Caroline Wilbourne
Registration for classes for the next semester is undeniably the most stressful time of the year besides final exam week. Ever since I started at NC State, I have known a handful of people who have had trouble with their advisors. In my experience, academic advisors don’t exactly help relieve that stress; if anything, they can add more.
Planning out classes on MyPack Planner for future semesters is one of the things that adds to this unavoidable stress when registering for classes. I understand the point of planning is to allow students to have an idea of what they want to take, but this ends up changing most of the time due to the lack of sections available.
Lots of students on the NC State subreddit feel like their advisors don’t do a good job of helping them with questions or advice. On one forum, students said their advisors weren’t able to answer their questions or just kept referring them to someone else who never ended up answering their question. All of their comments sound like unnecessary strain on students that needs to be addressed. Although NC State offers a request to change advisors, it doesn’t help — this is a structural issue with advisors across the board.
Advisors should instead give more guidance on what classes are good to take rather than leaving us to our own devices because, by the time registration comes around, we struggle to find classes to take. Advisors can do this by being more available for registration questions earlier than just a week before our assigned register date. Also, helping the student plan out their schedule by suggesting good-quality classes will better prepare them for registration.
For a person who’s a double major in two different colleges, problems with advisors can get worse. Both of the assigned advisors may not communicate when it comes to your schedule which is frustrating for the student. NC State should make sure these advisors are communicating across colleges so that there’s less stress for students and ensure they can easily register for classes.
This isn’t just an NC State problem; colleges across the country are notoriously known for failing when it comes to advising. If done right, advising can and should help students have successful careers after graduation. Advising is also crucial for improving graduation and job-placement rates. Even though not every student will go to graduate school, advising is still important for all students to be prepared for what happens after graduation.
A way academic advising can be improved at NC State is by building better relationships. I understand NC State is a huge school with many students, but advisors need to build more personable and dedicated relationships with their students to improve communication and trust.
I feel like me and my advisor barely know each other because we barely have any communication. It makes me feel like I can’t go to them to ask questions or advice about the future.
This can be done by making sure advisors are trained to answer any kind of questions during meetings so students will feel their advisor is reliable and want to meet with them more. Advisors don’t need to know everything, but they should prioritize getting the student help from another professional if they don’t.
NC State needs to find ways to make advisors more helpful for all students, so that when registration time comes around, we can feel a little less stressed and a little more prepared.