Advising FAQs

The goal of our department's academic advising is to help students clarify what they want to get out of their university studies and to help them succeed academically. Our academic advising includes discussions about career goals, changing majors, choosing courses, and navigating the university bureaucracy when unexpected situations and problems arise.

All permanent faculty (Professors Beresford, English-Lueck, Faas, Gonzalez, Meniketti, Sunseri, and Weiss) provide drop-in academic advising in their offices during their regularly scheduled office hours. A schedule of advising hours is posted on the door of Clark Hall 469 and the department website each semester.

The Department of Anthropology advisors serve all students who are (1) majoring or minoring in Anthropology; (2) majoring in Behavioral Science; or (3) minoring in Anthropology or Values, Technology and Society. We also provide advising for graduate students in the Applied Anthropology Program.

We are responsible for advising students about our degree programs. We answer some basic questions about general education requirements, but we do not assess transcripts or make decisions about whether students have fulfilled university graduation requirements. We are responsible for answering questions about your major and how you can best progress toward graduation, and for getting those questions answered when we are in doubt.

You should become familiar with the basic resources that guide students through their academic careers at San Jose State and with the basic academic requirements for graduation. Any student seeking advising is expected to be able to use the following resources:

Department of Anthropology Website. This is where you can find course syllabi, various academic resources, and news about the department's many projects.

Class Schedule. Each semester's class schedules are posted on the SJSU website. Most students are eager to get to the list of courses so they can plan their semester, but the “instructions” section of the class schedule is equally important since it provides information about deadlines, general education courses, and most everything you need to get through the semester; read through it.

University Catalog. This is the basic document that describes individual courses, degree requirements, and academic policies. Almost everything you need to know about SJSU can be found in it and you should be comfortable using its index to search for information. It is available both online and in the campus bookstore.

Advising Hub[BROKEN LINK]. The Hub is available on the university website and it is the best source for current policies and the latest petitions that you might need to download.

You are also responsible for tracking your progress toward meeting the major requirements by using your MyProgess report which is available online. We also encourage you to use one of the degree progress-to-degree trackers we provide and that can be picked up outside Clark Hall 469. One side of the page lists the degree requirements and the other is a checklist that you maintain to chart your progress. We neither trackers the worksheets for you nor do we print and assess your MySJSU transcripts: these are your responsibilities. When meeting with the department chair have the progress-to-degree tracker compeleted and hard copy of your transcripts.

The Department of Anthropology accepts continuing SJSU students into the Anthropology and Behavioral Science majors if they have an All College GPA of 2.0 or above.

If you are interested in changing your major or learning more about major requirements, please join the advising hours of the Department Chair. 

The criteria for probation in the Anthropology and Behavioral Science Studies majors are those for SJSU probation at the University level.

The criteria for disqualification from the Anthropology, and Behavioral Science majors are the same as those for SJSU disqualification at the University level.

Following a first disqualification, may be reinstated only once to either major. The forms for reinstatement are available on the University's Advising Hub.

1. Begin by picking up the appropriate anthropology or behavioral science progress-to-degree from the materials rack outside Clark Hall 469. List any community college courses that you took that will fulfill major requirements. For example, community college equivalents to ANTH 11, ANTH 12, ANTH 13, and STAT 95 will be counted toward the anthropology B.A. Likewise, courses equivalent to ANTH 11, PSYC 1, SOCI 1, STAT 95 or SOCI 15, PSYC 18 or 30 may count toward your behavioral science degree. Be sure to list the community college courses that articulate with SJSU courses under the community college course numbers since you will need them later when you apply to graduate.

2. Sign up for the WST as soon as possible (and pass it!) so you can begin taking SJSU Studies courses. Taking the required 100W course is also a prerequisite for some upper division major courses: be sure to read the portions of the University Catalog than cover your major.

3. Sign up for the courses that will fulfill major requirements. Anthropology majors should pick up a Course Rotation from outside Clark 469. It lists when the department plans to offer specific courses and is invaluable in planning your program of study.

4. Introduce yourself to an advisor and get answers to any questions you still have, and make sure you keep a folder in which you store all paperwork from the university until after you have graduated. Keep your graded papers, too, just in case you need them.

If you are regularly checking your transcript on MySJSU and maintaining the Progress-to-Degree Tracker Clark Hall 469 then you can estimate how many courses you will need to take in order to graduate. University policy is that students should apply to graduate as soon as possible after completing 90 units. The deadlines for submitting your application to graduate are available on the Registrar's Graduation Application Deadlines page. The department provides workshops in the fall and spring semesters about how to apply and all students should plan on attending one of them. 

Students who transfer from a community college on the quarter system may discover that although their courses are equivalent to SJSU ones, they lose fractions of units when quarter units are converted to semester units. (One quarter unit equals .67 semester units, so a 4 quarter unit class equals 2.68 semester units and a 5 quarter unit course equals 3.35 semester units.) Students must complete at least 42 units for the anthropology major and 48 units for the behavioral science major.

Make sure you are using an Anthropology or Behavioral Science Progress-to-Degree Tracker available in the display rack outside Clark Hall 469 to keep track of the major courses you have taken. Follow these steps when you are ready to apply for graduation:

All students planning to graduate under the Anthropology or Behavioral Science majors must submit a graduation plan. 

The Undergraduate Advisor will review your plan and approve it so that you can submit an application to graduate through the Registrar's Office.

Should you have any questions, please attend the advising hours of the Undergraduate Advisor.