The Advising System at Deerfield

Although teachers and coaches are actively involved in your daily life as a student, you also have a faculty advisor. In addition to acting as an informal counselor, guiding and supporting you through the inevitable triumphs and trials of boarding school life, your advisor attends to your academic needs. Together with you and your parents, an advisor examines your educational and personal goals in relation to special interests, strengths, and weaknesses. An academic program is then chosen to fulfill these goals. You ultimately assume responsibility for your course selections and academic performance, but your advisor guides and supports you through the process.

For first-year students, advisors are typically the faculty resident or associate on their corridor. After your first year, you may request to keep your present advisor or submit preferences based on your housing requests for the coming school year. Day students are usually assigned one of their classroom teachers as an advisor.

In addition to the support you receive from your faculty advisor, freshmen and sophomores have proctors on their dormitory corridors. Proctors, chosen from the senior class, are not disciplinarians, but rather act as role models and student mentors to the younger students. They are chosen for their maturity, their interest in helping others, and their ability to relate to people of different backgrounds and personalities.