2008 Woodie Awards
Registration is hard enough without lax advisers
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Editorial
- Page 1 of 1
The week of registration is frustrating, with students rushing to finalize loans and design class schedules for the coming semester while still managing this semester's workload.
Before you can register, you must get permission from your academic adviser, the person assigned to approve your schedule and recommend courses. Financial holds on your student account can impede online registration, but often, the real issue is finding a mutually available time at when and your adviser can meet.
Selecting classes that fulfill your degree audit's cryptic categories can be difficult without the help of your adviser, who can interpret said audit. But where is your adviser when you arrive, armed with your tentative schedule, for the meeting you signed up for a week in advance? He's nowhere to be found, and he doesn't show up to counsel the student whose appointment is after yours.
Typically, advisers post a list of dates and times at which they are available to meet with students; others have meetings on a walk-in basis. When advisers fail to appear at scheduled meetings, they are being disrespectful to the students who made appointments. By no fault of their own, the jilted students are forced to run around campus in search of someone else who can clear them to register. Otherwise, students' registration will be delayed, and their classes may fill up as students whose advisers kept their appointments register.
Swamped during the week of registration, Academic Advising, located in Garden Plaza, can hardly be expected to field all the missed appointments. Rather, advisers should notify students of cancellations and direct them to someone who can counsel them. Ignoring advisees marginalizes students who should be top priority in a university setting.
The registration process could be greatly eased if advisers appeared for their appointments.
Before you can register, you must get permission from your academic adviser, the person assigned to approve your schedule and recommend courses. Financial holds on your student account can impede online registration, but often, the real issue is finding a mutually available time at when and your adviser can meet.
Selecting classes that fulfill your degree audit's cryptic categories can be difficult without the help of your adviser, who can interpret said audit. But where is your adviser when you arrive, armed with your tentative schedule, for the meeting you signed up for a week in advance? He's nowhere to be found, and he doesn't show up to counsel the student whose appointment is after yours.
Typically, advisers post a list of dates and times at which they are available to meet with students; others have meetings on a walk-in basis. When advisers fail to appear at scheduled meetings, they are being disrespectful to the students who made appointments. By no fault of their own, the jilted students are forced to run around campus in search of someone else who can clear them to register. Otherwise, students' registration will be delayed, and their classes may fill up as students whose advisers kept their appointments register.
Swamped during the week of registration, Academic Advising, located in Garden Plaza, can hardly be expected to field all the missed appointments. Rather, advisers should notify students of cancellations and direct them to someone who can counsel them. Ignoring advisees marginalizes students who should be top priority in a university setting.
The registration process could be greatly eased if advisers appeared for their appointments.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Emily Schmich
posted 11/15/07 @ 3:58 PM CST
To Whom It May Concern:
I agree with this editorial, even though my scheduling went very smooth and I am very pleased with my current advisor. Yet, I have been hearing complaints from my friends, some who still have not registered due to lack of advisement. (Continued…)
Michael Pierce
posted 11/22/07 @ 11:22 AM CST
I definitely have to agree with this article. I am an alumni (May 02) that earned a BA in American Studies. My first advisor, who shall remain nameless, never returned calls, never answered emails, and never responded to messages taped to his door. (Continued…)
Susan Beekman
posted 11/24/07 @ 10:32 PM CST
I'm finding WU is not student friendly. I needed a release for registration, and met with a hostile program director who asked me why I could not look at my degree audit myself. (Continued…)
Michael Pierce
posted 11/29/07 @ 4:30 PM CST
I understand Susan's frustration completely. I've already commented on my difficulties with an unnamed advisor at Webster. There was one semester that I took 21 hours of classes. (Continued…)
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