Re-Focus Advising

Like applying makeup to a corpse, the recent reforms to Harvard’s advising system have done little but cast a false complexion of vitality onto a system that should have been buried long ago. And now, with the recent Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) announcement of a revised advising program to provide academic counseling for first-semester sophomores—concentration choice does not have to be made until then, thanks to the curricular review—the burden of advising undecided sophomores has been foisted on already-overworked House resident tutors.

Quality advising at Harvard, especially during freshman year, is mostly a matter of random chance. Unless lucky enough to be assigned to a knowledgeable and interested professor or a proctor who happens to be a Harvard College graduate, first-years are stuck with advisers—from professional school administrators to first-year graduate student proctors—who know little about the Harvard system. Freshmen quickly learn that the best academic advice comes not from professors or proctors, but upperclassmen who are far more in touch with their concerns. Though Associate Dean of Advising Programs Monique Rinere’s invention of academic Peer Advising Fellows is a step in the right direction, it must be formalized, re-focused on concentration choice, and extended into sophomore year to ensure that this curricular change does not become a punishment for undecided students.

Assigning House tutors merely extends the worst problem with freshmen advising—advisers don’t know the specifics of concentrations outside their department. This will create a system where students who are unfortunate enough to get a mediocre advisor will fall through the cracks. House tutors will be necessary for less important logistical matters—signing study cards and checking core requirements—but they will not solve the problem of providing quality advising.

The best advice comes from upperclass undergraduates who are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their concentration. Harvard should tap this resource by creating a regularized system whereby concentrations train and make available paid upperclass undergraduates to advise first-years and first-semester sophomores on concentration choice. Naturally, larger concentrations will have a larger burden, but it is important that these upperclassmen are easily accessible through e-mail and through regular office hours. While the onus will still be on students to seek out the help they need, the College will be providing a great service by making quality advice available and accessible.

Furthermore, the College should make the system for first-years wishing to declare their concentration easier and more transparent. And the recent decision to merge the social and academic advising roles of Peer Fellows was a wise one because, as stated by Dean Rinere, "the fellows will be able to focus on one group of advising instead of two." Although the Peer Advising Program is still susceptible to linking freshmen with upperclassmen who will not know much about concentrations outside their own, it will at least get students to start thinking about their concentration and academic careers early on.

That’s not to say that House tutors should have no advisory role. But graduate students with minimal training in Harvard’s curriculum should not be the first line of defense for bewildered underclassmen.