Academic advisers can have a profound impact on student success in college. As previously mentioned, many students apparently believe that talking with an adviser is unnecessary. With on-line registration in many colleges and universities, students frequently sign-up for courses without talking to their adviser. This can be a serious mistake for several reasons.
First, an adviser can often help students select the most challenging professors. Second, they are missing an opportunity to discuss their major, academic progress, and future employment. Third, students, especially freshmen, can be steered away from taking all large introductory courses. My own experience is that large classes can leave students dissatisfied with college. Students may feel that they are treated like a number. Equally troubling, they may see the professor as distant, uninterested in their academic welfare, and unapproachable. Finally, advisers can explain the importance of writing and foreign language courses.
Students sometimes ask, "Do I have to take a foreign language?" Unless a student discusses the answer to this question with an adviser, there is a strong probability that a huge academic mistake will be made. The global economy cries out for graduates who can speak a foreign language. Indeed, students can gain a competitive edge in the job market by being multi-lingual.
Another rookie error in ducking advisers is to treat college course requirements away from their major as unimportant. At Stockton, for example, students are required to take a series of general studies courses not related to their major. Indeed, half of a student's curriculum are in areas "away from your major." A frequent student refrain is, "I just want to get these general studies courses out of the way." Students make the requirements sound like going to the dentist for a painful cleaning -- necessary, but unpleasant.
Big mistake. Why? General Studies courses are frequently the most interesting, even exciting courses a student will take. Courses dealing with diversity can be mind opening. New worlds appear. Old conceptions of the world can be shredded. Students are introduced to material in art, literature, and science that can lead to a radical change in their thinking, or a change of major. Even more fundamental, a broad-based education is the very core of a college experience. It may give students a keener understanding of themselves, the workplace, the world of ideas, and career options.
General Studies can also be the best place to experiment with various fields if you are not yet decided on a major. It is also the place where you begin to see connections beyond your major, find answers to the enduring questions, and see things in an interdisciplinary way. Advances in many fields come about when people think "outside of the box." General Studies courses, then, will help train you for that kind of thinking.
Professor Light's excellent book, Making the Most of College, previously cited, states, "good advising may be the single most underestimated characteristic of a successful college experience." One interesting example on how an adviser made a significant difference dealt with a Harvard University first year student who was overwhelmed and ready to drop out. When her adviser encouraged her to join a club, or play a sport she demurred. "How about the band?" her adviser prodded. She replied that she did not play an instrument. "That's O.K.," he said, "Ask if you can hold the drum." Years later, the student repeatedly mentioned the band, pep rallies, and a host of friends who made college an enriching experience.
My own advising sessions underscore the importance of advising. Many students sell themselves short. They lack confidence in their own ability. When I mention law school as an option, they often look like a deer frozen in headlights. Students sometimes have to be convinced that they are very smart. Admittedly, academic advising is rarely successful in merely one or a few sessions. But talking with students and listening can provide tremendous opportunities.
Academic advising, then, is very important. If students who want to be successful should attend class religiously, a similar point can be made about advising. Students who see their adviser frequently are way ahead of the game.
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