Your new student’s academic experience is greatly shaped by their academic division. We encourage your student to connect with their academic division for specific questions and concerns regarding their academic experience.
Academic divisions
Beyond Boundaries
The Beyond Boundaries Program is for students interested in collaborative problem-solving. The program builds students’ abilities to tackle complex challenges, such as climate change, poverty, and ethical artificial intelligence, which can only be effectively addressed by bringing together experts from diverse academic fields. Beyond Boundaries supports students in exploring their personal interests and deepening their ability to work productively with others who bring different knowledge and perspectives to solve real-world problems of importance to them.
Bearprints for Success
Bearprints for Success is a one-credit, seven-week course designed to help new students make a successful transition to WashU, both academically and personally.
Supporting your student from afar
We encourage you to check in periodically with your student about their experiences in and outside the classroom. Academically, it is common for a student to undergo an adjustment period as the rigor and classroom environment of college are different from high school. Students are more likely to succeed if they use available support resources, even if they didn’t use such resources in high school. Additionally, we encourage you to speak with your student about time management and creating a personal task management system, whether that is a calendar app, an online tool, or a printed planner.
Students are assigned an academic advisor who will work to ensure they complete the academic milestones and requirements for graduation. Additionally, once students declare an area of study, they will be matched to a major advisor, typically a faculty member in their field of study. The major advisor has specific knowledge about research and career opportunities in the field and works to ensure that students fulfill degree requirements. Pre-professional advising is available for students interested in pre-health and pre-law.
Faculty are required and happy to meet with students outside of class. They will list their availability to meet with students on the course syllabus. Many students take advantage of office visits, not only when they may be having difficulty in a course but also as a proactive way to connect with their professors, clarify understanding, and discuss research opportunities or potential career paths.
The Learning Center, housed within the Center for Teaching and Learning, offers a variety of scholastic supports in partnership with academic departments. These include structured, course-specific weekly study groups facilitated by trained peer mentors, as well as course-specific drop-in sessions and individual coaching for academic skills such as time management, note-taking, or handling test anxiety. The Learning Center’s peer coaches and staff also offer workshops on academic skills.
If your student struggles with executive function and time management or has been diagnosed with ADHD, you may want to consider the Learning Center for support. Some families find that their students benefit from the more in-depth support provided by an external executive function coach.
Preparing for classes
In June, your student will be contacted by their academic advisor to discuss areas of study that interest them and course options for the fall semester. Students register for classes using Workday, during an assigned registration time in mid-July. Your student should learn how to navigate Workday prior to registration.
Once students are registered for classes, they can access syllabus information through Canvas, the university’s online learning management system. Many instructors provide syllabus and textbook information prior to the start of classes.
WashU Campus Store
The WashU Campus Store is a one-stop shop for everything WashU and
offers new, used, digital, and rental textbooks. The Danforth Campus Store is an authorized Apple Educational reseller with numerous technology items in stock. Laptops recommended by Student Technology Services can also be purchased at the WashU Campus Store.
Bear Necessities
Bear Necessities is a nonprofit general merchandise store located in Umrath House on the South 40. The store is affiliated with the Women’s Society of Washington University and proceeds from sales fund scholarships and student project grants. The shop offers a wide variety of exclusive WashU merchandise, school supplies, residential supplies, snacks, and personal and health care supplies. You can also order celebration cakes or cupcakes, balloon bouquets, care packages, and more from Bear Necessities. Keep an eye out for special offerings during the holidays.
Helpful Tip
Developing good time management and organizational skills are key for academic success in college. Keeping a calendar and a to-do list may seem simple, but they are effective tools to help students structure study time and stay focused.
Study Abroad
Understanding other cultures, languages, and countries is important whether a student plans to be an environmental engineer, artist, architect, accountant, health care professional, or historian. WashU offers many ways to incorporate international study into its undergraduate programs, placing students in more than 50 countries each year.
Each undergraduate school has developed high-quality study abroad opportunities that enhance the strengths of their undergraduate programs. A variety of yearlong, semester, and summer programs allow students to earn credit toward major, minor, or general degree requirements while studying abroad.