To earn a degree from UNC, each student must thread a path through a maze of requirements and traditions imposed by various authorities over a long period of time. The explicit requirements are not so hard to find and follow; they are written and are explicitly stated, though there are pitfalls hidden in revision histories and version synchronization. The traditions that have the force of requirements or the effect of weakening the official requirements are the tricky part. The difficulty of identifying and maintaining a listing of all the written and unwritten rules is why there are (human) academic advisors.

In college, the quality of a student's education increasingly becomes the student's responsibility; the role of an academic advisor is quite limited. Good advising will keep the student aware of the requirements yet to be attained (don't forget to take Comp 321 in your Ph.D. program), aware of common scheduling problems (this course is not offered in that semester), and help the student to anticipate upcoming milestones (B.S. candidates need to take Comp 145 or Comp 90 and take an Honors oral exam in the Spring to graduate with honors; you are due to have your Ph.D. dissertation proposal approved by the end of your 4th semester). Even better advising will help the student to uncover interesting opportunities (you might be able to get Comp 92 credit from your summer job if you arrange it in advance; you might be able to fulfill your Program Product requirement by previous experience rather than taking Comp 145; you might consider taking a course in geology that would wrap all of your interests into a nice package and motivate your further study of theoretical topics).

These pages are an attempt to bring together the requirements and traditions for the benefit of everybody involved, advisors and advisees alike. While we believe this to be an honorable goal, we believe it also to be a difficult one. Several people have the authority to add to or reorganize information in this hypertext, including the Chairman, the Associate Chairman for Academic Affairs, the Directors of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, and the Chair of the Exams Committee. You should not assume that all faculty are aware of the exact content of all of these pages.