As of now, College of Liberal Arts students need to wait until November to get an in-person appointment with an advisor.
The wait comes as the CLA Advising Center operates with four advisors, down from its five advisors during the 2025-26 academic year. Two new graduate interns also began training weeks into the academic year, rather than during the summer, as in previous years.
“Normally, our grad interns would be meeting with students as well, but until they’re trained, they won’t be able to do that,” Lauren Kolodziejski said, associate dean for Student Success Center.
She said demand for advising has increased during semester conversion.
As Cal Poly transitions from a quarter-based system to semesters, some students say the change has complicated their academic planning.
“I feel like the semester conversion has been pretty confusing,” said Jessica Huh, a psychology sophomore. “I had a class that didn’t transfer over for credit on semesters, so I had to take that class for elective credit and then take another one to fulfill the requirements that I needed.”
Huh said she waited three weeks for an advising appointment while trying to determine whether she could drop classes and join waitlists for other courses she needed. She said the delay complicated her schedule planning.
Students whose questions require long-term planning or more complicated support can schedule 45-minute appointments, according to Kolodziejski.
“We really decided as a center to prioritize drop-ins over appointment times for now, just to make sure we were seeing as many students as we possibly could,” Kolodziejski said.
Mariella Gondraneos, a political science sophomore, noted her experience with advising.
“I’ve tried to set up an appointment during the beginning of the year, but they were all out of in-person meetings,” Gondraneos said. “However, I did go to their drop-ins, and they were able to answer the questions I had regarding the conversion pretty quickly.”
Drop-ins are a great way to get support if appointments are not available, according to students.
“The drop-ins were pretty helpful, and I was able to get what I needed fast without meeting someone in person,” said Kaitlin Tseng, a graphic communications sophomore.
CLA recommends students visit the Zoom drop-ins first to discuss their issue with a peer advisor. Students who need long-term course planning, a major change or helping meet full-time enrollment requirements should schedule an appointment.