Chelsey Vincent: Academic Advising Week 3

Activities

• Advised incoming freshmen at Orientation
• Advised incoming transfer students at Orientation
• Prepared for the academic session
• Welcomed students to the academic session

Experience

This week I worked under the supervision of a different academic advisor who has a lot of experience academic advising. Last week I had a student that could not enroll in a math class because of her ACT score. This week the academic advisor told me to tell students to take a placement test to be able to enroll in a math class. I immediately felt awful for the student who I told would not be able to enroll in a math class the week before. Then I remembered that I asked one of the advisors to check her schedule, and I felt better. This reinforced the need to have someone come behind me to check my work- especially while I am still learning. 

I also had my first experience with transfer students. The student I worked with chose a science-related major, so the science classes she chose were of high importance. I asked another volunteer to help me advise her, and she did. What I did not know was that this volunteer was just as clueless as I was. After we helped her as much as we could, we asked my supervisor to look at her schedule, and everything we worked on was wrong. I think the lesson learned here is to be careful who you ask for help. They may give help but give it incorrectly.