A student’s first point of contact for academic advising needs is their SSC advisor, which is listed on their One Bellarmine account. Primary advisors are an important resource for assisting a student in navigating the university, providing information on resources, and guiding students through major and minor exploration.
SSC Advising oversees advising for most first-year students. If you are a student-athlete, your academic advisor is housed in Academic Support for Student Athletes.
If you are entering Bellarmine without declaring a major, your major is listed as undeclared and are considered an Exploratory student. Research shows that 80 percent of freshmen – even those who have declared a major – say that they are uncertain about their major, and approximately 50 percent of students change their majors over the course of their academic career. Time spent as an undeclared student should be used to explore opportunities and career options available. We believe the liberal arts education provided at Bellarmine creates the perfect canvas for students to explore and experiment with the various degree options.
For students who are undeclared, we recommend using the beginning semesters to explore two types of courses: 1) general education requirements and 2) courses in an area of interest, major or career. General education courses consist of a minimum of 43 hours of coursework in areas such as philosophy, theology, mathematics, social science, natural science, history, and fine arts. Besides exposing students to a variety of unique disciplines, our general education courses help students build lifelong thinking and learning skills and a common body of knowledge that is critical for understanding one’s self and the community at large. The liberal arts education is viewed quite favorably by employers who say they favor Bellarmine graduates because of their writing abilities, critical thinking skills, and well-rounded nature. In addition to these liberal arts core requirements, undeclared students should also choose courses of interest in order to explore major options. Courses of interest can be selected from the majors and minors found in the Bellarmine catalog. Please contact your SSC advisor with further questions.
Transfers, non-traditional and readmit students, upon being admitted to Bellarmine, work directly with the Student Success Center Academic Advisors to define their initial areas of interest for the coming semester they will be enrolling in. The Academic Advisors also discuss with students their graduation timeline connected with their area of interest as outlined in the Course Catalog based on the student’s current college credits earned.
Students are provided an opportunity to attend transfer orientation before their initial semester begins. This is a great way to enable students to understand resources available to them and engage in the university to aid in their success.
Once their initial semester begins, the student is assigned an academic advisor within their major.