Upon declaring a major, students in the College of Arts & Sciences are assigned a major adviser with whom they must meet at the end of every semester before they can register for the next semester’s courses. The idea is that the advisers, who are members of whichever department the chosen major is in, can provide advice and insight better than four-year academic advisers.

Initially, I took a very dim view toward the process. I thought that it was a waste of time—that I would learn nothing valuable about classes or professors, and that if left to my own devices, I would be able to put together an excellent schedule. From speaking with others, I gather that this is a widely held opinion, even among those who have already met with their major advisers.

I put off seeing my primary adviser until the day before registration, but even in my brief meeting, I realized how wrong I was. My adviser looked at the two major classes I had been planning on taking next semester, approved one of them, and tactfully suggested, given the reputation of the professor for the other class, that someone like me might do better with a different class, or at least enroll in another in case I didn’t find the course to my liking.

This amazed me. I had been told that certain professors should be avoided, but this information had always come to me from students. My regular academic adviser had only ever spoken glowingly of professors. I recall asking once if there were any professors I ought to avoid, and receiving an evasive answer regarding the differing talents of Washington University staff.

Major advisers, I found, are an invaluable resource. Four-year advisers are useful as far as figuring out the ins and outs of the cluster system, but they fall slightly short when it comes to helping pick the good classes from the bad. Major advisers, on the other hand, are intimately acquainted with their departments and are ready and willing to steer students in ways I had never known about. My own adviser, an intensely busy person, cared enough about a nameless, faceless undergrad enough to deliver some genuinely good advice. As far as picking classes is concerned, the 15-minute meeting was more useful to me than anything else I’ve been told in my three semesters at Washington University.

I dragged my feet all the way to this meeting, but afterward, I wished I hadn’t. I only had a few hours to revise my schedule for next semester, and new questions arose for which my adviser could have been helpful. I have two majors, and, as it is not required to register for classes next semester, I did not bother getting in touch with my secondary-major adviser. After meeting with my primary adviser though, I wish I had. His insight was valuable, and I feel that I could have gleaned much more from the adviser for the second major—which happens to interest me even more than my first.

At the end of next semester, I plan on meeting with both of my advisers as early as I can. I believe that they are underrated and incredibly helpful and I urge all other Arts & Sciences students, especially those who don’t feel they have been particularly helped by their major advisers, to give their advisers the benefit of the doubt and not postpone their required meetings until the day before registration.