The School’s Advising Program: Useful or Useless?

Every Tuesday, students meet with their peers and advisors to check in. Lately, students have been discussing whether or not this time is useful.

Many freshmen say they don’t understand the point of advising, but they enjoy it. Freshman Nova Socrates says, “it provides a safe space and a great source of support.” Another advocate for advising is Maya Pabla. She was one of 14 freshmen polled who said they’d rather have advising than a free period.

Among sophomores, opinions vary greatly. Gabe Reader says, “I enjoy it because I have my friends there,” and when asked if he ever skips, he said he only ever leaves to go to another advisory room. “I would rather have advising. If it was a free period, no one would get anything done,” he added. But an anonymous sophomore disagrees: “I would feel more motivated to do work if I wasn’t forced to stay there. It’s so boring.” Sophomores’ opinions seem to depend on workload and whether or not their friends are in their advising group.

Junior Sachi Ghate says, “when you’re a freshman, you build a little family and even if you aren’t all friends, you know where to go if you need help. It seems kind of pointless now but when I was a freshman it was nice.” Almost every junior that was interviewed would rather have a free period than advising.

Most seniors feel similarly to the juniors; they like having a break from classes, but they don’t really enjoy advising. A few of them really value it though. Dylan Chan says, “I’m glad that I’ve had a consistent group to meet with for the past few years.” 

Clearly, advising is a hot topic amongst the student body, but regardless of student opinion, the block will, for the foreseeable future, remain as advising.