Late August/early September marks one of the most exciting times of the year on college and university campuses nationwide - the arrival of the freshman class. Most students are focused on making friends, negotiating the campus, finalizing their fall course schedule, and sampling the “newness” of college life.
Few students are concerned in the early weeks of the semester about visiting the learning center or signing up for a study skills course.
Without question, however, college brings many new expectations - among them academic and intellectual. Even the most well prepared students may discover that learning in their college courses demands more time and a more complex approach to studying. In fact, it is true to say that for many students, the opportunity to face such challenges is a necessary part of intellectual growth.
Although many students may believe that “support services are for other students…not me,” the reality on every college campus is that almost all students find that at one time or another, meeting with an academic advisor becomes an important aspect of their college success. For some students, it is a matter of not doing as well as they had hoped. For other students, struggling over course assignments, or having difficulty reading and understanding a textbook are signs that the learning process is not as successful as it might be. For still other students, doing poorly on first exams, or choosing not to attend class are clear signals that it is appropriate to seek assistance.
The KEY in all cases - do not avoid bad news. Learn how to access the academic support services on your campus!
Support systems include professors, academic advisors, tutors, writing centers, math and computer labs, libraries, learning assistance offices, and study skills workshops and courses. If you’re not sure where to start, the best advice is often to start with your professor. He or she may recommend tutoring services or recitations that are offered as a part of the course. Another option is to meet with your faculty advisor or a staff member in the campus advising center.
The Almighty Advisor
Advisors who work with freshmen and sophomores in particular will be especially familiar with the various resources available. These “experts” will recommend options and solutions that you might never have considered! In some cases, your anxiety will be greatly relieved when you discover that you might still have the opportunity to change the grading option in a course to “pass/fail.” In other cases, your advisor may encourage you to use a daily planner and take a time management course. In still other cases, individual tutoring may get you through the rough spots in a course and lead to future success.
Visiting an advisor on a regular basis will enhance your college experience and make a difference in your education. Although it is true that it is the individual student who is responsible for his or her education, every campus is filled with faculty and staff who are dedicated to supporting your academic success. It simply makes good sense to take advantage of the services that are available to you right from the get go.
Get to know your advisor early and often
Advisors are, willfully and intentionally, in an odd position. They are not parents, nor are they teachers or therapists – but they perform some of the functions of each of those, if need be. They are, more than anything, people to be made use of – for guidance, for advocacy, and even for instruction. It is their job to know what forms need to be submitted where and when. It is their job to be able to point their advisees in the right direction, for specific kinds of information and support, academic or spiritual or psychological.
A successful advisor/advisee relationship can only rest on honesty and respect, on both sides; and upon a free and full exchange of information. At most institutions, academic warnings go to the advisor as well as the student (but not, under current law, to parents – advisors are not conduits of information to home – something that they and parents may need to be reminded).
But in most cases, trouble is apparent to the student long before it becomes “official” – and effective corrective action is always best undertaken early. If the worst-case scenario develops, and the student faces disciplinary action or official punishment for academic dereliction, a good advisor can be of great help as a spokesperson; but only if they can honestly say, “X and I have been working on this situation for some time, now, the following steps have already been taken, and we’ve worked out the following corrective plan of action.” But that argument only works if the student has been forthcoming and frank in reporting anything which might be problematic.
One other thing that can be a useful role for the advisor derives from the peculiarly hierarchical nature of colleges. Students can visit office hours or try to call instructors or administrators; but the sad fact is that such efforts are often met with a closed door or a busy signal. It is remarkable how quickly and effectively a call or an e-mail from a faculty member gets through and is answered.
Advisors, sometimes, are volunteers - whether they be professors or other faculty staff. They do the job because they want to be helpful. To be helpful, they need to be kept informed, early and fully. And they need to be made use of, politely of course, but clearly nonetheless. And listened to, since they have almost certainly developed a certain empirical sense of how a particular institution operates, which courses or departments are legendary mine fields, and what balance of classroom and extracurricular activity has, in the vast majority of cases, been productive and happy.
