By far one of the most popular aspects of the Echols Program is the priority registration process. What this means is that Echols Scholars register ahead of other College students, which maximizes their chances of getting in to the small advanced courses sought by many scholars. Registration times in the College are set by the number of credit hours students have (upperclassmen therefore register ahead of first-years) but Echols Scholars register as a group on the first day of registration in the Fall and Spring semesters.
It sometimes happens that Echols Scholars still get closed out of courses. Incoming first-year Scholars in particular have occasional difficulties in that other students have registered for the Fall semester before they have even sent their acceptance letters back to the Admissions office! However, during the Orientation sessions, Echols Scholars have priority over other incoming first-year students.
Echols Scholars are free from all distribution and area requirements within the College of Arts and Sciences. These include foreign language, natural science, non-western perspectives, historical and social science, and English composition requirements. The reason for this exemption is two-fold:
Echols advising is intended to be somewhat aggressive rather than simply available. This is sometimes more important to parents than to students, since Echols Scholars usually have good ideas of their own for course choice each semester and for the long-range coherence of their program of study. Nevertheless, University faculty know that freedom can be daunting to students coming directly from secondary schools, where so much is planned and scheduled for students.
The Echols Dean and Director assign incoming Scholars to an official faculty advisor sharing the student’s declared interests. This information comes from the on-line College form that incoming students complete before attending the University.
Echols Faculty Advisors include, as a rule, many of the University’s most distinguished teachers and are scholars of national and international reputation. All of them are extremely familiar with the University as a whole, and not just their specific department, and they enjoy introducing new Scholars to this community.
First-year Echols Scholars first meet their advisor before the start of classes at the end of August. After that, advising occurs in November and April during the pre-registration process for the Spring and Fall terms, respectively. However, advisors all hold regular office hours during the semester and encourage Scholars to stop by even if there is no immediate reason to see a professor. It’s not uncommon for Echols Scholars to see their advisor regularly throughout the semester. If the advisor can’t answer a question, he or she can refer the Scholar immediately to a colleague who can.
The assigned advisor is not the only resource for information, though he or she is a crucial one. The Echols Dean and Echols Director holds weekly office hours, and individual course professors or Directors of Undergraduate Programs are also useful sources of knowledge. Additionally, the Arts & Sciences Council offers Peer Advising services. The Echols Secretary, Ms. Sherry Bullock, is also an invaluable source of information and advising. Her office is in Garrett Hall 101.
The “common living environment” has been a pillar of the Echols Program since its inception in 1960. Indeed, the Program derived its name from the fact that Scholars were at first housed in Echols Dormitory on McCormick Road. Since it is assumed that much learning takes place outside the classroom, the architects of the Program realized that daily interaction with avid learners would facilitate the development of a sense of community as well as peer advising. This was the spirit of Jefferson’s original academical village and one we seek to replicate.
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Echols Scholars live in Webb, Maupin, and Watson dormitories on Alderman Road during their first-year experience. They are housed with Rodman Scholars, the Honors students in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The large lounge on the first floor of Webb House is a regular meeting place for Echols Scholars. Faculty advisors and the Dean and Director of the Program are occasional visitors, and the Resident Assistants and Graduate Assistants host special programs for Echols Scholars.
In annual surveys of graduating Echols Scholars we hear repeatedly that the common first-year experience was of decisive importance to their personal and academic development at the University. Lifelong friendships routinely begin in Webb, Watson, and Maupin, and we frequently receive notices of marriages between Echols Scholar alumni who met in the first-year residence halls! Indeed, the class of 1978 alone has 6 such pairings.
Echols Scholars are required to live in the Echols housing area. Echols Scholars wishing to be exempt from this requirement may submit a letter outlining their reasoning to the Dean. As a rule, the Dean strongly encourages incoming Scholars to live with their peers, and grants only a handful of exemptions annually, usually in cases of extraordinary circumstance. For example, the Dean discourages incoming Scholars from making roommate requests with friends in non-Echols housing. Echols housing offers the chance to broaden horizons and meet exciting and curious new friends from around the world.
Students who do not wish to live with fellow Scholars may request a separate Housing assignment. The Dean and Director considers all such requests, though strongly advises that incoming Scholars live with their peers. Only a small handful of incoming Scholars annually opt to live outside Echols Housing.
Prior to 1998 Echols Scholars were exempt from the College-mandated requirement of declaring a major by the start of the 5th semester. In 1998 that rule was changed, and Echols Scholars MUST declare a major by the start of the 5th semester along with all other College students. However, Echols Scholars retain the option of declaring a special interdisciplinary major. Since the Program is founded upon the principle of academic motivation and intellectual creativity, we believe that allowing students the freedom to define their own course of study is of decisive importance to the attainment of these goals.
The process of declaring the Echols Major is straightforward. Students must find an academic advisor in any Department in the College of Arts and Sciences and outline under his or her supervision a “package” of courses that will serve as a major. This major must consist of no less than 30 credits, but Echols Majors are encouraged to define programs up to 40-45 credits. A thesis project is strongly recommended, but not strictly required. It helps to provide cohesion to the project and to offer substantive evidence of the course of study—a point of particular importance to graduate schools. Since the Echols major is, by definition, “interdisciplinary,” students are encouraged to have multiple advisors to assist in the preparation of the major. While only one advisor will be formally “of record,” having additional faculty input is always helpful.
Once the course list is approved by the advisor, the student then submits it, along with a brief (2-3 page) description of the program of study to the Echols Dean and Director for approval. The Dean thoroughly reviews all potential Echols Majors and frequently requests modifications to the program of study before granting approval.
Once approved, the major is entered into the ISIS student registration system as “Echols Interdisciplinary.” While students are encouraged to give their major a title, it will not formally appear on the transcript. It can, however, be added to the student’s resume.
