Honors Advising Appointments

The Honors Advising Office offers many options for accessing advising services.

Individual Appointment Advising

Please use Navigate to schedule an advising appointment. Appointments can be scheduled for in person or via Zoom.  

Advising appointments are available Monday – Friday, mostly between the hours of 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. However, there are some options starting at 8:00 am and ending at 6:30 pm to accommodate different student needs. 

If you need assistance with scheduling an appointment, please refer to the Navigate appointment scheduling instructions, meet with one of our peer advisors for assistance, or call 413-545-2483 to schedule an advising appointment.

Students are not assigned to a specific Honors advisor and may choose to meet with any of the Honors advisors.  

Drop-In Advising

If you have a time-sensitive question, join us for Drop-In Hours when Honors advisors are on duty to help students on a first-come, first-served basis during the academic year (fall and spring semester only). Drop-In Hours are held virtually via Zoom. 

Drop-In Honors Advising Hours 

  • Tuesday: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
  • Wednesday: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
  • Thursday: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
  • Friday: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Sign up during drop-in hours. Sign up will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of Drop-In and will be available for the duration of drop-in hours. Once the form is submitted, you will receive the Zoom link to join in the confirmation.

Group Advising

Group advising sessions are offered for first-year and sophomore students and are led by an Honors advisor and a peer advising assistant. These sessions are interactive and questions are encouraged. 60-minute group advising sessions are held in person and virtually via Zoom. 

First-Year Group Advising sessions are designed to explain the CHC curriculum, discuss Honors course options, learn how to search for Honors coursework, provide course registration tips, review CHC Status Maintenance Policy, and highlight Honors advising benefits and campus resources.

Sophomore Group Advising provide a detailed review of the CHC curriculum with a focus on finishing Breadth of Study and transitioning to Depth of Study requirements. These sessions discuss the Honors Thesis requirement and timeline and review the two options available for completing the thesis: Thesis Seminar and the Individually Contracted Thesis. Sophomores will learn how to access available academic, faculty, research, and financial thesis support as well as begin brainstorming thesis ideas. 

Peer Advising

Peer advisors draw on their personal Honors College student experience to help you transition to college and navigate the resources and opportunities at UMass Amherst. They can assist you with using online tools such as SPIRE, CHC PATHS, the Honors course guide, navigating other information on the Honors website, and providing a student perspective about the Honors Living-Learning Community and other advantages of Commonwealth Honors College.  

Peer advisors are well trained and ready to answer quick questions or meet one-on-one. They are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Blooms Honors Advising Center during the academic year (fall and spring only). 

Email Advising

If you have a specific question, you may email Advisor [at] honors [dot] umass [dot] edu (advisor[at]honors[dot]umass[dot]edu) and receive a response within two business days.

Questions should be simple, like: How do I register for an Honors Independent Study? or for Honors Thesis 499? How do I register for a summer course? How do I pursue the Departmental Honors track?