Here’s what you need to know about academic advising in college, and it’s not pretty.
Every school has some system of academic advising, and your student will be introduced to it either before they get to campus or soon afterward. But institutions often fail to provide consistent, high-quality advising. The reasons are almost too numerous to mention, but here are just a few: when advising is the responsibility of faculty, they are rarely incentivized to devote much time to it and the quality of their advising work is never assessed; if there are professional staff, they are often not well-trained, turn over often, and are generally assigned too many students to support them all adequately; finally, really good advising requires a wide range of skills and is difficult to provide at scale.
The result: students have trouble finding their adviser, getting their full attention, or getting that person to give them something other than “cookie-cutter” advice.
Another important factor: all advisers work within guidelines and academic regulations that they are powerless to change and have only limited ability to affect. Often students are frustrated because they have unrealistic expectations about what their adviser can do to get them a specific accommodation or get them into a specific course. Advisers work within a system that they don’t control.
One additional factor: federal regulations prevent the release of a student’s records without their approval, even to a student’s parents (with some specific exceptions). That, plus the fact that large institutions in particular often have lots of staff working in diverse offices who either don’t or can’t share information, makes it difficult for any single staff member to assess your student’s needs holistically.
One bit of advice that sometimes makes a significant difference: make sure your student is going to their adviser well-prepared, with clear questions, having done their research and given some thought to the issues about which they are seeking guidance. Students almost always get better advice when they come to their adviser better prepared.
Bottom line: students often have trouble getting good academic advice. Generally, there is a director of advising or some equivalent staff person whom you can contact if you wish to register a concern or, in extreme cases, request a change of adviser. (Most students don’t know that this is an option.)
Access to reliable, effective academic advising can make all the difference in a student’s academic trajectory. Whenever possible, students should try to cultivate a positive, constructive relationship with their adviser. Be respectful of their time and their expertise. And encourage your student to cultivate a number of mentors and advisers to be sure they’re getting the information and support they need to pursue their goals. Notwithstanding all the limitations mentioned above, advisers can be an important part of your student’s “academic support team.”