Christina Domenico | Know thy options

Every time a new semester begins, I always try to figure out what I can do better this time around. And while I rarely admit that I'm wrong, I've come across a mistake I made in the last two and a half years.

I was blind to the extensive advising system and complained about a lack of support surrounding me.

It pains me to admit this, but my error stems from my own stubbornness to seek out an advisor of my choice after realizing that my own was inadequate. When I was unhappy with my situation, I wrongly blamed the system, rather than kicking myself in the butt and fixing my own problem.

My pre-major advisor and I didn't have a spark (no, not in that way) - I only met with her because I was required to in order to register for classes. I relied on her once a semester for the mouse click that lifted the registration hold.

But I'm a relationship kind of girl - I live for conversation and anecdotes. When my relationship with my advisor turned out to be a dud, I accepted it as a reality of college life and assumed that I'd just have to figure it all out on my own, which I have without any major problems.

According to College senior and chairwoman of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education Elizabeth Slavitt, I'm not alone. "One primary complaint about advising from students we found when we took a survey is that they often find they don't have a good relationship with an advisor."

Many students want to get to know their advisors and to feel that their advisors want to get to know them. College sophomore Virginia Halden would have preferred a more engaging pre-major advisor. Instead, she only met with her advisor once a semester to get her registration hold lifted.

If you find yourself in these shoes and yearn for more, there are two easy solutions to this problem: Work to foster a relationship with your assigned advisor or seek out a new one.

It takes two to tango, so you have to put in as much effort to cultivate a relationship as your faculty friend.

"Fortunately, there are a lot of faculty members and a great college advising staff. It's up to students to find a better advisor if they need one," said Slavitt. The best relationships, she added, often are formed when a pair shares an intellectual or academic interest.

But if you find it's awkward to stroll into your advisor's office to discuss the time of day, the alternative still stands. Even though many students might think that an advisor assignment is a life sentence, it's really not.

Finding a new advisor is as easy as walking up the steps of Logan Hall, as I learned when I sat down with Dean of Freshmen and director of Academic Advising and Freshman Programs Janet Tighe. She said that she has no problem changing a student's pre-major advisor at any point, a policy I wish I had known two years ago.

But the most important point that Tighe animatedly stressed was the accessibility of the staff of assistant deans in the College Office, who will meet with any student who has questions or concerns regarding his or her curriculum.

"The College Office is always here," Tighe said.

Slavitt agreed, saying that "taking advantage of the College Office is smart and that a lot students don't know that."

All along I believed that they only signed off on forms for study abroad and dual degrees. But it's the easiest thing to do, especially for more general questions.

So when you sit at your desk late at night wondering if it's better to take Astronomy 001 or Statistics 111 to fulfill your Quantitative Data Requirement, march on over to Logan Hall. Filling in the bubbles of your online worksheet doesn't have to be a lonely experience.

Whatever your case is, don't feel that a less-than-ideal advisor is your last hope. There's plenty of support on campus to help you out, if you take the initiative to find it.

Whether it's your own advisor, the College Office, your favorite professor or your roommate, the resources you want are there, but it's up to you to find them.

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