5 Things To Ask Your Academic Advisor

5 Things To Ask Your Academic Advisor!

Guest post by Teresia Clark (Share your tips with 58,000+ Malaysian students)

Academic advisors are usually assigned to college students for guidance in the latter's thesis writing and general advice. However, these advisors have different roles than your regular high school counselors and can be more intimidating than encouraging at first.

If you're a new college student, chances are that you don't quite know how to talk to your academic advisor. Below are a few tips for getting you started:

1. What Classes To Take

Of course, you would know what classes and courses your major requires. However, your academic advisor is also able to guide you outside of the specific courses. A college student shouldn't feel tied down just because he has declared his major. The best colleges, hence, encourage students to take a certain percentage of courses that lie outside their major.

Proper guidance from your academic advisor could actually help you towards getting a minor as well as a major. This would increase the value of your degree and generally round you out academically and personally.

College would not be complete if you stick with just one type of classes. Your academic advisor should be aware of your other interest. They would hence advise you on what courses to take or which professors to visit.

2. The Direction Of Your Major

You may be blindly taking classes in a certain field, but they may not be contributing to your goal. For instance, if you want to be a writer, you may just be investing your time and money in writing courses. An academic advisor is best equipped to let you know what literature courses you may want to take in order to supplement your writing. A good writer also has to be an avid reader.

Additionally, your advisor may also point you towards a course in law, especially if it deals with copyright law. Even though you may falter at the thought of taking a seemingly irrelevant course, this could come in very handy for you if you ever publish something.

Hence, be sure to let your advisor know whether you have a specific aim in life. They can then chart out the best path possible to help you achieve this goal. Who knows, they may even be able to send some valuable internships of jobs your way when the time is right.

3. What Jobs Or Internships To Pursue

Speaking of working, an academic advisor is also there to help you jumpstart your career. You may get confused about which internship to apply for during a semester break. Then again, you might not even be aware of any internships relevant to your degree. In such cases, your academic advisor is much better suited to guide you than your friends and peers.

What’s even more exciting is that your academic advisor is probably very well connected, at least academically. They can hence point you towards organizations or companies where they think you would be a good fit. In fact, they may even recommend you for the position.

Additionally, academic advisors have a lot of know-how about the way one starts of in certain fields. Office jobs are not for everyone, so your advisor would guide you on how to make it on your own if need be. They could tell you about freelancing opportunities and how to build a proper networking circle of your own.

4. What Other Activities To Pursue

College is not just about classes, presentations, quizzes, and exams. It is also about what you do outside of the academic pursuits. There are several societies operating on any college campus. Your academic advisor may even be affiliated with quite a few of these. If they feel you would be interested in any one of them, they would be sure to let you know.

The result of joining a proper college society is that you receive several benefits. Not only do you increase your social circle, but in such a way that it enhances your future. You can add your activities to your resume to impress future employers with your all-rounder experience at college.

5. How To Prepare For Grad School

After your undergraduate is completed, grad school is a serious next step. Along with advising you on classes, your academic advisor may also help in a smooth transition to grad school. They would let you know if there is an exam or any other requirement you need to fulfill before applying there.
In fact, you may be able to take their advice on taking classes at other institutions and using those credits to graduate. This could greatly help you in getting to grad school all the more quickly.

Wrap-Up…

College can give a bit of culture shock to many high school students. Luckily, the transition process doesn't take that long. Learning the ropes, however, is closely connected to communicating well with your academic advisor. Here’s hoping you can foster a beneficial and productive relationship.

Teresia Clark is an Educator, Academic Advisor, and a Blogger. She also works closely with college students and provides assignment writing service to them. She also voices her opinions about the academic issues face by students. Liked this post? Subscribe now to read more post like this one! Tweet