Undergraduate Advising

For new students:

Your most important task to complete is signing up for a New Student Orientation in June and July. You will receive the same information, support and access to fall classes if you attend a virtual or in-person orientation. At your orientation, you will get to meet your academic advisor, learn more about your first year and register for classes. Sign up for a New Student Orientation through Buff Portal. 

Note: Please be sure to bring a device to New Student Orientation that you can use to register for classes. 

Complete your Online Experience 
You will need to have the Online Experience completed in order to register for fall classes. Write down and bring any questions you may have to the New Student Orientation. 

View all tasks

Academic advisors empower our students to become active, intentional and engaged members on their educational journey.

We provide accessible and inclusive information and resources to support the needs of our students. As such, our commitment to our students is founded on the values of inclusivity, empowerment and critical thinking to ensure our students are heard, respected and capable. At the end of their academic journey, we encourage our graduates to apply their unique strengths as they venture confidently into the world and pursue their goals.

New first-year students should meet with their assigned first-year advisor for any advising-related needs during their first two semesters.

 

You can connect with your advisor in a variety of ways.

Appointments can be made up to two weeks in advance. When the system shows no availability, it means all possible appointments are taken; new appointments appear on a daily basis. If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, please do so with as much advance notice as possible—no-shows take up time from fellow students.

  1. Make sure you run a new degree audit and read it carefully before your appointment. For information on how to do so, click here. To understand your degree audit, click here.
  2. Access Buff Portal Advising by clicking on the Student icon and sign in with your Identikey and password.
  3. In the Schedule an Appointment box on the left, choose the reason for coming in and click the Next
  4. Depending on your choice, you will be taken through a number of different options to provide your advisor more details about your appointment. Once you have gone through the additional options, click Make an Advisor Appointment Now!
  5. You will be taken to your advisor’s calendar, which will show selectable meeting times (in red) and walk-in/open hours.
  6. Click the timeslot in the advisor’s schedule that works for you.
  7. In the new window, enter details about your meeting in the Desired Outcome text area.
  8. Click Book Appointment and it will appear in your Meetings widget.
  9. You will receive a confirmation at your CU Boulder email of your scheduled appointment.

It could be an issue with an AdBlocker bowser plug-in. We’ve had issues reported with both Chrome and Firefox. To fix, try setting the ad blocker to not run on Buff Portal pages. This is an easy change with no threat to your computer. The icon is typically located at the top right corner of the browser. When you click on it, the option should be shown to not run on the page you are viewing.

If that doesn’t work, notify OIT to fix it for you.

 

How to schedule an appointment

The CMDI advising team remains committed to helping you during this semester. We will be offering in-person and virtual appointments, which can be booked through Buff Portal Advising. 

As always, it is best to review your degree audit prior to your appointment with your advisor. Be sure that you know your enrollment date and that you have an appropriate selection of courses in your shopping cart ready to go.

Enjoy the rest of the semester and remember, we are here to help!

 

Are you a current CU student planning to transfer into CMDI?

Current CU students who wish to apply to CMDI should attend an informational meeting on intra-university transfers (IUT). After attending the meeting, a CMDI advisor will be in touch with you. See here for dates, times and additional information on intra-university transfers (IUT).

General Advising Notes

  • All CMDI students are expected to complete a secondary area of study outside of their major. This can be fulfilled by a second degree in another college or program, a second major within CMDI, a minor, a certificate, or, in some cases, by meeting with your department's associate chair to form a self-designed emphasis. View majors' requirements pages for specific information.
  • Explore CU-Boulder majors, minors and certificates »
  • If you are a current CU-Boulder student not in the CMDI and not interested in transferring into the college you may take some CMDI courses: Lower-division courses, particularly freshman-level courses may be available. Advanced courses may require prerequisites and enrollment may be limited to CMDI students.
  • Emails are preferable to phone calls. Please include your student ID number in your email correspondence. Unless directed, please refrain from asking multiple advisors for advice. We all have the same training, we work closely together and we have the same answers. Avoiding duplicate efforts increases our time to reply to everyone.
  • Note: University deadlines are firm.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Restricted Courses: Some sections of classes may be reserved for specific groups of students. You won’t be able to enroll in those sections if you don’t meet the criteria.
    • Sections ending in “R:” Sections with an “R” at the end are restricted to students living in a Residential Academic Program, or RAP.
    • Section numbers in the 800s: These are reserved for specific populations of students, such as Honors students or non-native speakers of English. You can view details about who the class is for by reading the Registration Restrictions, Class Notes, or Class Attributes for the section.
  • Credit Hour Limits: If you are getting an error that you are unable to add a course because the “Term Maximum [has been] Exceeded,” check the following:
    • You are allowed to enroll in up to 19 hours prior to the first day of class. This includes waitlisted courses. You may need to drop a course to add another.
    • As a note, only keep classes you intend on registering for in your cart on the Class Search. Remove classes from your cart

