In just a month, students across campus will be waking up at the crack of dawn to register for classes. In preparation for registration, students will meet with their advisors not only at pre-registration meetings but also at workshops, freshman seminar classes and other campus events. With all the duties an advisor holds, it can be difficult to pinpoint what exactly an advisor is supposed to do.
“To help all undergraduate Georgia College students, from the first year through graduation, in planning their class schedules and courses of study,” said GCSU’s Academic Advising Center website. “The professional staff of the AAC also teach first-year seminars for incoming students.”
Though the academic advisement process may seem straightforward enough, much goes into getting a student from their freshman orientation to the graduation stage. Advisors’ duties range from administrative details, to registration meetings to teaching, as each advisor teaches between one and four sections of freshmen seminar.
“The end goal is to help you graduate, make sure you do that one time and you’re meeting your requirements, but also just to make sure that we’re helping enrich your experience and time here,” an anonymous advisor said.
According to one anonymous academic advisor, each of GCSU’s advisors ideally have between 100 and 350 students, but this advisor currently has around 370 students spanning across several differnt majors.
“There are a lot of peak times, and it gets to be a lot,” the anonymous advisor said. “We’re a jack-of-all-trades sometimes.”
Many students have found their advisors to be encouraging and supportive during stressful registration times.
“They have been very helpful and very supportive; they’ve helped me rearrange my schedule whenever I’ve needed it,” said Camryn Williams, a senior education major.
However, Williams also noted that during her freshman and sophomore years she was assigned to three different advisors, which was stressful as she tried to register for classes and work on her education cohort application.
“There was a lot of change and uncertainty,” Williams said.
After COVID-19, there were a lot of adjustments made across campus, including in the advising center. Suddenly all meetings had to be virtual, and getting an appointment was not as simple as it had been before. Throughout these adjustments, staff changes and new students also had an impact on the effectiveness of the advising center.
“The role of an academic advisor is basically to have someone who’s knowledgeable in the career or realm of career that you want to go into.” said Kaitlyn Hall, a junior exercise science major. “Just to help you go to that next step especially if you’re going to grad school of anything like that, building that road and foundation for you to be successful in the future.”
Hall encouraged advisors to take time to understand the major they are advising, especially if their students are trying to go into graduate or professional programs.
“This is a major hopefully that we’re passionate in and want to excel in, so just having a foundation of what the major is that you’re advising and giving the students the best outcome that they can get,” Hall said.
