I am now exchanging my high school counselor hat for the college adviser hat.

[FaithManor]

GRRR....ds's adviser is MIA. It's time for him to select classes for next semester for premium chance at getting into the ones he needs and wants, and the adviser has not returned a single phone call or email since the semester began. When he goes by her office, though it is office hours, she isn't there, and everyone looks "dumb" and shrugs when asked how he is supposed to meet up with her.

 

So, today I sit her with the course catalog, and the degree planning work sheets to help him come up with a plan for next semester which he will take to the registrar's office tomorrow. I mean, I guess I am okay with that, but on the other hand, this is part of his tuition and fees, and he's not getting that service. I find it rather annoying.

 

He's a scrappy kid though. He has already talked personally to the head of the English department to plan out his writing major, and the head of comp sci to plan out his minor. We know what English and what Comp Sci he needs next and the pre-reqs that have to be fulfilled before sophomore year in order to keep progressing on time. We just need to plan out Gen-Ed and electives, creating a good blend that won't over tax him but will be interesting and hold his enthusiasm hopefully. He's had no advising about PE, and of course the leg presents challenges. So we need to really work on that. We are hoping to get a waiver from the regular PE offerings that are high impact exercise in exchange for so many hours of documented swimming which is good for his leg. They've been good about working with him on his disability, I just think it would be easier to get the waiver through an adviser/faculty member with medical documentation than completely on his own. Oh well.

 

I have to wonder if his adviser isn't having a health problem the school is not disclosing. That's fine. I don't expect the student body to be privy to that kind of information, but I did voice an expectation to the dean of students that when a prof is MIA, the students that person advises should have been immediately assigned to another appropriate faculty member in that department. Of course I received the standard placating responses. Hopefully though some other students and parents will speak up so something is done about it.

 

You know, you think "Hey, I've got this one off to college, one down, X to go." In reality, you are still going to be wearing your counselor hat for a while yet. I've decided that I should be entertaining about it and at least don a Minerva McGonagal hat (Harry Potter) when we work on it together.  :D

[Sebastian (a lady)]

GRRR....ds's adviser is MIA. It's time for him to select classes for next semester for premium chance at getting into the ones he needs and wants, and the adviser has not returned a single phone call or email since the semester began. When he goes by her office, though it is office hours, she isn't there, and everyone looks "dumb" and shrugs when asked how he is supposed to meet up with her.

 

So, today I sit her with the course catalog, and the degree planning work sheets to help him come up with a plan for next semester which he will take to the registrar's office tomorrow. I mean, I guess I am okay with that, but on the other hand, this is part of his tuition and fees, and he's not getting that service. I find it rather annoying.

 

He's a scrappy kid though. He has already talked personally to the head of the English department to plan out his writing major, and the head of comp sci to plan out his minor. We know what English and what Comp Sci he needs next and the pre-reqs that have to be fulfilled before sophomore year in order to keep progressing on time. We just need to plan out Gen-Ed and electives, creating a good blend that won't over tax him but will be interesting and hold his enthusiasm hopefully. He's had no advising about PE, and of course the leg presents challenges. So we need to really work on that. We are hoping to get a waiver from the regular PE offerings that are high impact exercise in exchange for so many hours of documented swimming which is good for his leg. They've been good about working with him on his disability, I just think it would be easier to get the waiver through an adviser/faculty member with medical documentation than completely on his own. Oh well.

 

I have to wonder if his adviser isn't having a health problem the school is not disclosing. That's fine. I don't expect the student body to be privy to that kind of information, but I did voice an expectation to the dean of students that when a prof is MIA, the students that person advises should have been immediately assigned to another appropriate faculty member in that department. Of course I received the standard placating responses. Hopefully though some other students and parents will speak up so something is done about it.

 

You know, you think "Hey, I've got this one off to college, one down, X to go." In reality, you are still going to be wearing your counselor hat for a while yet. I've decided that I should be entertaining about it and at least don a Minerva McGonagal hat (Harry Potter) when we work on it together.  :D

 

I think that DS needs to ask for a different advisor as soon as possible.  It really doesn't matter what the reason is that the meetings haven't happened.  He has tried multiple times and ways, but she isn't available.  

 

If she is an advisor from his major, he could go to the department office and ask for a reassignment.  If there was some other means of assigning advisor, he could go to the Dean of Students or to the Registrar and ask for a reassignment.

 

It doesn't have to be done with drama, just the statement that he would like to be assigned to someone else because his current advisor does not seem to be available to meet with him before the registration period.  He probably wants to have copies of the emails he's sent and a list of the times he's tried to call or the days he has gone during office hours.

I did voice an expectation to the dean of students that when a prof is MIA, the students that person advises should have been immediately assigned to another appropriate faculty member in that department.

 

My advice is to go straight to the top about the MIA advisor.  And by the top, I mean the department secretary.  They know everything.

[FaithManor]

My advice is to go straight to the top about the MIA advisor. And by the top, I mean the department secretary. They know everything.

True! He is making his blue ribbon homemade heathbar candy tonight. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take some to her "for the department to celebrate the holidays" which upon first bite will engratiate him to all who taste! LOL

 

Back in my day, there was an administrative gal who was kind of the boss of all of the humanities secretaries. Man she had some clout and knew everything! That woman had the skinny on everybody. So if you wanted something done she was your gal, but you had to make sure you had a good cause and could defend your need because she didn't suffer wimps!

[Sunshine State Sue]

Your ds is blessed to have you.  :grouphug:

[JenneinCA]

I agree with talking to the department secretary. My advisor freshman year went missing and I didn't know what to do so I asked her. She sent me to the department chair who could advise and sign off on my form. It turned out that my advisor went on sabbatical and a whole group of us had the same problem. A note was placed on the original prof's door that sent everyone looking for him to the department chair for advising.

