Faculty Advisers vs. "Professional" Advisers: The Rumble in the Academic Jungle

In the world of academia, advisers generally fall into two categories: the "professional" adviser (meaning someone who exists on campus primarily to advise students), and the faculty advisor (meaning a faculty member whose primary role is teaching, but also advises students within their department). You can easily find both good and bad examples of advisers from each of those categories, but I want to use today's blog post to explain the differences between the two. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will point out that I fall into the "professional" adviser category (why do I keep using quotes? Because "professional" is a term that is up for contention.) I am going to do my best to give you positive AND negative aspects of the professional and faculty adviser.

My school has students meet with a "professional" adviser during their first year and then transition to a faculty adviser (in most cases) for the remainder of their education experience. Why do we do this? First-year students face a lot of challenges, particularly in their first semester, and they generally benefit from added attention from an advisor. Advising programs all around the country are completely different and you (the student) should be aware of each adviser's strengths and weaknesses so you know where to go to get help.

My Professor/My Adviser: The faculty adviser is usually someone who has spent at least a year working within their specific department--so that they are at least moderately familiar with their own curriculum. The Positives: The faculty adviser is almost always a working professional in their field so they are a superb resource for areas of study within the major, internship opportunities, grad schools, and jobs after graduation. Your faculty adviser is the person you should be looking to for letters of reference (please, by all that is holy, give them at least one month early warning that you need a reference letter! Faculty advisers are busy people!) You have usually taken at least one class with your faculty adviser--they know your strengths and weaknesses as a student. If you are in an Arts program (as my students are), you are probably taking classes with your adviser on a regular basis. You have the opportunity to develop an extremely close relationship with your faculty adviser--please remember that, in most cases, your advisor is required to sign off on your graduation application...so make nice!! The Negative: Faculty advisers devote the bulk of their time to teaching classes--after all, that's what they're paid to do (most of them incurred heavy student loan debt to teach). You may find that you have problems finding time to "meet" with your faculty adviser other than a few words exchanged before and after class. Because faculty advisers are so focused on teaching, they may not be as aware of classes outside of their specific program. Remember that you have general education requirements to complete...which classes you take can be all-important! Course selection meetings can also be rather...brief. Your faculty adviser will often run through a quick list of department classes you should take and then suggest that you fulfill one or two general education requirements...and then your meeting is over. A lot of departments have specific "advising days" where each faculty member is trying to advise their entire caseload in the span of a few hours. Can you really blame them for not going in to a lot of depth?

Adviser in the Hole: The "professional" adviser generally devotes about 90% of their work-week to actual academic advising (the remaining 10% may be used teaching 1 class or in other administrative duties). The Positives: We are in our offices all the time! Most schools will try to set aside "walk-in" hours during particularly busy times (last day to add or drop, last day to withdraw, etc.), which increases the availability of the professional advisor even more. Professional advisers also spend a great deal of time (most of us have weekly staff meetings) staying up to date on the latest policy and curriculum changes. We TALK to our students (all day, every day) so we know who the "good" professors are and which are the best classes to take. The Negatives: Try as we might, professional advisers cannot be specialists in every area. Most of us are generalists who know a little something about each area. When you want specific information about a program, we HAVE to send you to the department. We do our best to know about career options (many of us having training in career counseling), but we can't connect you to jobs or internships...and we CAN'T sign off on your graduation application!!

So how do you work with all of this instead of getting swept along in the current?

• When you're meeting with your faculty adviser, take notes--and schedule a time during his or her regular office hours for more in-depth questions.
• Don't expect your faculty adviser to know anything about the "good" gen ed classes to take--talk to some upperclassmen (find out what they took and who they took it with!)
• Above all, make sure your faculty adviser knows you! If you're going to need references or career advice, you can't expect your faculty adviser to give that blindly.
• Don't be afraid to seek out information on your own. Use your academic bulletin to find out about university policies (especially if you feel like you're being screwed over!) Take your bulletin with you to your advising meeting and point out the relevant information.
• If you have personality "issues" with either your faculty or professional adviser, speak to the head of the department. Changes to your adviser assignment CAN be made!! But as amazing and awe-inspiring as advisers are, we aren't mind-readers. You need to explain your situation to us so we can help!