Advisors

<p>Is it really necessary to meet with your academic advisor every semester? I'm picking classes for the second semester in two days and I really don't see the point since I know what classes I'm suppose to take for my major. I really feel that advisors are just there to make sure students are on the right track.</p>

<p>Yes it is! Not only they'll want to talk about classes but they'll want to make sure you're on track to graduating on time (ie doing well in classes? Getting along with profs?)</p>

<p>Also.... some advisors won't give out the PIN code until they've actually talked ot you.</p>

<p>i don't see the point in speaking to the advisor. i'm not sure what the pin code is about. when i register for classes i don't have to speak to my advisor or anyone for that matter. i just register online and that's that. plus you should know if you're on track by just looking at your requirements for graduation and scratching off the classes you've taken.</p>

<p>By PIN# do you mean PERMIT codes for certain classes. If yes, then I see what you mean.</p>

<p>It depends. My school had a very strict curriculum, so there weren't that many options unless you fell behind and needed to figure out how to make up courses. And it was easy to determine whether or not the electives met the curriculum requirements too.</p>

<p>Right now, I'm pursuing a graduate degree and the requirements for graduation are really up to my advisor. All the catalog says is the courses I take must pertain to my area of concentration. That doesn't mean classes in other departments outside my major are excluded though if they are somewhat related.</p>

<p>I enjoy meeting with my advisor. He's a nice guy, and it helps to ask him about other related things (undergraduate research and the like).</p>

<p>Alot of times, advisers (esp ones assigned to freshman) are barely out of grad school and don't know squat about what they're doing. I've had SEVERAL friends whose advisers told them wrong things, that even delayed one of my friends' graduation for a semester. I usually take what my adviser says with a grain of salt, and decide for myself what to take using the bulletin.</p>

<p>I was given the same advice.. listen but check everything yourself. I've got a good advisor. He's the Program Director of my program so he had better know what I should take when:)</p>

<p>Going to your advisor is a good thing. Get to know him--he could do favors for you in the future....ie., override codes for classes/sections that are full, advice on which professors are best and/or worst, introductions, recommendations, life advice, maybe even getting you to think off of the straight line to your perceived goal. For all you know, he might have just heard about an opening for an internship or in a lab.</p>

<p>I never used my advisor, I planned my schedule out myself. I knew what classes I needed to take, what ones I wanted to take for fun, and how to arrange them around my work and rugby practice schedule. Advisors never get that part.
I also know a couple friends who had their graduations delayed by a semester because of their advisors being pretty clueless...</p>

<p>Obviously if you're not allowed to register for classes until you meet with your advisor then you need to, but I agree with you that sometimes it's just not neccessary. I'm the same way as you, I have it all planned out and I don't need anyone's help. But you may have to just suck it up and spend half an hour nodding and smiling.</p>

<p>I have to meet with two advisers every semester to be cleared. I have one faculty adviser within my department, and one overall adviser.</p>

<p>Advisors are good if you are more clueless than them, but most college students aren't that stupid/uninformed.</p>

<p>I have to see an advisor so I can take 21 credit hours.</p>