Whenever I went to see my former academic adviser, it always led to an awkward moment. The adviser had to somehow trick me into revealing my name, without making it obvious that he had no idea who I was. Usually, he asked for my PennCard number, loaded up my transcript and only then figured out my name.
Am I the only one who sees something wrong with that? I'm supposed to ask someone who has absolutely no idea who I am to give me academic or career advice? Without knowing my passions, interests or personality, it's hard to believe that my adviser could give me any sort of meaningful feedback. Frankly, my story isn't unique -- most people say that their academic advisers don't know anything about them beyond what's on their transcript, and many confess that they have to introduce themselves upon every meeting.
I rejoiced after finishing math in junior year of high school. Never again would I have to take a math course. So of course, when I was looking for another course to take sophomore year, my adviser whipped out a memorized speech about how useful math was. His eloquence made me think that he's been using the same spiel for many years now, probably to every student who's ever asked him to suggest another course. That's simply irresponsible and unfair.
An adviser shouldn't be someone who prescribes a cookie-cutter formula for everyone. Students are different, with different goals and ambitions. Just as important, there's a reason advisers aren't called dictators or planners: They ought to give advice and suggestions on what the student may be interested in, but ultimately the student should be the one who decides what to do. Hopefully, an adviser's experience will act as a catalyst, sparking new lines of thinking for the student, instead of pressuring the student to conform to what is the standard path.
The first step to remedying this problem would be fostering more interaction between the advisers and students. While I understand that the advisers are typically professors working hard to balance teaching, research and a family life on top of this obligation, it is not simply a numbers game. Blindly increasing the number of advisers won't solve the core problems.
Simply put, one cannot legislate attitude. The advisers must make themselves more readily available to the students. They must also attempt to foster a relationship based on understanding, not just a student's transcript. Meeting once a semester, if that, simply isn't enough for the adviser to have even a basic idea of what the student is really like. Perhaps academic advisers need to be full-time advisers, instead of having that be an ancillary role to their teaching.
To be fair, the lack of interaction is not a one-way street. Students also must take advantage of the resources available to them. It's unreasonable to expect every student to develop a rapport with his assigned adviser, so students need to go through informal networks as well. Talking to a professor who shares a common interest, or talking to an adviser who was recommended by a friend may be helpful. The most important factor is communication. Don't just talk about academic goals -- allow the professor to get to know you as a full person, including personal interests and family life. While students must share the responsibility for finding a mentor, it's just unfortunate that the odds are stacked against them.
Another obstacle is the diverse curriculum that Penn offers, particularly in the College. While students who know what they want to do can talk with a major adviser who's very familiar with their planned area of study, what about the student who's undecided? It'd be difficult for a single adviser to be familiar with all of the classes the College has to offer, but I don't think it's too much to ask for advisers to be able to refer the students to people who would be more familiar with whatever the student is interested in. A friend told me that at Penn, the best available knowledge on any given subject is at most three degrees of separation from you -- we ought to be able to take advantage of that.
Unfortunately, this touches on a bigger problem than advising. The lack of integration within the University means that while Penn has great resources, they often don't play well together. Do you think there are no Wharton/College cross-listed classes because no course genuinely fits into both of those categories? The bureaucracy between those schools is so complex: it ties advisers to administrative duties. If Penn truly wants to become an integrated institution of higher learning, school separations need to fade away. In the meantime, let's get some better advising.
Will Guo is a senior in the Huntsman Program for International Studies in Business from Los Angeles. Aim For The Head appears on alternate Mondays.
