When you think of people who have been helpful or have given you good advice during your college career there are a lot that come to mind: people like your parents, your older siblings, fraternity/sorority brothers/sisters, and good friends. These people have come to your aid when it came time to make major college decisions which would affect the rest of your life. But most likely the person you are not thinking about is your assigned academic adviser.

An adviser’s job is to assist students with their academic plans. They are to supply information that is not readily available or commonly known to students. For example, advisers should recommend general education classes which count for numerous categories or provide information on internship opportunities. Not only do they not provide beneficial information to students but some students would even attest that their adviser has been a detriment to their college careers.

When I asked students around campus about this, many agreed with the lack of assistance provided by their advisers. “Every time I go to see him he just tells me to look on the UIUC Web site,” Vanessa Gonzalez complained. Her friend Melissa Berena agreed and added, “She knew less about some of the programs than I did.” Ask yourself when have you ever received good advice from your adviser? Can you name an occasion where he/she told you something you didn’t already know? Has your adviser ever given you an “insider scoop” on good classes to take or honors programs or internships to apply for? Your answer to most of these questions is probably “no.”

Don’t get me wrong, advisers do attempt to make students aware of some of the great opportunities our campus has to offer. They send out those long, drawn-out, forwarded, blast e-mails every other week. I have even tried to respond to some of the prospective opportunities provided by an adviser. When I replied to his e-mail asking for more information, he just shortened the e-mail he already sent to me and bolded the hyperlinks and contact information.

The only time people seem to go see their adviser is during their freshman orientation (because they are forced to) and during their last semester as seniors (to declare they are graduating). With the poor quality of service provided by our academic advisers, why would anyone want to meet with them during any other time? With the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS), ratemyprofessor.com, the University of Illinois Web site and the advice of your friends and family, who needs advisers?

I used to attempt to see my adviser about my graduation requirements, and then after numerous visits of never getting my questions answered an upperclassman told me about DARS reports. Since then, every semester when I register for classes and I check my DARS report. I type in “DARS” into the UIUC keyword search, login with my Enterprise ID and check the box to include “What-Ifs,” and in seconds I get all the graduation requirement information I need. With a convenient solution like DARS reports, we don’t need advisers who we don’t use and aren’t useful. The money spent on advisers could be spent on other things like renovating dilapidated buildings.

There are some people who will disagree and think their adviser is great. These students are some of the luckiest on campus. They have advisers who actually work to help their students. These advisers understand the importance of the years spent at this University. They do all they can help make sure their students take advantage of all the opportunities this great university has to offer. They work now to help make their students’ future career dreams come true.

To those few advisers that are passionate about their work and actually care about their students’ futures: I applaud you (and ask that you send me your e-mail address because I have some questions about Quantitative Reasoning II general education requirements).