Classes were cancelled today while advisers counseled prospective students on how to implement their fall 2005 school schedules.

Current and future SF State students who needed advise on what to do about the class schedules in order to graduate packed Room 212 in the old administrative building.

“Twice a year the university actually puts in its calendar a day that we don’t have instruction except for classes that meet once a week so that students can get advising,” said Karen Kingsbury, director of SF State’s advising center. “The major emphasis of advising day is towards prospective students, so in this case it would be fall 2005 transfers and fall 2005 grad students, but any student can basically take advantage of advising day and utilize it as well. That’s what it’s about. We cancel classes so that students can plan wisely for fall.”

Students who attend advising day use the day to get information on graduation requirements, transfer status and specific course information in relation to their individual scheduling.

“I’m transferring from a junior college that I’ve been in for a long time, so I’m just trying to get a better idea of where I need to go and what I need to take before it’s too late” said Julian McQueen, a transfer student from De Anza Community College.

Parking was somewhat reasonable and only a hand full of students occupied the pathways of campus. Some current students took advantage of the day off to get extra work done for upcoming final assignments in hopes of completing this semester successfully.

“It’s very rare that I get a day off, so I took advantage of my day off” said Alex Shelling, a criminal justice major.

A big banner hung in the middle of the Malcolm X Plaza welcoming future students to the campus. Flyers flooded the halls of the One Stop Center informing students of the day.

The turn out obviously wasn’t what it could have been.

“Everybody should be here, in a way it’s a poor day to do it because on Saturday we had 6,000 people on campus for a sneak preview” said Kingsbury.

“We had moms, dads and students. We had everybody because it was a Saturday,” Kingsbury said. “Advising day is always going to have that problem because it’s not on a day that a lot of people can take time off.”

Kingsbury said prospective and current students should ask counselors specific questions in order to get a well-planned tentative schedule. Current students should be stopping by the Administration building or the One Stop Center to get information on all aspects of scheduling.

“What students should be asking is how close am I towards fulfilling my requirements for graduation? What is accepted from other campuses towards my major? What would be a good sequence of classes and in particular what would be a good set of classes for fall,” said Kingsbury.