I recall several years ago hearing a college representative discuss the dangers of “self-advisement”. This talk was brought back to mind recently when I was meeting with a senior I counsel who was discussing her college plan. She had a whole master plan for the courses she would take in college and her pursuit of a double major and was running it all past me for approval. A high school counselor should be an expert in their own school’s curriculum and should be generally knowledgeable about the curriculum and programs of the post-secondary schools they send students to regularly, but they are not experts there. Nor, is any eighteen or nineteen-year-old who has just recently been admitted.
However, many of these young people believe they are. After all, they might be straight-A students who are big academic fish in their little high school ponds. They might have googled information related to their major, visited the program page for their major on their university’s website, and even talked to their friend’s older brother who is majoring in the same thing. This is all a great start, and I encourage it, but it doesn’t make you an expert.
That moniker is reserved for an academic advisor assigned to a college or major within a university. A young college student would be wise to get to know this person well. An academic advisor essentially serves the same capacity as a counselor does in high school. They can help you smooth out issues with a professor, figure out what classes are a good fit for you in your college, and most importantly, chart the course of study you’ll take in your college career. Calculating the timing of when to take specific courses and scheduling them can be a key part of this.
College programs can be nuanced. Paying close attention to prerequisites that might not be offered every term can be crucial to timing your college experience right. Failing to do so can be an expensive mistake if it delays your graduation. An academic advisor knows all of these things and can help you avoid pitfalls. Advisors can also be particularly helpful for a student who has a specific or multi-faceted goal. Want to double major? Get a minor from a program in a separate college? Spend your summer studying abroad in Southeast Asia? Land an internship with the New York Yankees? Become an engineer who designs roller coasters exclusively? An academic advisor has the experience, knowledgebase, and access to information and resources that can best put you in position to meet whatever your goals are. They are likely to hold some little nuggets of information that might be hard to find on Google or might not be on your friend’s brother’s radar. Form a relationship early on with an academic advisor at your college and let them help you plan your college experience. Accept that you’re not the expert and utilize the person who is.
