Different academic colleges in The U of M have differentprocedures for advising students. Some use professors. Others usegraduate assistants, and some use a combination of both.
While each college or department has a slightly differentadvising system, the goal is the same: to make academic advising aseffective as possible.
"All advisors are experts in their concentration," said LaurieSnyder, college advisor for the College of Communication and FineArts.
The expertise of the advisor and the role of the department inthe scheduling process ensure that advisors know what classes areoffered in their specific concentration and what a student willneed to take to fulfill certain requirements.
This knowledge serves to cut down the number of mistakesadvisors make when helping students schedule classes. In the eventthat students have questions concerning general education orelectives, their academic advisor can help them with that aswell.
"The advisors have all the stuff (the students) need," Snydersaid.
Outside of scheduling advice, Snyder said there is anotherbenefit to having expert advisors -- each has a wealth of knowledgeabout the career path on which their students are embarking.
"What we like about having academic advisors within theconcentration is that they become mentors," Snyder said. "They canhelp you with career objectives and career advice because they'vedone it themselves."
Jerrie Scott, a professor in the College of Education, is anadvisor that believes mentoring can help solve a lot of typicaladvising problems.
"Mentoring is helping students combine their social and academicactivities in a way that brings them together," Scott said. "It'sknowing what the students' needs are and addressing those needsbefore they need to be handled as problems."
Even with safeguards in place, Snyder said advising mistakes areoccasionally made but added that any legitimate complaint is dealtwith immediately.
"Advisor error happens," Snyder said. "If I make a mistake orforget to tell the student that they need to take something, thatbecomes my mistake. Then I will send a memo to the vice provostsaying 'I messed up.'"
While advising errors do occur, the majority of complaintsSnyder fields are either communication errors -- where the studentdoes not understand what classes will satisfy what requirements --or the student has neglected preparation in making informeddecisions about their schedules.
"I will check up when a student says 'Nobody told me to dothis,'" Snyder said. "I'll ask 'Well, who's your advisor?'"
Many times, the student will tell Snyder that he or she doesn'tknow who the advisor was, but, she said, "That's a red flag thatthey didn't really talk to their advisor."
Scott occasionally sees a lack of preparation in her advisees aswell.
"A student will want to talk in general terms about what theirproblems are, but they can't tell you how many hours they have,what their grade point average is, or even what their program ofstudy is. My job (as an advisor) is to tell a person, 'If you wantto operate like a professional, this is the kind of thing youdo.'"
It is the student's responsibility to take interest in theircareer program, said Dot Hale, manager of undergraduate programs atthe Fogelman College of Business, who said she often tells studentstheir career starts with being involved in their career path.
"It's your career," she said she tells students. "Don't come in(the advising center) depending on me. You have your responsibilityand I have mine."
