Following Orientation, you’ll receive an email from your assigned advisor that includes a link to our Navigate system. You’ll use Navigate to schedule an appointment with your advisor.
Tools and Technology
Microsoft Teams: Go to https://uwm.edu/o365/about-teams/ for information and download/activation instructions. You’ll also want to be familiar with how to share your screen in Teams, which will help our Advisors walk you through the enrollment process. This short YouTube video can show you how.
PAWS: UWM’s system for course enrollment, billing, financial aid, and other official records. Instructions for enrolling in classes or changing your class schedule through PAWS can be found on our One Stop Enrollment and Financial Services site.
Schedule Planner: While students may enroll in classes directly through our PAWS system, we also utilize an add-on program called Schedule Planner. This system allows students to optimize and search through generated schedules, rather than enroll course by course or class by class. Watch a tutorial here.
More information can be found at the One Stop Enrollment and Financial Services site, under the “Searching for Classes” section.
Course Placement and Recommendations
All first semester students should take English Composition and Math classes, as later classes in your sophomore or junior year will likely require that the university requirements covered by these areas have been completed. Both subject areas will utilize your SAT or ACT scores for placement, or UWM’s placement process.
You may want to take a look at the sample first semester course listings attached to each of our six metamajor pathways, which can find in the Our Pathways menu above. Other good resources to review are UWM’s searchable Schedule of Classes.
English
Placement information for the Guided English Placement process is available here. Students who are not native speakers of English or those who speak a language other than English at home should consider taking English for Academic Purposes courses, which cover the same requirements as do those in English.
Math
Placement information for Math courses are available here. Incoming students without standardized test scores (or those who feel that their ACT or SAT math sub-scores don’t accurately reflect their capabilities) should consider the Panther Math Prep program available this summer — information on that no-cost program is available here.
Degree Planning
All first semester new freshmen in Pathway Advising will take Ed Psy 110: Planning Your Major and Career, a 3 credit hour course from our Educational Psychology department in UWM’s College of Education. This course will help students explore the university’s degrees and majors, develop study strategies, enhance academic skills, and create a four-year plan towards graduation.
General Education Requirement Courses
Most students will have some flexibility in their course schedule to take one or two courses related to majors or areas of interest that will satisfy General Education Requirements. General Education Requirements are intended to give structure to each student’s education while providing the student the greatest possible freedom to design an individual academic programhe course recommendations we send you may include suggestions for specific GERs, and you’ll find recommended GERs by Pathway listed in the pdfs on Our Pathways section of this site.
Course Search. UWM’s Academic Catalog offers a way to search on General Education categories at catalog.uwm.edu/course-search/. Additional options for searching for classes at our One Stop Enrollment and Financial Services site.
Following Orientation but Before Courses Begin
Review Your Schedule. Following your advising appointment with your advisor, you will have a schedule of classes for the Fall term. Familiarize yourself with the schedule and campus locations of any on-campus classes. You can find a campus map here, or take a virtual tour!
Check Your UWM E-Mail Account Regularly. UWM’s faculty, advisors, and administration use e-mail for all official communications. Set up your ePanther account if you’ve not already done so, and check your email regularly. We use Office 365 as our email client and for other online applications. For security and privacy reasons, we recommend that you do not forward your UWM email to another address.
Review UWM Majors. Our Academic Catalog lists all of UWM’s majors. Whether you have a major in mind or are still exploring options, browsing through this list will help you begin to clarify your academic plans and review what coursework is required in the areas that interest you.
Developing an Advisor/Advisee Partnership
See our page on Advisor & Advisee Expectations to learn more about how Pathway advisors and students can work together to solidify academic plans and keep students on track for a timely degree. We recommend that students check in with advisors frequently — at least twice a semester — and we’ll be in touch to make sure we stay connected! Expect to hear from us before classes begin with a request to check in with us in the first few weeks of the Fall term, but also know that you can reach out to us at any time, either by e-mailing your advisor or by contacting pathway-advising@uwm.edu.