Academic Advisors = Academic Allies
By Scott McDonough, ENGL 490
Congratulations to the FSU Class of 2016 on making
it this far through the first semester of your college careers. If you guys
keep up the good work until the end of the Fall 2012 semester and continue to
pull in those good grades, you’ll be just one Spring semester shy of sophomore
status, or at least, close to it. Before any of you FSU freshman can earn
sophomore status however, you’ll have to register for Spring 2013 semester
classes, and before you can register for Spring 2013 semester classes, you’ll
have to meet with an academic advisor. Fortunately, academic advisors are FSU
students’ academic allies.
It’s your first year at college and your first
semester at Frostburg State University, so it’s understandable as a new student
in the Class of 2016 to have worries about choosing the correct major. In fact,
many FSU upperclassmen still have no idea of what they want to do for the rest
of their lives, so it’s not uncommon for students to remain undeclared for a
while or switch majors a few times. Coincidentally, academic advisors are
called such because they offer guidance and academic advice to the students of
Frostburg State University. As a new student of FSU, you will be assigned an
academic advisor who will help you decide on a major and career path that best suits your
personal goals and preferences. Your academic advisor will also guide you
throughout your academic career at Frostburg State University so that your
journey from the first day of classes to the graduation ceremony is as smooth
as possible.
Not only do academic advisors simplify the difficult
process of planning your ideal college schedule every semester, they also help
to solve any problem(s) a FSU student might encounter e.g. making changes to an inconvenient schedule that just isn’t working out for a student. As an FSU
student, your academic advisor will do what they can to help you come up with
the best class schedule that balances both the requirements of your degree
program with your personal preferences.
The benefits of an alliance between an FSU student
and their academic advisor is not limited to sorting out schedules and
offering advice in a mandatory meeting every semester. Your academic advisor
will also help you find extra-curricular activities and future opportunities beyond FSU borders because their help doesn’t just cease
upon your graduation. In fact, many FSU students have landed their first
post-graduation jobs with a little help from their academic advisor.
Realistically, many undergraduates fresh out of Frostburg State University and
other colleges will come to find that even with a pretty new degree their resumes are still a little too thin to stand out. With so much
competition in modern job markets, employers will often look to the references
on resumes in their consideration of whether to hire you or somebody else.
Unfortunately, your old dorm roommates from Westminster Hall and party buddies
form Bowery Street just don’t make the best professional references. And while
your former boss from Wild Things Restaurant and Bar might hold more clout than your old drinking buds, it still
may not be enough to convince employers that you’re better than the competition
for that prestigious position. Luckily, your FSU academic advisor can provide you
with a strong reference that holds weight in the professional world. The
relationship that will develop between you and your academic advisor over the
next four or more years at FSU makes it likely that prospective employers will hear
only positive things about you from a legitimate professional reference.
In the end, academic advisors provide advice and
guidance, lend a helping hand with current and future opportunities, provide a
positive reference for prospective employers, and do everything in their power
to make things as easy as possible for you. Indeed, FSU academic advisors are
FSU students’ academic allies and even if they weren’t, academic advising would still be mandatory at Frostburg State University.
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