Wharton advising program awaits verdict on its efficiency

The jury is still out on the Wharton School's new undergraduate peer advising system. This semester marks the first time Management 100 teaching assistants will serve double duty as both instructors and academic advisors. Management Professor Anne Greenhalgh, co-director of the Management 100 program, expects results this week from a survey circulated among Wharton freshmen on the success of the new system thus far. Administrators discarded Wharton's old peer advising system -- in which individual students were paired with upperclassmen in a fashion similar to that used in the College of Arts and Sciences -- because they recognized that the Management 100 TAs already functioned as de facto peer advisors. Last spring, Greenhalgh selected 43 upperclassmen to fill the management "Team Advisors" positions based on their involvement in extracurricular activities, communication skills and their ability to "be academic role models," according to head TA Joe Pollack, a Wharton senior. After completing an official peer advisor training course, each TA was assigned to a group of 12 students. As opposed to the old system --Eunder which some students complained of never being contacted by their advisors -- Wharton freshmen now meet as often as three times per week with their TAs, according to Greenhalgh. Administrators hope this will prevent students from "slipping through the cracks." The major benefit of the new system is a "smaller and tighter community," Pollack said. "The hope is it'll be like gangbusters in the end," he added, noting that if a student came to him with a question outside his field of expertise, his close relationship with other TAs would allow him to easily refer that student to the appropriate source. When the change was introduced last spring, administrators and advisors were most concerned with the TAs' ability to balance both roles. Wharton senior Mousumi Shaw admitted she was concerned about the conflict of "teacher" vs. "friend." "But in general the system is a good idea," Shaw said. "It holds TAs more accountable." Greenhalgh emphasized that TAs are "not graders" and that instructors have the ultimate authority and influence on evaluating students' performances. Most students said their TAs have been both accessible and friendly. "It's a good relationship so far," Wharton freshman Jen Abrams said. "I asked her some questions after recitation? it's very easy to get in touch with her." Freshman Janice Lin said that although her TA failed to contact her over the summer, he's become "more accessible" since classes began Wharton Director of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Anita Gelburd said that in addition to TAs, students may also seek advice from professional advisors and administrators as part of the school's "three-prong system." But many students who opted for professional advisors complained of long waits. In what administrators cited as the traditional "fall crunch," 154 students were seen as walk-ins on the first day -- 20 more than the previous year. Wharton freshman Jaime Huertas reported a two hour, 40 minute wait before a 15 to 20 minute meeting with his advisor, who he said was helpful in the end. Other students, however, said they got better advice from upperclassmen.