Thursday, October 25, 2012

Frostburg Freshmen Feature of the Week: 10/22/12-10/26/12


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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