Why Advising Works

Each semester advisors get to discuss with students many aspects pertaining to their academic success. The question is always asked, “Why should someone have a job answering what could easily be Googled?” I make a hard effort to explain to students that not everything online is up to date and that sometimes you may misinterpret what you’ve read. An example is of a student who recently came in to discuss the opportunity to retake a course at a local community college. The student had been under the impression that they would need to request a course retake in order to take the course at the local college. After being able to discuss the situation, I was able to clarify that course retake permissions only apply to retakes taken at Stony Brook.

The conversation also allowed us to discuss the students campus involvement, opportunities for mentorship and utilization of campus resources to maximize the students success. What I enjoyed most was being able to connect the student to staff and faculty who are committed to seeing our students succeed. Later in the semester, the student returned to let me know they had begun a Research Assistant position and had found an area of interest in Environmental Planning & Design.

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