"Advising here sucks," said the UVA tour guide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3: I am making this up.

OP here. I really totally wish I was making this up... but since it has been mentioned enough here at DCUM, the tour guide was not lying! (really, we were thinking she was trying to discourage us on UVA.. but then again why would a tour guide do that?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's normal in a large university, OP. You can't expect the same level of hand-holding as in a small college. That's why the large uni tour guides usually don't mention it, and small college tour guides insist on it.

I think its more a function of UVA being public. My DC goes to a large private, about the same size as UVA, and the advising is outstanding. The counselors are on top of the course selections for the students, the incoming credits already earned, the remaining GE credits needed per student etc… and if anything is off after the student registers for classes, they are in touch with the student immediately. They are also extremely responsive, have given advice on how to track and gain access to classes that are ‘full’ etc/.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3: I am making this up.

OP here. I really totally wish I was making this up... but since it has been mentioned enough here at DCUM, the tour guide was not lying! (really, we were thinking she was trying to discourage us on UVA.. but then again why would a tour guide do that?)

Why indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3: I am making this up.

OP here. I really totally wish I was making this up... but since it has been mentioned enough here at DCUM, the tour guide was not lying! (really, we were thinking she was trying to discourage us on UVA.. but then again why would a tour guide do that?)

Why indeed.

Our UVA tour guide didn't say this so baldly, but when someone asked her 'what is the most frustrating thing about going to school here?' she did --after seeming a touch flustered by the question--say it can sometimes be hard to navigate registration and courses and you sometimes get conflicting advice about requirements. So a more polite, subdued way of saying 'advising can suck'. BTW I thought that was a good question to ask of tour guides--it pierced through the tour guide veneer a bit to get a more realistic response. Personally I think every kid at a school larger than 2k is going to say something similar though--wouldn't take it as a unique problem at the school.

[Anonymous]

Advising is great if you are Rhodes Scholar material. UVA seems to be more concerned about that one area than the general student population. Thanks for

[Anonymous]

I don't remember having an advisor in college 🤔 did everyone have one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't remember having an advisor in college 🤔 did everyone have one?

I went to a large public university and they always suggested making an appointment with an advisor, so I did. I walked in and she said, “your file looks fine and you’re on track to graduate. Why’d you make an appointment?”

I dunno.

Why is this important? Is it different than career counseling?

[Anonymous]

I've heard this same thing. My friend's DS had an advisor that was in a different department than the major he was interested in. The advisor was no help to him at all in picking classes. He was very frustrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t happen. Being an official tour guide at UVA is a big deal. My DS competed for it and didn’t get it. Students take great pride in it. Give me the details and I’m reporting it (date/time/description) or it didn’t happen … just like a similar story someone who was bitter about not getting in tried posting right after RD came out.

Uh oh. Don’t mess with Mama Bear UVA boosters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t happen. Being an official tour guide at UVA is a big deal. My DS competed for it and didn’t get it. Students take great pride in it. Give me the details and I’m reporting it (date/time/description) or it didn’t happen … just like a similar story someone who was bitter about not getting in tried posting right after RD came out.

Uh oh. Don’t mess with Mama Bear UVA boosters.

+1. I posted something something "against UVA" last week and was decried as a lying troll. Whatever. Be a sheeple and believe that the school can do no wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't you ask for more details? That would have been my first instinct. You too?

I didn't ask for more details because:

1) We were in a big group and my asking for more details would have derailed the tour. I didn't want to be THAT person.

2) I thought it would have been the one and only time I would have heard it. I would not have thought about it more if I didn't hear about it again. But as said, I've seen it mentioned enough times here at DCUM that I thought I'd ask for details here.

Since that tour, we do make it a point to ask about advising, which would include- are professors helpful in helping you select your classes, explore your interests, help you select a major, help with setting up internships, job connections etc.

Professor here…this isn’t quite right. Some schools assign professors as advisors and others have professional advisors (people who only do advising). Some schools assign an informal faculty advisor or encourage faculty mentors while sending kids to professional assigned advisors (this is what we do where I work….I happily give advice but send them to their assigned advisor to look at credits and pre reqs and technical things). As for Internships and jobs that’s a totally different thing: you’d want to ask about if internships are required or encouraged, what the career services support is, and if there’s any departmental support for career prep. Putting this all on professors is not an accurate way to look at it: we’re engaged and happy to help but none of these things are our specialty really (unless it’s a branch of our course portfolio or research interest…in my case one of these areas is but that’s not true for any of my colleagues).

[Anonymous]

Advising about what ?

Course selection ?

Selection of a major ?

Career advice ?

How to vote in the next election ?

College professors aren't really equipped to offer much advice beyond course selection in their department.

I have no relation to UVa, but such a generalized comment could be made about any college or university.

For many students, the first year at a college or university is about discovering one's path--not about being told which path to follow.

[Anonymous]

Wow, so glad DS decided on the private top 20 school vs UVA. He really liked the school, but went for his first choice. We're OOS.

[Anonymous]

My daughter and I toured UVA last March and our tour guide said the same thing! We were so surprised to hear the tour guide being so negative about the school. She also told us that UVA was lacking in mental health resources. She said their hotline left her on hold for 30 minutes until she gave up/hung up. I have heard the negative comments about advising and know that can happen at a state school. Nevertheless, I was surprised to hear so much negativity from a tour guide.

[Anonymous]

I bet OP isn't making it up. I was at another school tour recently and was kind of surprised that the tour guide said some negative stuff, enough that my kid decided not to apply. I think it's super competitive to get the tour guide job but remember these are just college kids and sometimes they forget themselves, tell something with a more honest bent, and forget the audience is young people that want to attend their school. Remember these college kids don't care if your kid spends 50K to attend...