For their first year, students are assigned to faculty advisors through the Office of the Dean of Students. Advisors and advisees establish contact with one another in early summer to help guide course selection for the fall. Advisors meet with students during the orientation period and assist students during the period when courses may be added or dropped from the students’ schedules. During the third semester, when students may elect a major, they will move under direct advisorship of a major department or program. The chair of each department or program designates academic advisors for student majors. Students must elect a major before choosing courses for their junior year.

Faculty advisors are urged to use Colby's 10 educational precepts as a framework for conversations with their advisees. Faculty advisors, advising deans, coaches of athletic teams in which a student participates, and the student's parent(s) are notified whenever students receive warnings from instructors or are placed on academic probation.

Placement in Mathematics
During orientation first-year students will have the opportunity to attend a mathematics placement meeting with the faculty to discuss their placement. Any student intending to take a mathematics course numbered above 111 should attend. Any student intending to register for a 200-level course should consult with his or her advisor and with the chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Placement in Foreign Languages
Students wishing to continue the study of a foreign language at Colby are encouraged to take the College Board SAT Subject Test in that language. The results are used to place the student at the appropriate level. Guidelines for placement in foreign language study are included in the course selection information available to members of the incoming first-year class.

If a student has not taken the SAT Subject test and wishes to continue studying a language, he or she will be placed on the basis of a required placement exam given during the orientation period for new students. Students whose SAT Subject scores are more than a year old at the time of registration also are required to take the Colby placement exam.

Students who have earned a grade of 4 or 5 on an Advanced Placement examination, a 6 or 7 in an International Baccalaureate higher-level exam, or a 7 on a standard-level exam, may be eligible for placement in upper-level language courses.

Students who have had two or more years of language study may receive credit for the first semester of the elementary course of that language only if the appropriate department determines that their preparation is not adequate for a more advanced level.

Placement for students in languages for which no College Board test is available is determined by consultation with the appropriate department.