Suppose it’s your sophomore year as a Harpur student at Binghamton University and you still haven’t decided on a major. You’ve taken your general education classes and considered several professions, but nothing stuck. You have no idea what you want to do with your life and the deadline for declaring a major is approaching. What can you do?
Many students turn to Harpur’s academic advising for guidance, a service known in the past for its severe lack of staff, with only four general and two specialty advisers to aid the over 7,000 Harpur students.
However, the planned addition of two new advisers this April is expected to rejuvenate the service and increase the quality of advising students receive.
“I expect that our new hires will bring with them fresh ideas and additional expertise,” said Lawrence Greenfield, director of Harpur academic advising. “Our hope is that advisers will have the freedom to spend more time helping students choose majors and develop degree plans.”
But even with the current shortage of staff, many students find academic advising a service worth taking advantage of.
“I made myself feel better by going to them,” said Lee Garrett, a sophomore English major. “[The adviser] got me in the right direction. It was a big reason why I chose what I chose.”
Garrett said that he had to consult the advisers several times and that it took him a while to choose a major.
“The first time I was a little discouraged,” he said. “The first guy I saw was very stern, but then I started to speak to different people and began to establish a relationship with them. Some people might go in there and not hear what they want to hear and leave, but I kept going back. I felt like that helped me a lot.”
Greenfield said that students should be prepared to do some extra research, and not necessarily expect quick results.
“Students need to be prepared to follow up on what’s discussed during their visit,” Greenfield said. “Doing so might include a visit to a department to explore majors or to the Career Development Center and Off Campus College to investigate internships.”
He added that there are a number of things students can do to improve their advising sessions and that students should not leave all the work for the advisers.
“Students can prepare for their visit with a Harpur adviser by writing a list of questions, reviewing their DARS [Degree Audit Reporting System] report before their visit and scheduling an appointment,” he said. “[They] should expect to work with advisers on an ongoing basis as they select a major and build a program of study.”
Before making a recommendation, advisers try to collect as much information as possible about the student.
“We ask students about their personal, academic and professional goals,” Greenfield said. “We discuss academic strengths and weaknesses and, based on all of this information, we point students to a range of majors. A major, however, is different than a degree plan. Toward that end, we often speak with students about minors, internships and other experiences outside of the classroom that will enable students to build an all-encompassing program of study.”
To speak with advisers, students can walk in or make an appointment. A walk-in session is 15 minutes long, while a scheduled session is 30 minutes.
Greenfield stressed that broad topics, such as what a student should major in or what career options are available with certain degrees, would likely require a more lengthy session, and therefore, an appointment.
The four general advisers currently employed are Larry Greenfield, Greg Ketcham, Thom Hanford and Kathy Brunt. In addition, Heather Struck and Tom Langhorne also serve as advisers for pre-law and pre-health students.
Both Greenfield and Garrett encourage students to utilize the knowledge of the advisers.
“Keep going,” Garrett said. “Ask whatever you need to ask them.”