Annabelle de St. MauriceAcademic advisors at Washington University are charged with helping students make informed decisions about classes, majors, clusters (or distribution requirements), and extracurricular activities. Unfortunately, this system is flawed because advisors are often not informed enough to provide the right information. Despite this fact, the university still requires students to be authorized by their advisors to register for classes.
Every student receives a four-year academic advisor when she enters WU. In addition, when a student declares a major, she receives another advisor specific to that major. Since so many students double (or triple) major at WU, this can lead to three or more advisors already. Peer advisors attempt to provide an alternative perspective from current students rather than faculty. A student with one major will have no fewer than three advisors in their career at WU: a peer advisor, a four-year advisor, and a major area advisor. Pre-med and pre-law students have even more advisors, although their role is more limited to applications to those professional programs.
Students are currently required to meet with their academic advisors before being permitted to register for courses. Everyone is very familiar with the end of the semester rush to make an advising appointment so that they don’t miss their registration time. If the advising requirement is not met, the student will be blocked from registration until the advisor authorizes it online.
Additionally, if a freshman or sophomore has already declared her major, she cannot simply decide to meet with just her major advisor for registration. Freshmen and sophomores are required to meet with their four year advisors regardless of whether they have already been in communication with an advisor from their major. This means that two or more advising appointments are required before these students can register for classes.
This current system might be practical if faculty were more competent in their role as advisors. Unfortunately, faculty members do not choose to become advisors because of their love of and dedication to students. Every faculty member is required to take on advisees. In addition, they are expected to know the intricacies of the cluster and distribution systems well enough to navigate students through them.
Most students do not know the finer details of the cluster and distribution systems. We have the incentive to figure it out, though, because we will not graduate if these requirements are not completed. Faculty members do not have the same pressure to learn these systems well, and as a result, students often function better as their own guides through this process. Olin School of Business hires full time advisors to assist students; the other schools at WU should do the same.
Even more complicating is that right now faculty members must learn two distribution systems. Juniors and seniors are still on the old plan (the one with the As, Ds, Qs, etc.), while freshmen and sophomores are on the new plan (with clusters). It is no surprise that advisors have a difficult time advising students, and that students have a difficult time making sense of the ‘advice’ they receive.
While some kind of advising system is obviously necessary and beneficial to students, advisors currently have too much power and influence over students’ decisions while providing questionable advice. Some freshmen are asked by their advisor to register for classes in their advisor’s office, while the advisor watches. The tendency to dictate classes to a student in that situation is too tempting. Additionally, one member of the Student Life Editorial Board was told by his advisor that certain AP credits would count for distribution requirements. They did not, and he is taking these classes in the spring of his senior year as a result.
The suggestions that advisors give will never be perfect, and we cannot expect them to be. But, to give advisors the power to authorize our own registration implies a level of trust and confidence that advisors cannot realistically be expected to possess.
If a public evaluation system was in place, students could research potential advisors for their major and make informed decisions based on other students’ experiences. Additionally, if the focus on advising was shifted away from registration then it would not function as merely another hoop that student must jump through when picking classes. These changes should be made in order to make the advising system more beneficial to students.