Every time a new semester rolls around, I always hear the same complaint: “My adviser is an idiot.”
I feel that accusation is unfair.
Don’t get me wrong, choosing classes can be, and has been for me, stressful. I sometimes feel like I don’t have enough semesters, class hours or time readily available to meet IU’s seemingly impossible web of requirements, pre-requisites, credit hours and general education rules.
The solution for many, if not all, students is to turn to their adviser. From the many complaints I hear, it seems the advisers are sometimes just as confused as the student.
There are a few things that contribute to this dance of befuddlement and miscommunication. One is, of course, that there is a semi-truck full of stress placed upon the advising departments for each college.
There are only so many advisers present for every horde of students with hard questions, and there are only so many hours in a day that our advisers have available to work with each student.
Clearly with a university as big as IU, the advising departments need to be a priority, and I would ask our administration to consider creating a plan to equip advisers with working systems, adequate information and the funds necessary to help each student.
But for the time being, I decided to take a look at those around me to see who had success with their adviser and who didn’t.
As obvious and annoying as it sounds, it seemed like those students who researched different options before meeting with their adviser were far and away more successful at getting into classes that they not only enjoyed, but were actually useful for their major.
IU has several resources available to students selecting classes, both online and in print form.
I’ve found the best way to choose classes is to skim all the resources and come up with a list of all the ways those classes can count and cross-count for different major requirements.
Then, and only then, should you meet with your adviser, because then the two of you can work from there. In talking with different people about their respective processes, it seems many students simply arrive on an adviser’s doorstep and hope for the best.
This column is not meant to belittle or invalidate the bad guidance students experienced with their respective advising departments.
After all, if I keep hearing the same complaint semester after semester, then clearly something is wrong and must be looked at and fixed.
But for the time being, and for all the incoming students at IU, there are ways to work with the system and reduce the amount of head-banging that always occurs every time it’s time to choose your classes.
Your adviser isn’t an idiot, but they are human.
ewenning@indiana.edu
