Opinion

A bit of advice

As spring course registration gets underway this week, University of Wisconsin students will once again trek en masse to see their advisers. Simultaneously, students will also begin their semi-annual groaning and complaining about the less-than-superb advising services UW has become known for.

Some of this complaining is certainly warranted. A number of students have unfriendly, unenthusiastic advisers who aren’t able to expertly guide them with the program they are interested in. In addition, many students have found it difficult to find a time when their adviser is available.

Yet while it may be true that some advisers — and maybe even some advising programs as a whole — on the UW campus are less than stellar, the entire advising culture on campus is ridden with problems. And students are far from innocent bystanders.

Rather than scheduling regular advising appointments throughout the semester and planning ahead, most UW students operate on a “panic advising mode.” In this system, students wait until they receive their registration e-mail before they think about sitting down with an adviser to plan out the next semester. They then panic and rush to make an appointment, often battling hordes of other students operating on the same panic mode and seeing advisers who are frazzled by the large number of students they must see in a short period of time.

In addition, during registration, advisers usually have five other students waiting outside their door, which does not provide for the best focus and concentration for the student in the advising appointment. The advising system simply was not designed to and cannot handle seeing 25,000 undergraduates in a span of five weeks right around course registration. This leads to the aforementioned unfriendly, unenthusiastic advisers.

Thus, the problem lies with both the advising programs and students. And both must work to improve the current system. Students must make appointments to see their advisers in the early on in the semester. They also need to be realistic about what advisers do and do not do. They are not there to tell students what to major in or exactly what courses to take. They are simply there as a support system meant to help students find their path and make sure they complete all necessary requirements of that path. And even if students have a bad advising experience, they should keep trying by making an appointment with another adviser. After all, students pay for advising as a part of their tuition, so not utilizing the services is simply an act of foolishness.

If students and the administrators who orchestrate the advising program work together, perhaps UW can eliminate the numerous flaws plaguing the system. Only then can this campus achieve an effective advising program that attracts students and enhances their experience at UW.