My friend from another school called me last night, very frustrated and upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she proceeded to rant endlessly about how useless college academic advisors are. She explained to me that her academic advisor told her to sign up for two classes that were prerequisites for her major. It tuns out that those classes will not count toward her major, and she is now 6 credits behind schedule for graduation.
To be honest, she is not the first person I have heard of having this problem. Many of my friends here at SMU have had problems with their advisors. It seems to me that the system for academic counselors is outdated, especially for undecided majors. As an undeclared first year student, I look to my advisor for advice and guidance. Yet every time I have been to my advisor’s office, she seems unorganized and clueless. Her answer to most all of my questions is, “I’m not sure, let’s look in the course book.” Or she has to call someone else for help.
I do the majority of class scheduling by myself because it is all online now. The only reason to see my advisor is for her to tell me which classes I still need to take. But couldn’t I do that online too? It only seems obvious to me that if most of our scheduling is online now, our advising should be too. It would be much more efficient than having every student signing up for appointments with their advisors.
Online programs such as Access could then show each student their completed and required credits for graduation on time in a more user-friendly manner. Thus allowing students to determine which classes they need to take whenever they want, and eliminating simple mistakes. There would be far less errors in scheduling, such as my friend’s.
I’m not proposing that we eliminate academic advisors completely however. Advisors for specific majors can be useful because they are well informed on which classes a student needs to take. However, I believe that advisors for undeclared majors need to either be better informed or given less responsibility. In addition, programs such as the Hegi Career Center at SMU are able to assist students who have trouble determining a major much more effectively than academic advisors.
I honestly believe that academic advisors for undeclared majors at Universities are out of date. A more effective and efficient program needs to be put in their place soon so that students, such as my friend, aren’t stuck taking unnecessary classes due to simple mistakes. Have you had a similar experience? What changes do you propose
4 comments:
I think this post is very good. It presents an argument that is clear and concise. The claim for this argument is that student advisors for students with undeclared majors are outdated. She argues that they are not helpful when signing up for classes, often signing students up for irrelevant classes. I have fortunately not had this problem and because I know that I want to get into the Business School, my advisor is helpful in choosing the required classes. Undeclared majors, it sounds, are taking classes that they are uninterested in. Their student advisors are leading them in the wrong directions. This blogger brings up a valid point. Students should be able to sign up for classes on Access, view their Academic schedule, and understand the required classes they need to graduate. I think you present your argument clearly.
This is a really good argument and I totally see where you're coming from. I could see a couple reasons that colleges would want to get rid of some of the academic advisors. First off, it seems like universities wouldn't mind doing away with some of the unnecessary advisors to save money. Employing counselors that no one finds very useful seems pointless. Another reason is that if a student, like your friend, had consulted online degree requirements and then taken the wrong courses, she couldn't blame anyone but herself. I would think that advisors make tons of "little mistakes" that set people behind or steer them in the wrong direction, but if everything was online the universities wouldn't be at fault in those situations. Maybe there could just be one or two advisors and if a student had a problem with the online registering process, they would have someone to consult.
I just finished signing up for classes. I ended up signing up for only two classes that my adviser suggested. I agree that the advisers for undeclared majors are a bit outdated. I know they have a lot of classes and people to help, but I think they can do a little bit better of a job. I went in and asked for information about Education as a minor... she couldn't tell me what the differences of a Education minor at SMU and an Education major at other schools. In their defense, they have a range of subjects to know about. But haven't they been doing this for years? I agree with Paris Hilton that it might be a waste of money to hire them if we don't even find them useful. Maybe we SHOULD only have a few that would be their for the students that need help. OR maybe we could hire some advisers that could actually help me in my search for a major...
I couldn’t agree more about the Advisors at SMU for Undecided or Decided majors. I put in a lot of time at AARO trying to decide what I wanted in my first semester, so signing up for classes went relatively smoothly; however, when I did have a question I was left with an open-ended answer for she answered my question with another question. If I never took charge of my curriculum I would be at the mercy of what my advisor thinks is ‘best’ for me.
I am planning on double majoring and had questions last semester, so before signing up for classes when into that school’s advising office to seek some help. Not only were they unable to provide any guidance for my situation, but they didn’t even know that one could rescind AP credits and retake class at SMU, in general. For my second major, I am at the point where I need to sign up for 4000/5000-level classes, and looking through the course catalogue is overwhelming to say the least. So, I took the initiative to go see the advisor for this undergraduate major as well. I left her office with the advice that I should “take what interests me.” What?! That’s IT! I am just a freshman, and I have no idea what upper level classes are the right fit for me.
Each time course sign up comes around, I find myself spending hours at my computes search through courses and schedules on Access until I think I have it right. It’s frustrating and unnerving, but necessary at SMU.
What I have learned over the past year here is that you need to take your situation into your hands and make sure everything is set and ok. Otherwise, if you rely on someone else to make your decision, then something may go wrong. The best bet is take the time and effort to make sure you are on the right track because, after all, it is your future that is on the line and not your advisor’s.
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