<p>so i always hear people talking about their academic advisor...</p>
<p>i can pretty much tell what they do by the name, but what exactly is it?</p>
<p>are there certain advisors for certain students? does it go by name? major?</p>
<p>how do i find out who MY academic advisor is?
because i really have a bunch of questions i could ask him/her.
is my academic advisor someone i have to go to Personally and ask questions? or can i do it over the phone?</p>
<p>you can do it over the phone or via email. the academic advisors go by majors and are responsible for clearing your prerequisites and steering you towards the right direction to achieve your goal by letting you know what classes you need to take. so for prerequisites if i take calculus 1a at a community college (or i passed if via AP) and i want to take the next calculus course. even though admissions already has my transcript, i still need to show my unofficial transcript to the math department to get it cleared. you can probably find their contact information if you just google it. like i googled "psychology undergraduate advisor" and found their information.</p>
<p>i would email them first and then call them. i tried calling the philosophy advisor and she was impossible to reach via phone. theyre pretty good about answering emails and answering them in detail.</p>
<p>I was a peer academic advisor for Letters and Sciences and I'd be glad to take this question! There are a few types of academic advisors.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>departmental advisors (your major department). Only ask them questions relevant to your MAJOR. If any info you ask them overlaps with general UCSB policy (ex: could this abroad class that counts for this major requirement also count for a GE?), check with your COLLEGE advisors. It's horrible when someone can't graduate because their departmental advisor gave them stupid information they weren't qualified to give. </p></li>
<li><p>College Peer advisors: the bomb, pretty much. They are trained to work with freshmen, sophomores and juniors not in academic trouble with most questions. I know many of you think, "Well, I have a question about my schedule but I want a REAL advisor to answer it, not another student!" Trust me, bad way to go. Throw a big enough fit about it, you'll probably get your way, but the peer advisors actually go to the school; they know about classes (what teachers suck, what classes you should avoid). They're sometimes more likely to tell you about loopholes and be a little more honest about some things. </p></li>
<li><p>College academic advisors: adults who advise as their full-time career. They mainly help students in academic trouble and seniors preparing to graduate. That's what they're really good at. </p></li>
<li><p>Specialty advisors (within Letters and Sciences): academic advisors for sports players (they'll know all about how to stay on track with all the special requirements for athletes, and they're the coolest ever), law school advisor, honors program advisor, med school advisor. They may have added more, but you can always ask. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>You're kind of stuck with your departmental advisors since there's usually just one or two, but who you really need to stay in contact with is the college advisors. They'll help you stay on track and they know some pretty cool stuff. My advice, if you have your act together pretty well, go see the peer advisors in the second and third quarters. First quarter, the newbies are still getting the hang of things and will mostly just tell you about basic info, but by the second and third quarter, they've often learned some pretty cool tricks of the trade.</p>
<p>Oh, and I meant to say, that with the college advisors/peer advisors, if you don't like one, just go to another one next time. There's plenty and they're all awesome, but some handle situations differently.</p>