Author: Andrea Wong
Which placement tests should I take? What do my scores on these placement exams even mean? Do my AP scores count? Do I fulfill the core requirements first? Or should I pursue my major requirements? What does my possible major even require? These questions represent only a few of the many that arise during a first-year student’s registration. Registering for classes can easily become a confusing experience, especially for first-years. Between looking up the hundreds of classes listed on Course Counts, figuring out which placement exams to take and what they mean, finding out what the core requirements are, considering alternate courses for classes that are already full and pursuing what you personally find interesting, creating a schedule can easily become a convoluted process.
In order to help its newest students sort through these questions as they begin life at Oxy, the Office of the Registrar has a program that assigns first-years to an individual academic advisor, whom they meet during O-Week. While this theoretically sounds beneficial, many students end up with advisors who unintentionally turn out to be fairly unhelpful, creating even more confusion. The process used to assign first-year advisors fails to provide students with the guidance they need to truly plan and establish their college careers.
“The advisors are supposed to provide intellectual dialogue for goals and majors,” said College Registrar and Director of Advising Victor Egitto. “They should help plan for the first year and all four years.”
Egitto explained that all first-years were instructed to complete an online “Advising Information Form” by Aug. 3. On Aug. 15, he began to assign advisors based on all the compiled forms. By this time, 541 students had turned in their forms. Egitto says that he generally assigned students based on their intended major or area of interest, but that students could change their first advisor as they pleased. Realizing that everyone may not end up with an advisor who best suits them, Egitto proceeded to inform me about how students could change their advisors.
“Students are not locked into any specific advisor,” Egitto said. “There is not a limit to how many times you change advisors. You should find one that you are comfortable with.” Furthermore, Egitto explained that two new programs have been implemented this year, both with the purpose of clearing up even more of the confusion regarding advisors. The Advising Center, which opened this summer, allowed students to meet with Oxy staff that could help them register for classes and learn about the core requirements. Another innovation, the Open Session, divided the first-year advisors by subject at tables in the quad. First-years were then able to meet with the advisors assigned to them, as well as other faculty members.
“While advisors help with long-term planning, the new Advising Center works more with tracking towards graduation and ensuring that core requirements are completed,” said Egitto. He also discussed the intentions behind the new open session used to meet advisors this year. “The new open session was divided by department, so it allowed for more opportunities to change department,” Egitto said. “Students could see advisors from other departments before they registered for classes.” While these programs should have made it easier for students to find the advisors they needed, they failed to help because they were not largely publicized.
I thoroughly believe that Oxy has good intentions when its assigns first-year advisors, and even appreciate all that they do to personalize it. I also believe that many advising problems come from simple miscommunication between students, advisors and the advising administration. This leaves many first-years confused or unaware about how to change advisors and search for the information that they really need. In order to make the advising process much more clear, as well as easier for both the students and the advisors, those in charge of Oxy’s advising program should take more action to make sure that everyone remains properly informed.
I experienced the consequences of this lack of communication personally upon meeting with my own first-year advisor. Despite the fact that I declared an interest in biology on my advising form, I ended up with an advisor from the philosophy department. When I approached him with my schedule he, to no fault of his own, had very little advice and knowledge about the biology major. As a philosophy professor, he had no need to know exactly what courses a biology major would need to take, which limited how much long-term planning he could actually help me with.
All he could advise me to do was to make sure that I balanced my schedule with core requirements, leaving me only more confused and frustrated. I was left unaware that I could easily change my advisor until the day before I had to register. I never knew that I could simply walk to the table labeled “biology” for the advice I needed because this information was never shared.
Similar experiences seemed to occur among other first-years as well. “On my form I showed an interest in biology, but ended up with an advisor from humanities,” said Stephanie Wu (first-year), who had turned her form in on time. “I plan to be a bio major, but they assigned me to a physics advisor,” said Elissa Kim (first-year), who also had trouble finding out about her major. “Because he was from physics he did not really know what a biology major requires.”
“I liked my advisor, but she could not answer some specific questions about my major and planning,” said Delia Barnas (first-year), an English major who was assigned to an advisor from the Art History and the Visual Arts department.
While insufficient first-year advising may seem like an issue that only lasts during Orientation, it can ultimately hold long-term consequences. Egitto explained that advisors are supposed to provide more specified guidance for students and give direction. Essentially they are meant to aid in long-term planning and what pursuing a major requires. Without proper guidance from an informed advisor, however, students may not know exactly how to plan schedules that effectively meet their goals, especially regarding majors. A student’s first semester in college may seem like it can be taken casually, but in the long-run it does affect how students approach their majors. Proper first-year advising essentially prepares the path that a student will take for the next four years, making the advising process something that absolutely needs to be improved.
Andrea Wong is an undeclared first-year. She can be reached at wonga@oxy.edu.
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