Lending a helping hand

It's your first week of school as a freshman and you receive an anonymous letter saying you have to meet with this person at 3:30 p.m. in the lounge of your residence hall. Confused, you go down to your appointment, and see about 50 other kids with the same expression. Then the person you're supposed to meet with comes in and explains what everything means. \nIt's an advising meeting.\nSo now you understand, this person is here to help you decide your future, life, and purpose in coming to this huge University, and make it feel a little more like home.\nFreshmen are assigned an advisor during Welcome Week, when they are informed why they are supposed to see an advisor. From there, they schedule their first one-on-one appointment with one of roughly 40 University Division advisors to discuss their idea of a major and what they want to do at IU. \nAfter the initial appointment, it is the student's responsibility to keep in contact with their advisor.\nThe goal of University Division advisors is to support freshmen students in their academic status, educational goals and personal growth and development during the transition from high school to college.\n"During that first week of school, students are given much information and we are there to help them out and assist them as they sort through all that information," said Jim Sizemore, a UD advisor.\nSizemore is a UD advisor in Ashton-Moenkhaus. Moenkhaus is the central advising office on campus, which serves freshmen who live off campus and students still in UD after their freshman year. \nStudents can stay in UD as long as they have a GPA of 2.0 or higher, good academic standards, declare a major by the end of their sophomore year and explore field programs of interest.\nSophomore Arminta Gunkel said she put her advisor to good use last year, visiting him at least three times and corresponding via numerous e-mails. \n"I sometimes don't understand what I have to do and what classes I need to take, Gunkel said. "He researches and understands everything I need to do."\nAdvisors assist with students' academic interests, setting goals for the future, selecting courses, understanding university policies and deadlines, finding elective activities and learning the requirements for their major.\nBut it is the students' responsibility to complete, understand and fulfill the requirements on their own. \nSizemore said UD advising is unique in that having detailed knowledge of one major isn't enough -- they have to know about all the departments, which can make it a bit challenging for UD advisors to assist the 11,000 students in their division.\nAssistant Director of Advising Frank Reiter said UD advisors are the best-trained on campus, going through extensive training and weekly meetings. Because of this, UD advisors are in high demand and frequently recruited by departments.\nReiter said he and two other assistant directors are available who appreciate being notified if any students encounter problems with their advising, but that incorrect or misinformed assumptions can sometimes negatively affect people's view of UD. \n"When someone says 'my advisor made a mistake,' people sometimes jump to the conclusions that it was a UD advisor," Reiter said. "They also sometimes talk to people who aren't UD advisors and then make the assumption that they are. We're not the only advisors on campus."\nStudents changing their minds about majors and forgetting that they've done so can create the impression of bad advising.\n"At some point a student may have switched directions with their major, so when the student looks back on advice they were given, it doesn't make any sense," Reiter said. "Unless you've seen the history of a student, you can't make a judgment on their advising"