![]() Many engineering students end up retaking classes they do not need to, taking classes that are irrelevant to their interests or setting themselves up for future 18-credit-hour semesters by taking the wrong classes. I managed to avoid some of the common pitfalls I saw other students fall into by asking for help from some kind upperclassman. However, I would have been much better off had I been able to discuss my future with an advisor. However, I do not know if my plan is manageable, if it’s tailored to my future plans or if it is even a good plan at all.Ĭonsidering the circumstances, I feel that I fared considerably well fending for myself. My advisor isn’t wrong if I follow the plan I made in what-if, then I’ll graduate with a degree. The only support I received in planning the rest of my college career was “If it passes the what-if scenario, I will release the hold and you’ll be ready to go!” The “what-if scenario” is a feature on YES where you can build schedules and check if courses will meet graduation requirements. Ironically, information related to course selection was presented to students in an engineering advising meeting after school had already started, long after the information would have been useful. During this mass webinar, the advisors simply covered the first-year example schedule available online and told us how to access YES. ![]() I quickly gave up looking for help from the general advisor, instead hoping that the one-hour Zoom session for engineering students would shed some light. The reply I received? “Take another course.” “If I have AP credit and do not want to retake the class, what should I take instead?” I wrote to the general advisor as I panicked over course selection and how to plan for my future. Typically, engineering students here essentially copy the example schedule, take a shot in the dark or ask other students for help.īefore I arrived on campus, I emailed the general engineering advisor who is responsible for advising all the incoming first-years prior to major-specific advisors being assigned. Before even setting foot on campus, first-year engineering students are completely left to fend for themselves. The only school-approved resource available for incoming first-years is an example schedule, which briefly mentions how many students may “require some guidance” in schedule selection. While registering for classes, I had no knowledge of which classes were the best for my goals and my situation, and my cart was filled with anything that seemed remotely beneficial to my uninformed eyes. While my peers in the College of Arts and Science had Zoom calls with their CASPAR advisors to register for classes over the summer, first-year engineering students had to wait patiently until August for their major-specific advisors to be assigned - long after fall class registration. Of course, this dynamic is not the fault of the hardworking advisors who are trying their best it is Vanderbilt’s fault. For less common majors like electrical or chemical engineering, students may be fortunate enough to receive some more personalized advice, but, in my experience as a computer science major, I was just one student in a sea of others. In the School of Engineering, each major has a group advising session with other students of their major and grade once a semester. Second semester rolled around, and I found myself in the same lecture hall once again, listening to a similarly elementary presentation - but this time with the addition of waiting in a 30-minute line for a minute-long meeting with my advisor. A presentation with bare-bones information that was applicable to everyone. I doubt he knew of my existence at all - and he certainly did not know how to guide me through the four years I have ahead of me. The first time I encountered my advisor was in a large lecture hall with 100 other computer science students.
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