A list of other Enrollment Error messages can be found on the Registrar’s website

Check if you are on waitlists: CMDI advisors recommend avoiding waitlists whenever possible. In the rare instances when waitlisting for a class is necessary, follow these guidelines:

  • Always have a backup course.  When you are waitlisted you are not enrolled in a course. You will have access to the Canvas page, but that is not a guarantee you will be enrolled.  Make sure you have a backup class in case you do not enroll.
  • Set up Drop If Enrolled for your alternate course. Make sure you add the open course first before waitlisting for your preferred section. Follow these instructions →
  • Waitlists are never guaranteed. Don’t assume enrollment, no matter your waitlist position!
  • Do not ask professors for permission to enroll in a class. They will refer you to academic advising for help adjusting your schedule to enroll in open classes.

  • Attend both your waitlisted and alternate courses.  This way you are not behind on coursework for the class you ultimately end up taking.

    More information about waitlists →

CMDI Elective VS. Non-CMDI elective: 

  • A CMDI elective is any CMDI course that is not required for your degree, area of emphasis, or track.
  • A non-CMDI elective could be any course outside of CMDI. Prerequisites and restrictions will apply.

How to find a non-CMDI elective:

  • There is no way to search for a non-CMDI elective specifically since the category is so broad! Try using the General Education/Core Course Search filters to get started or search for a keyword like “photography.”

What is an easy elective?

  • There is no simple answer to this question. Easy is subjective and varies from student to student. Try asking your friends or our peer advisors for recommendations of electives they have enjoyed. Ask why they liked them, what the workload was like, and make the decision based on what is best for you.

How do I find a CMDI Core Class?

  • You will want to use the “General Education/Core Course Search” filter in the Class Search to look for courses that complete the various CMCI Core requirements.
    • CMDI students should use the filter for “Any CMDI Core Attributes” to search.
  • Checking class attributes
    • You can double check the course you selected will count for CMDI Core by checking the Class Attributes on the course information page. If the category you are looking for is not listed, the course does not count.
    • You can also run a new degree audit once you have enrolled in classes.  If you see your course listed under the CMDI Core category, the course fulfills that requirement.
  • Double check your class schedule with the courses in your advising plan.
    • Do the classes you are taking cover the courses you laid out for this term with your advisor?
  • Run your degree audit
    • Run a new degree audit 10-15 minutes after you enroll.
    • Make sure your classes are counting in the areas they should be
    • Confirm that your chosen elective course is counting for a CMDI major specific elective or a general elective.
    • Confirm your CMDI Core course counting under the category you want it to.
  • If you enrolled in a class but cannot find it in your degree audit, check the following:
    • Did you accidentally enroll in the class pass/fail?  CMDI students are only allowed to take 6 hours of electives credits pass/fail. Anything beyond that will not count toward your degree.
    • Is the course counting for repeat credit? Certain courses are too similar in content to allow you to take them both. You can check the Course History section of your degree audit. If you see an “R” next to a course, that means it is being repeated.

Other Support

Academic Coaching cultivates a steadfast partnership between coaches and students to support their individualized learning and growth process, contributing to a transformational student experience. Are you interested? Fill out this form and an academic coach will be in touch →

We:

  • Support students to develop critical thinking and academic skills.
  • Challenge students to deepen their self-awareness.
  • Encourage confidence in academics and self.
  • Facilitate an iterative and actionable goal setting process.
  • Trust and empower students to take ownership of their college and life journey.

Academic coaching is a complementary service to academic advising.  Academic coaches work in collaboration with advisors to provide targeted support to students.   

  • Through a partnership with students, academic coaches help students develop critical thinking and academic skills, while facilitating a goal setting process to support student’s personal and academic development.
  • Academic advisors help students navigate their education, create plans to maximize their academic programs, and support students from a holistic perspective.

Academic Advising

CMDI Advising Front Desk

   303-492-5981
  cmdiadvising@colorado.edu
  Stadium 110