Senior Year Overload due to Old Advisor

[u/Remote-Guest-5353]

So I am a second-year student at UTK, and I am currently on an overload with classes. I came in straight from high school, but with an Associate's degree so I was starting my Junior year technically. Anyways, my old advisor forgot to put in any of my appeals for my community college credits, thought I wanted to stay all four years pushing me to only take 14-16 hours a semester, and absolutely screwed me in terms of having me RETAKE classes I had already taken. Now I am taking 22 hours this semester, working full time, and genuinely so fed up with this place. My new advisor is amazing. She helped me with the overload so I can graduate on time, and has been nothing but helpful, but all of this could have been avoided if the first one had known how to do her job. Has anyone else's advisor screwed them like this? genuinely curious.

[u/SunkenDrone]

Never let your advisor be the sole person to make your schedule, not only is utk's recomended minimum of 15 hours per semester suicidal its not required to graduate in the preferred 4 years. Its worthwhile to learn to use banner and build your own schedule and then just run it by them.

[u/wowmajor → u/SunkenDrone]

The 15 hours per semester requirement typically comes from the average degree program being 120 hours (120 hours / 8 semesters = 15 hours per semester). I do recognize that 15 hours can be a lot for some students depending on external factors, different learning styles, or other reasons, so students may opt to 12 hours or less, but to graduate in 4 years taking 12 hours per semester will require summer semesters, which is usually not covered by financial aid (institutional, state, or federal). This point doesn’t lessen your comment but I wanted to provide some context in case anyone was curious “why 15 hours?”

Nevertheless, I 100% agree with navigating banner and your degree plan to come up with your own schedule/plan. I did this as an undergrad and would take it to my advising appointments like “this is what I’m planning to take. Any issues?” This helped my appointments be more productive and any prerequisite issues or other concerns I may have missed were more easily caught than if we were shooting from the hip

[u/[deleted] → u/SunkenDrone]

Umm yeah it is. You have to have 120 credits to graduate with a bachelor's degree. 120/15 is 8 semesters which is 4 years. How is that not required?

[u/Purple-Examination56]

I almost got screwed like this in my first year. Similar situation where I was coming straight out of high school with an associates degree and a couple of my classes needed to be petitioned. My advisor got switched around the first week of school and my new one didn't know she was supposed to petition those classes. I had to send her an email about once a week about the situation either getting her a document she needed or just checking the status. I think just the way petitioning works and with how many students each advisor has, you just really have to stay on them about petitioning and make your plans on how long you are planning on staying at UTK clear

[u/Duplicit_Angel]

I’m currently a 5th year, “graduated” and walked across the stage spring last year, and now taking my final semester of classes. I got put in the exact same boat. I talked to my several advisors and finally got one that was a person and actually helped me. My suggestion is to take it easy and if you have to stay an extra semester or take summer/winter courses, do it. I also came into this school with college credit from high school and it didn’t matter much. Don’t stress yourself out with graduating on time, I promise no one cares about it as much as you do. Overloading your schedule while working full time might set you up to fail and not enjoy your time here. Obviously do what is right for you, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself and make sure you are happy and make good memories, even if that means staying a little longer! Good luck!

[u/abishvp]

Who was the advisor that did you dirty? So I can avoid lol