Information for First-Year Students (students who earned fewer than 18 credits after graduating from high school).
Information for Transfer Students (students who earned 18 or more college credits after graduating from high school).

First-year Students

Selecting Your Advising Appointment

When you make your reservation for NSO, you'll also select your Advising Appointment, which occurs online.  

Please choose a timeframe during which you will be able to dedicate at least two hours of time to work independently to complete requirements, meet with an academic adviser, and schedule your classes.

What to Expect During Your Advising Meeting

During your one-on-one Zoom meeting with an academic adviser, you will:

• Discuss your interests and educational goals.
• Review the academic requirements for your intended major(s).
• Plan which courses you should take to get started on your path.

Your meeting with an academic adviser is the first step toward achieving your goals at Penn State. We’re here to help you succeed!

This meeting is a virtual meeting and for students only.  Due to FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, family or friends who are present for your consultation may be asked to leave for confidentiality reasons.  

For this meeting, you should be in a place that is free of distractions, have headphones if you're in a shared space, and be prepared to have your camera turned on.  Some of the systems you'll use during this consultation work best on a laptop or desktop computer, so you need to join the meeting from a computer and not your cell phone.  

STEP 1: Schedule Your Appointment Now!

We have connected you to an academic adviser who will work with you for orientation.

Important: Be sure to stay on the linked scheduling page. Appointments scheduled in other places will not secure your advising meeting time slot and may be cancelled.

After clicking the button below, choose "Schedule orientation advising appointment (referred)" and follow the prompts. Choose the soonest appointment that works for you.

First-Year Scheduling

(Note: The link will open in a new tab. You’ll need log in with your Penn State account and authenticate to access the link if you haven't already in this browser.)

STEP 2: How You’ll Get Your Zoom Link or Meeting Location

Your appointment confirmation is sent to your Penn State email.

The email will include:

• The date and time of your meeting
• The Zoom link for joining (if you chose to meet over Zoom) OR
• The office location (if you chose to meet in person)

Need Help?

If you have trouble scheduling an advising appointment within your target advising days, contact us at AbingtonAdvising@psu.edu.

STEP 3: Start Preparing

To ensure a productive meeting:

• Confirm your appointment details.  They will be sent to your Penn State email from sender "Starfish Solutions."
• Complete pre-appointment tasks that are listed in your NSO task list.  All items with a due date must be completed prior to the deadline.  If you do not complete these items, the adviser will not be able to advise you during your meeting.  These items include:
  • Course Planning Guide
  • ALEKS Math Placement
  • Pre-Registration Activity Guides (REQUIRED)
  • Transfer Credit Survey 

(Note: You’ll need to log in with your Penn State account and authenticate to access the link.)

• Be ready to share your goals.  What major(s), minor(s), and career(s) are you interested in pursuing and why?
• Prepare questions about your intended academic college, specific major requirements, or the resources and opportunities available in the academic college.  During your consultation, you will meet with a professional adviser.  
• As a result of completing the Course Planning Guide, you should have courses in your Schedule Builder prior to your consultation.  Write down any questions you have about the courses you have selected; the adviser will help you determine if alterations will need to be made to your schedule.
• Have note-taking materials ready.  

Transfer Students

You should have received a welcome email from either Nicole Phillips or Wendy Kephart shortly after you accepted your offer of admission. In that email, it outlined information specific to your admission to Penn State and steps to take related to your transfer credits and academic planning.

One important step is to meet with your academic adviser, which many of you have done. If you have not met with your academic adviser, please schedule an appointment to review your transfer credits and begin to plan your semester classes.

How to schedule your appointment

Please schedule this advising session as soon as possible - the earlier the better.

Schedule your appointment using the button below.

Transfer Student Scheduling

When you click a scheduling button, you will be prompted to log in through Penn State’s sign-in screen if you are not already logged in. If you have not done so already, you will need to Enroll in Multi-Factor Authentication.

You must check your Penn State email for the advising appointment confirmation. This confirmation email will contain the day, time (in EDT), and location (in person or Zoom URL) you will use to meet with your assigned academic adviser. If any changes are made to your scheduled appointment, new information will be sent to your Penn State email. Please check your Penn State email often, including immediately prior to your orientation advising appointment.

If you have trouble scheduling an advising appointment, please contact AbingtonAdvising@psu.edu.