We are making the college list and think a strong connection with an advisor will make a difference for my son. What are schools known to have active and consistent connections between advisors and students?
Can you give more information about what you mean when you talk about a “strong connection with an advisor”? What would that look like? What kind of advisor are you looking for (mentor within major department, college advisor who might be a school administrator without direct teaching at the college or university, advising with an eye to pre-med, schools with strong social mobility - that often indicates high-touch advising, etc, etc)?
Without knowing exactly what you mean, I would highly recommend starting the college list by looking at mostly LACs that emphasize their mentoring/advising capabilities. Dig into how schools set up their system for students choosing classes, how majors are declared, etc etc.
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My son needs someone to hold him accountable and remind him of his path along the way. I could see him getting lost without guidance and at many school kids really need to be self-motivated and direct their own path. I hope he develops that while at school but I think it will be best for him to be at a school where his overall academic advisor - in addition perhaps to a major advisor - is heavily involved.
I’m not sure that level of advising exists. Maybe at some small LAC’s?
The service academies or military schools are known to motivate students.
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Look for schools where each student has an Academic Support Coach or something similarly named. My S’s Jesuit university had this and it was invaluable; it was in addition to the professor who served as his advisor in his major.
Editing to add this link:
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Agreed; colleges do not see it as their advising role to hold their adult students accountable and keep them on a certain path. Advising, not enforcing. You can hire and pay for such a tutor/ coach I suppose.
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LACs definitely come to mind, but I think you need to make the distinction between a coach and an advisor. An advisor can make recommendations, but a coach can serve to motivate. A school like RIT might be warranted if you’re looking to include executive functioning coaching.
As an example, in terms of pure advising, Hamilton seems dedicated to providing a point person for an umbrella of services:
https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/alex-advise-learn-experience
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I think your best bet is to hire an outside coach. We just hired one through the Edge Foundation coaching for my adhd son. In his case not so much for the academic side but for life, especially as he has a lot of things on his plate right now.
Colleges won’t hold accountable or remind students of their path. Colleges are all about kids taking responsibility for themselves and for becoming adults.
That said, I think small schools will have advisors that won’t view your son as a number.
Perhaps also instead of focusing on the advisor role, focus on learning centers, and the support they offer for executive function issues.
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D attends a T20 LAC and there is definitely no handholding there at all. She has an advisor that was assigned based on her first year seminar class and will continue to be until she officially declares her major. At that point, D is responsible for identifying faculty members to ask within that department. The school lists the required classes that have to be taken in the first 4 semesters but the responsibility for registering for them falls on the student.
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He’s going to need to develop those skills for himself. This is the transition time to do it. You don’t want a school to hold his hand. You want him to learn the life skills he’ll need. After he gets into the workforce, he’ll just get fired if he can’t keep on top of things.
I highly recommend the book below to teach students organizational and study skills.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Straight-Student-Unconventional/dp/0767922719
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I understand what you’re asking for. Check out St. Edward’s in Austin, TX.
Lawrence University in WI also appears to have a very supportive environment.
You can look into hiring an independent executive function coach to help with organization and accountability. It can be well worth the $2-$3k per semester for some kids.
Edited to add: For those looking down their nose at this question… kids are coming to college from lots of different backgrounds and have different intellectual challenges. You have first gen kids, kids from lackluster publics and even privates, kids who have never been away from home before, kids who’s parents don’t speak English, kids with executive function disorder, ADHD, anxiety and depression. Not everyone is equipped to dive in and do it all themselves day one.
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Many of the schools seem to have some form of peer advising or academic coaching, but a student still has to schedule appointments to talk with them, actually attend the appointments, and bring questions.
But maybe you could approach it proactively with the expectation/understanding that your son would set up a weekly appointment with a peer coach at the outset and ask for help setting the week’s study schedule, then revisit what worked and what didn’t the following week and tweak as necessary. Maybe supplement with mental health counseling appointments, if managing anxiety is also an issue.
I don’t know what schools programs are particularly robust.
I don’t think anyone is looking down at the question. Just trying to point out that what the OP is looking for is not a college advisor.
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Both of my kids are at selective LACs and their advisors do not do this. Not even close. I don’t know of any school where an advisor will proactively hold a student accountable to go to class, do homework, get out of bed, etc.
I agree it sounds like your student needs an executive functioning coach, perhaps start that now with the idea that they will have improved before they go to college?
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Wow, I’m surprised to hear this about advising at your D’s LAC. Admittedly, I thought LACs did a lot more handholding. At D’s selective university, she was assigned a first-year advisor with whom she was required to meet prior to registering for courses. The university enforces a registration hold. No meeting, no registration. Once she declared her major at the end of sophomore year, she was assigned a major advisor who took on the task of reviewing her course selections and making suggestions/changes. Again, no meeting, no registration. As part of declaring her major, D was also required to plan out the next two years of courses which her advisor also reviewed to ensure she was on track.
In addition to her major advisor, she has monthly meetings with a career/internship advisor and a graduate school advisor. Sure, kids must be motivated enough to register for classes. But if they forget, like my D has, then their advisor sends them a reminder email. There is enough support there where an advisor can figure out quickly—at least within a semester—whether a kid is going off the rails. Hopefully, OP can find a similarly supportive place for her child.
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What is your D’s selective university?
Even at my D’s LAC they did not have that level of advising. She had an advisor who had to approve her schedule each semester and she knew him fairly well. I believe she went to him on occasion with any questions about her schedule/program as well as to get his feedback on her ideas for a career after undergrad – but those interactions were initiated by my D. Her advisor did not check in on her regularly throughout the semester.
Some colleges have programs where kids get additional support but I believe those are aimed for kids with learning issues and comes at an extra cost. Ex. Marist Learning Support Program, UArizona SALT to name a couple. Not sure if programs like those might help the OP.
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Does this student have a disability? There are some schools that have support services for students on the autism spectrum, for example. There are also colleges that specialize in programs for students with learning differences.
However in both of the above cases, the student would need to have a disability requiring these services and work with the disability office.
In terms of regular college advising….most colleges clearly state that students need to take ownership of the services the advisor offers.
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Absolutely! But, they need to once they walk out the door. That’s what the college transition is for. It doesn’t require constant accountability. In fact, that band aid would probably be detrimental. That certainly will not be found in the workforce, so it requires learning those skills. I don’t think an advisor will serve that function.
Sorry, wasn’t meant to be a response to @momofboiler1, but an acknowledgement that no one is looking down their noses.
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My college kids go/went to middle sized (6000 enrollment), non Top 20 universities. I think that this size (or smaller) can be very beneficial to a student like the OP’s son. She may want to look for schools with small class sizes…it is hard to fall through the cracks/not go to class often when you are one of 12 or 15 and not one of 100.
Both of my kids had advisors assigned freshman year, that they would have to meet with before registering, and was available for questions. For my D, that advisor did become a true mentor…not for overseeing, but for advice/career development, etc…and I have to say, this is because my D took the lead on that for the most part, meaning my D took the initiative to develop relationships. My S’s advisor (different school) was really just a check in about scheduling, and there if she needed him (he didn’t). Although she was also the teacher of his “Elon 101” class which was a class of about 12 that met once a week during the first semester. It wasn’t about checking in on attendance or work, but about becoming acclimated to the university and its resources. I agree with the other posters that in general, college advisors will have the expectation that the student takes the initiative to ask for help and reach out, and it won’t be the other way around.
I do know that help like that exists, as you are finding in this thread, one school I have heard of that has that available that hasn’t been mentioned yet is St. Joseph University in Philadelphia. But I don’t think it is the scope of a college advisor in general.
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