Over the past three-and-a-half years, I’ve fallen in love with this University and what it means to be a part of the Tar Heel family. I have been privileged to be surrounded by amazing peers, to be witness to fantastic athletics and to be mentored by great professors.
I’ve also been subjected to our advising system. This semester, I will be writing on Thursdays about ways UNC can revamp and improve this department — which should be a resource, not a hindrance — for students.
More than anything, this is an attempt to make this institution an even better place — an attempt to help future generations of Tar Heels.
It probably comes as no surprise to most readers that I, too, have been underwhelmed and just plain disappointed in the lack of support Steele Building has provided.
In short, I believe that advising is the weakest leg upon which this University stands. This needs to be addressed. Not only does a weak advising system hurt students during their time here, it also fails to prepare our graduates for the next steps in life.
My experiences with advising have been frustrating and unfulfilling. Worst of all, they’ve been impersonal. How can someone properly advise me if they have no idea who I am, what I care about, what I have done or where I want to go? The simple answer is they can’t.
At a school as large as UNC, it is far too easy to get lost in the crowd. It’s no small task to provide individual help to such a huge student body.
Many of us are here today because of a suggestion from a high school counselor. Many of us relied on these counselors to prepare us to not only be admitted to a great school like UNC, but also to succeed when we got here.
Once we leave high school, however, the baton has to be passed from old counselors to advisers here at UNC. Too often, the baton has been dropped.