 

Ultimately the department chair kept the group of us as advisees and it all worked out.

[justkeepswimming]

You know, you think "Hey, I've got this one off to college, one down, X to go." In reality, you are still going to be wearing your counselor hat for a while yet. I've decided that I should be entertaining about it and at least don a Minerva McGonagal hat (Harry Potter) when we work on it together.  :D

 

I've got my fingers in my ears - not going to listen!! No, no, no, NO! I want to hand this over to someone more professional than me once dd is in college!!! The counselor's hat is my least favorite hat in all of my homeschooling years. I feel like an utter failure right now - dd can't be even slightly relying on me when she's in college - it'll be a disaster. lol

 

We have a Harry Potter sorting hat. I think I'm going to dig it out from the closet and wear it tomorrow. Maybe it will reinvigorate my tired brain for all this nonsense. lol

 

Your ds is lucky to have you on his side. :)

 

[The Girls' Mom]

I'm sorry.  The advisors at our school are pretty useless unless you snag a professor in your major.  I would definitely request a different one.

[jenn-]

My college advisor looked at my freshman year "4 years of courses" scope and sequence exactly once. After that I swung into her office for my PIN number each semester, but she never cared enough to look at my intended classes. She was pretty useless.

[elegantlion]

Ds met with his advisor, who did actually give him guidance, answering a lot of questions he had. He didn't care what classes ds took however. It worked out for him as we had already gone over classes since ds is considering transferring after next year and we're keeping an eye on transfer agreements and needed classes. 

 

Our school does have a cool system where you put all your classes into a calendar planner and can send the schedule you choose to a cart. On registration day you just input your PIN and check out. No more trying to register for classes individually. 

 

I hope he gets it sorted out soon. I agree it's a part of the tuition and fees. 

 

I do think this could be an important point when considering colleges. I know my son is passive enough to overlook these things and he does need someone to walk him through a system a few times before he feels confident to do it on his own. Obviously if he were away at school, he either have to push his advisor more or rely on other students. We do have a support center he could go to help, but he might not take advantage of those services. It's easy for me to help because I know the system. 

 

I've been joking with ds all semester that we need to make a "Mother" app for college students.  :lol: You could set up reminders on homework, advising, classes, and sleep. 

[regentrude]

He's had no advising about PE, and of course the leg presents challenges. So we need to really work on that. We are hoping to get a waiver from the regular PE offerings that are high impact exercise in exchange for so many hours of documented swimming which is good for his leg. They've been good about working with him on his disability, I just think it would be easier to get the waiver through an adviser/faculty member with medical documentation than completely on his own. Oh well.

 

I do not think the academic adviser would be very helpful for this. The college should have an office for Disability Support which would be responsible for dealing with student documentations and accommodations. I would direct him there.

 

As everybody else said: go complain. The department secretary might know, and the department chair or, if they have one, the chair of undergraduate studies of the department should be able to solve the problem.

 

Good advising is very valuable, and a knowledgeable adviser can give insights an outsider cannot see from the course catalog: which of two seemingly identical courses is easier and in which do you actually learn something? When can a prerequisite be waived into a co-requisite? Which classes can realistically be taken together without being an overwhelming load? (Not all 3 hour courses are created equal). Can a certain class be used to fulfill two requirements simultaneously? What professor should be avoided at all cost? (Yes, the advisors are aware of abysmal reputations... after all, we talk to students who are very vocal in expressing their complaints ;-)

The department advisor should know these things, and it is worth trying to find somebody in the department who can take over for the unavailable person. As a parent, you do not have access to all this inside information.

 

[happypamama]

I agree that he should ask for a different advisor. That sounds ridiculous!

 

Our school had a program, even twenty years ago, where you could select a major, and it would automatically find your completed and current classes to make it really easy to see what you still needed (3 credits in humanities, 3 credits in science, 6 senior level credits in the major, whatever). Very helpful to my boyfriend, who was frustrated with his major; it helped him find one that could be finished sooner and which appealed to him more. So I recommend seeing if your school has such a thing, to help you see the course paths.

 

Also, does your school offer any sort of independent study option or fitness for life option for PE? Ours offered both, and you could do whatever physical activity you wanted, as long as you logged and reported the hours. Just an idea to check into if a waiver is difficult to get.

[nancy in nj]

Definitely contact disabilities services about an adapted PE class!  My daughter had to go this route at a large state university, and it turned out to be a great experience. There was one specific PE teacher who ran the adapted class, and, I think there was less than  10 kids in the class, so the instructor was able to individualize the workouts.  There are many students that need adapted PE classes (back issues, heart conditions, severe respiratory problems, head injuries etc), and I would expect any good-size university to have a very well-defined process to deal with PE accomodations/waivers.

[Nan in Mass]

I've done that.  The parenting never seems to end, and once you figure out you CAN do a lot of the school part yourself, you seem to be stuck doing bits of it forever.  But what are we going to do?  Tell them no, we won't throw them a line when they are sinking?  Of course not.  We're going to get out the course catalogue and start helping them figure it out. : )  And be grateful they have the sense to ask for help and aren't just getting in trouble by being an ostrich and ignoring whatever it is.

 

Nan

[justasque]

 

I've been joking with ds all semester that we need to make a "Mother" app for college students.  :lol: You could set up reminders on homework, advising, classes, and sleep. 

 

One college I'm aware of offers a paid service to do just that.  Well, not so much the sleep part, but a bi-weekly check-in to help the student plan their tasks for the next week, etc.  Someone who will say "hey, you might want to go to the writing center to get input on that; let's look at when they are open that fits your schedule" or whatever.  I think it's used by students who are "at risk" for a variety of reasons.