Advising and Support

Academic advisors will be one of your best resources as you figure out your academic career at Syracuse, helping you navigate class schedules/course selection and providing information on how to get involved with the college, university, and arts community to graduate on time and with the experience necessary to succeed.

Registration/Schedule Adjustment

Undergraduate students are eligible to register and schedule adjust as outlined by the Office of the Registrar. If you are running into issues with registration, please refer to the support page on the registrar's website. We also have resources on how to search and register for classes.

Please be aware that there are additional fees for some classes. These fees will be noted in the class information on MySlice. You can also refer to the Tuition, fees, and Related Policies Bulletin.

Note: Most College of Visual and Performing Arts students are required to meet with their faculty advisor before they can register for classes. For more information, please refer to the VPA Statement on Academic Advising.

Selecting the Proper Elective Courses: Studio, Academic, or Studies in Culture?

An academic elective is any course taught at Syracuse University or SUNY ESF that is not studio in nature. This includes courses found in the Newhouse School, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, School of Education, and College of Arts and Sciences.

A liberal-arts elective, also known as arts and sciences electives for CRS, are most commonly found in the College of Arts and Sciences. These courses have been reviewed and approved by the New York State Board of Education as meeting specific requirements, which is why they are not usually found outside the College of Arts and Sciences. Courses deemed as humanities, social science, natural science, math, and language are considered liberal arts.

If you need to sign up for a math course, please make sure you take the placement exam. This is found on MySlice.
If you need to sign up for a language course, please make sure you have taken the appropriate entrance exam and/or met with the program coordinator. Online placement exams are available.
Language coordinators' contact information can be found here.

A study in culture elective is required for all FMA majors and is a specific grouping found within the College of Arts and Sciences. These types of courses are also known as humanities: anthropology, languages, religion, philosophy, art, music histories, etc.

A studio elective is where you are creating something, either with your hands (ceramics, fashion, painting, etc.), on the computer (animation, digital designs, film, etc.), or through writing (select English workshops). In some cases, select music classes have been approved, as proficiency in an instrument is considered an art form.

An IDEA elective is a course that has been pre-approved to meet the criteria the university requires. View the full list of options.

A Writing Intensive is a course that has been reviewed and pre-approved by the College of Arts and Sciences and the university to meet the criteria required. A full list of options is available.

If you are still unsure what type of course counts as an elective in these areas, we encourage you to review the PDFs below.

Keep in mind, the courses listed here may not meet every semester. When in doubt, consult your academic advisor.

At the time of advising and registration, make sure you select the appropriate courses to count toward your required elective categories.

What about a “fun” or “easy” class? We are firm believers that any class has the potential to be fun and easy! It will be wholly dependent on what you are interested in and find exciting. Your “easy” could be another student’s Everest!