Zavia Pittman

Opinions Writer

College is like going to an airport. No matter how prepared you think you are, there’s always the possibility of a delay. Getting out in four years seems like a pipe dream. It never ceases to amaze me how many people I know who share my major and who haven’t graduated on time, or at least when they expected to graduate (including myself). Of course, we usually hold the student accountable for taking extra time.

Changing your major, failing a class, or taking a break will lengthen your academic career. However, even students who are doing everything right find themselves being here a semester or even a whole year longer than intended. So, what’s the issue? Well, it may be the person who’s supposed to know your degree plan just as well as you do. 

When you first enter UNCG, you have little say regarding your course schedule. It’s like a collection of blind dates with your advisor as the matchmaker. The classes are relevant to your major, of course, but there’s no escaping that first schedule most of the time. I assume this is to help students put their best foot forward for their first semester and keep them from worrying about their schedules right out the gate. 

If you are a Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies (CARs) major like me, first, you are assigned an advisor from the Bryan School. Once you earn enough credits, you’ll be switched to a CARs-specific advisor. This change is where the issue starts.

Since I have been a CARs student, all my advisors have been graduate students pursuing their master’s or Ph.D. Depending on the program, students may complete an assistantship, and advising is one of the options to fulfill that requirement. The people filling these roles may not have prior experience advising other students. And from my experience, most of the CARs advisors are also transfer students who are not very familiar with UNCG outside of their studies.

As a result, CARs students often need an advisor with more knowledge and experience to advise students on their degree path effectively, and, in turn, more students end up staying longer than otherwise necessary. I’ve spoken with peers in my major, and many have expressed frustration about interactions with their advisors.

The advising often consists of meeting your advisor and looking at a degree path, with an overview of your semesters at a glance. This process isn’t terrible, but for students looking for more guidance, this experience feels like the bare minimum. A more seasoned advisor may be able to recommend which classes would be worthwhile for a student based on the student’s goals or know how to advocate for students who may need extra help.

The constant rotation of new advisors only exasperates the issue of inexperience. Many graduate students complete the assistantship requirement, leave the position, and someone else takes their place. Undergrad students have to get familiar with a new advisor almost every year. This upheaval is not an environment where students can build trust with their advisors—potentially the most crucial part of an advisor-advisee relationship.

I don’t blame graduate students for this issue. They are trying to get their degree just like any other student. However, the department should consider students’ academic careers when choosing advisors. It might be better to eliminate advising as an option for the assistantship position and instead have advisors with more knowledge about the intricacies of the department. Perhaps the department could also look into options for preparing their graduate students advisors for the role. However, I’m sure there are many factors to consider in this arrangement.

Yes, students are responsible for at least a rough idea of what their degree path will look like, but advisors should possess enough information to help guide them. Students shouldn’t worry about graduating on time because their advisor is learning on the go. We should at least be able to have solace in the fact that there is someone there with the knowledge and experience to help us along the way.