programs for all undergraduates and, as such, works with students, faculty, the First-Year Experience Office, the Houses and other Harvard College and FAS offices on all aspects of pre-concentration and concentration advising.

CS Feedback

This is a form for anonymous feedback, for your ideas for CS to consider, or to let us know how you’re doing. CS Feedback.