From helping students pick out their classes to discussing potential careers and graduate paths, academic advisors are vital to student success. The Academic Advising Center’s mission is to “facilitate the exploration of a transformative educational experience so that students may become engaged university members and active global citizens.”
With so many academic advising appointments offered, such as academic planning and registration, academic difficulty, changes to majors, graduation applications, major applications and check-ins, it is worth considering which services students are using and benefiting from.
Student responses from the “Student Opinions on Academic Advisors” survey revealed that they use academic advising primarily for planning their classes and often do so quarterly before registration begins.
Daniel Aguilar, a first-year student studying physics, reports that he finds it helpful to meet with an academic advisor. For instance, as a first-year student, he has “chatted with [his] academic advisor on what classes [he] can take for [his] general requirements and the classes for the Physics major.” He describes how this opportunity gave him resources while planning for his classes. Aguilar has also, “talked about the possibility of taking the D.C. Human Rights Seminar in Fall 2026, which would open avenues in acquiring a minor in Human Rights.”
Belen Villalobos Plascencia, a junior majoring in business administration, notes that Academic Advising has been beneficial, “especially getting assurance and support from them. It’s reassuring to confirm information and ease worry about being on track towards graduation.” Anika Anderson, a senior majoring in Psychology, echoes similar sentiments as she likes to meet with Academic Advisors to “double-check to make sure [that she] has no errors.”
Plascencia shares that she enjoys how Academic Advisors are contactable in a variety of ways to be accessible to everyone. She states they have “obvious [communication] forms like email and zoom but also have drop-in times online and in-person availability, which is great for people who want to meet face to face.”
Comparatively, there have been some struggles with academic advising as well. The most popular response when asked if there was anything academic advisors could improve on, many students reported that sometimes their advisor’s advice was incredibly vague, making students feel that they had to do most of their own research to answer their questions. An anonymous student feels that, “every time I talk to [my academic advisor], it seems like they want me to find the answer on my own. It would be nice to get clearer advice.”
Another anonymous student would agree that more guidance would be beneficial. They describe how students are all “lost and look to academic advisors for help on what to take, and they always say do whatever you want. [They] want to know what [they] need to do so that [they] don’t pick the wrong classes.”
Despite struggles shared by students, all students who took the survey put “yes” when asked if meeting with their academic advisors is helpful.
Ultimately, Academic Advisors do quite a bit for students and the school community at large. It is vital for students to utilize the services offered to them.
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