Wharton eliminates peer advising

The Wharton School will replace the program with increased advice from TAs in freshman courses. It's official, says the Wharton School -- your teacher should also be your friend. Wharton will eliminate its freshman peer advising program next semester, replacing it with increased peer advice from teaching assistants in freshman courses. Administrators and students called the formal peer advising program redundant since the TAs in Management 100 -- a mandatory freshman course -- already function as de facto peer advisors. Wharton is also considering ways to give students more access to its professional advisors -- including an appointment period during advance registration, which is presently limited to walk-ins. Wharton Vice Dean Richard Herring said the professional advisors have already been "staggering some of the routine things" -- like advising seniors on graduation requirements -- to free more time during "crunch periods" like advance registration. "These crunches hurt us as much as they hurt the students," he said, adding that Wharton hired two part-time advisors during advance registration this year. Advisor and Associate Director for Student Affairs Belinda Huang said advisors always have other job commitments. Although she tried to clear her schedule of other appointments during advance registration this year, she still had to coordinate two lectures. Many Wharton students applauded the peer advising change, although a few expressed concern that TAs might be overburdened. "[TAs] would do as good a job as peer advisors," Wharton Activities Council Co-Chairperson Arif Joshi said. "I don't know if they'd be overburdened with all the work, but they're dedicated just by dint of being TAs," Joshi, a Wharton junior, added. And Engineering and Wharton senior Art Mikhlin, chairperson of the Joseph Wharton Society, said "people tend to turn for advice not to people randomly assigned to them" but to people they find friendly, adding that "I'm not sure about the workload, though. If the load on the TAs is too much they might not have time to see people." Herring said Management TAs will receive official peer advisor training, and many students see them as advisors already. Engineering and Wharton junior Gaurav Grover, co-chairperson of the Wharton Deans Advisory Board, said "you already have the informal relationship built in. This is just institutionalizing that," noting that "[The change] seems radical, but really it's not." And Wharton freshman Caroline Issa, who will be a Management TA next semester, said that "it's an added dimension that is already there but that is not official." Students were also disappointed with their existing peer advisors. "My [peer] advisor left me one note, and I never met her," said Wharton junior Michelle Cho, who is Wharton Activities Council co-chairperson. "People aren't held accountable and some don't take it seriously." Wharton and Engineering freshman Kay Hsu agreed that her peer advising experience was not successful. "He tried to get all of us to dinner once but it didn't work," Hsu said. Reaction to professional advising was mixed. Although many Wharton students applauded efforts to make the program more efficient, some said professional advising remains subpar. "[Professional advisors] are a mixed bag," said a junior who requested anonymity. "They're not too inspiring -- they just recommend the academic flavor of the day." But Mikhlin said he thinks the advisors do a decent job. "A lot of people go to advisors and expect to get the 'full truth'," he said. "Their job is to answer specific questions and to outline the available options. I think the Wharton advisors do that pretty well." Some students complained that there aren't enough advisors to meet student needs. "During peak hours there is a serious 'ratio mismatch,' but if you want to get good advice, you can," Grover said. "It comes down to you being proactive." But others thought students shouldn't be required to bear so much of the burden. "Wharton advising in general can use a change because unless you're proactive you can totally slip through the cracks," Cho said "The time crunch can be a problem for a lot of people," she added. "But you've got to give credit to [administrators] -- they're really responsive to student input."

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