Academic Counseling

Introduction Throughout an undergraduate student’s education there are many factors that can determine how successful a student is in meeting his or her academic and future career goals. One important aspect of this education includes academic advising. This aspect is a critical part in a student’s education, because it plays an important role in supporting student’s achievement, in particular with helping students reach their potential (Drake, Jordan, Miller, 2013, pg. 44). Academic advising also impacts over half of the students so much that these students stated that their primary source of academic and career guidance comes from their advisor (Gordon, Habley, Grites, 2008, pg. 70). However, national studies of student satisfaction indicate

The most important roles that continue to be emphasized in most literature include the primary concern of making the student feel connected to their university and enabling the student to be as prepared as possible for his or her future endeavors. As Gordon et al. highlight, current trends in economy and workforce demand that college graduates be active managers of their own careers and academic advisors are in the perfect position to help college graduates be the best managers that students can be (2008, p. 113). Gordon agrees that academic advisors cannot only help students identify and develop the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in new economy, but also understand the relationships between their academic and career choices and the impact these decisions will have on the student’s future careers (2006, p.

The first is the importance of recognizing the type of student being advised and the second is valuing collaboration with other advising services or advisors at the advisors institution. These components of advising are important to highlight, because the over 74 percent of faculty and full-time advisors do not have a counseling degree and were rather trained as professors (Gordon, 2006, pg. 8). However, this does not mean that these individuals are incapable of advising. Rather, it just means that proper training and emphasis on important areas such as recognizing the type of student being advised should be valued. It is especially useful that Gordon dictated this point since the majority of student’s advising experience entails being mentored by a faculty advisor at many different institutions, including the Schreyer Honors College scholars at The Pennsylvania State