Berkeley undergraduates are blessed with multiple sources of advising -- more than their parents ever dreamed of when they were in college.

Previous issues of Letter Home have focused on career and psychological counseling available to undergraduates. Cal also offers special programs for disabled students, reentry students, and those needing academic support and tutoring.

But perhaps the oldest form of advising is academic advising. (To learn more, see Undergraduate Adviser Has His Dream Job.) Berkeley's five undergraduate schools and colleges all offer staff and faculty advising to their students.

By far the biggest college is Letters and Science, with about 16,000 undergraduates. Its Office of Undergraduate Advising in Campbell Hall has a staff of 41 to help students with course selection and planning, choice of major, progress to degree, evaluation of transfer units, and referrals.

"It's especially important to come in for advice during your first two years at Berkeley, before you have a faculty adviser in your major field," says Margaret DiStasi, director of the office. "Students tend to make assumptions, or ask a friend for advice, and that can get them into trouble when it comes to following L&S policies and procedures," she cautions.

A thoroughly informative booklet, "Earning Your Degree: A Guide for Students in the College of Letters and Science," is available at 113 Campbell Hall. L&S advisers also play a big part in student orientations.

After declaring a major, students receive academic advice from staff and faculty in their department, but they continue to rely on the L&S Office of Undergraduate Advising for degree checks, appeals, and advice on probation, withdrawal, readmission, and other special circumstances.

Individual appointments at the L&S Office of Undergraduate Advising should be made Thursday morning for the following week. Drop-in visits are available Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons during the first three weeks of Tele-BEARS. In an emergency (e.g., academic probation, a family crisis, withdrawal), students can usually see an adviser the same day. Students may request a particular adviser, but may have to wait longer for an appointment with him/her.

"But don't wait until Tele-BEARS to call for an appointment," warns DiStasi. "That's when we're the busiest."

There's little staff turnover in the L&S advising office. "It's very satisfying to help students discover who they are, what they're good at, and how to navigate the system," notes DiStasi. All the L&S advisers hired in the past 10 years have at least an MA in counseling. (See right for a profile of one of them.)

Advising assistants can answer routine questions over the phone (510/642-1483) and at the reception desk, which is open during the noon hour. At the busiest times, an adviser walks the line at the reception desk to answer quick questions, accept petitions, and generally smooth the way.

For students with a quick question or too busy to come into the office, L&S peer advisers -- trained juniors and seniors -- at mobile stations on Sproul and LeConte plazas answer questions every day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Peer advisers also visit some residence halls one evening a week.

Advice is even available on line at KpasaLnS@socrates.berkeley.edu. E-mail queries are answered within two working days. The office web site is http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/

Kwong-loi Shun, professor of philosophy, became L&S Dean of Undergraduate Advising this fall. Helping him are three faculty assistant deans who handle student appeals.

"I enjoy being able to help students, especially when they encounter difficult situations," says Shun, an assistant dean of advising since 1993. "Working with students from other majors broadens my perspective and being aware of student concerns can impact how I teach."

Shun has several goals as dean: to coordinate work at the Office of Undergraduate Advising with departmental faculty advisers; to determine if any student needs or concerns are not being addressed; to make sure that junior transfer students are getting adequate support; and to help students declare a major and graduate in a timely fashion.

As for advising in the other colleges and schools that accept undergraduates:

College of Chemistry: Chemistry undergraduates -- about 650 divided between chemistry and chemical engineering -- are assigned both a faculty and staff adviser. Students must meet with their faculty adviser each semester and get class schedules approved by a staff adviser, who performs a degree check when the student approaches graduation.

College of Engineering: As in chemistry, Berkeley's 2,500 undergraduate engineering majors are assigned both a faculty and staff adviser. All undergraduates are required to see their faculty adviser at least once a semester. Staff advisers do a degree check for every student every semester. For the first two years, the faculty adviser is primarily a mentor, while the staff adviser takes care of policies, procedures, and course requirements. Bob Giomi, assistant dean for student affairs, says, "We try to help undergraduates navigate the bureaucracy and have as good an experience as possible."

College of Environmental Design: To the usual staff/faculty advising, CED adds graduate student mentors for undergraduates. The dean handles matters of probation, study abroad, and admission. There are about 650 undergraduates in the college's three departments.

College of Natural Resources: The 750 undergraduates in CNR must see either a faculty or staff adviser each semester. With 120 faculty and at least one student affairs officer for each of the college's four departments, "we're pretty personalized," says Pat O'Shea, student affairs manager for the college.

Haas School of Business: Undergraduates are admitted into the business school only as juniors, and competition for the approximately 550 major and 120 minor spots is intense. Advisers in the undergraduate program spend much of their time counseling applicants -- both Berkeley freshmen and sophomores and potential transfer students.

-- Julia Sommer