This Afternoon in Advising

1. It was walk-in advising, so students sat in the hall for two or more hours waiting to be seen.


2. Met a student who was taking mostly gym classes, working towards a major in undecided on the five-year plan. Not on an athletic team, either. I told him if he needed another credit hour, he could sign up for golf. He said that his parents had suggested that he should take golf. I agreed that it was a good idea, pointing out that if you meet the right people on the golf course you can get a good job. I'm pretty sure that he's not an idiot, just a slacker (based on his math placement test score).


3. An upperclassman who was angry, angry, angry that all the classes that she needed to take are full. She could have registered weeks ago -- had she bothered to be advised.


4. A transfer student who plans to transfer out to a university in another country. I can't plan a gen-ed schedule for someone who is transferring to places with a completely different rulebook. He didn't seem like he wanted to be advised, anyway. I made a list of things that he should take, if he stayed here. I suspect that he's going to sign up for whatever he wants to without regard to my advice.


5. An upperclassman planning on a switch from psychology to physics.