Academic Advising

[defscarlett]

I'm just curious if anyone here has considered taking their advising roles into an actual paid position at a university or college? It seems that most of us would be well suited for the role especially with the experience gained through this and other websites. Though, now that I think about it, maybe we would all get run out of our positions for recommending too much alternative credit haha

[sanantone]

Before I started my current program, I looked at openings for advisement positions. They all wanted related experience. Some even wanted masters degrees in education. I guess the easiest way to get your foot in the door is to start out as a student worker. They would probably look at me crazy if I were to tell them that my experience comes from posting on a forum. hilarious I do know one thing: Many members of this forum could advise Big 3 students with their eyes closed and do a much better job than the people they hire. But, yeah, I would probably be ostracized for telling students how to complete their degrees for less than $5,000.

[LaterBloomer]

Well, we love you for it, Sanatone.

[sanantone]

Well, we love you for it, Sanatone.

Thank you, and I love this forum.

[Prloko]

I'm just curious if anyone here has considered taking their advising roles into an actual paid position at a university or college? It seems that most of us would be well suited for the role especially with the experience gained through this and other websites. Though, now that I think about it, maybe we would all get run out of our positions for recommending too much alternative credit haha

I just had this same thought and convo with my spouse last week! I think I would love the job, but I get paid very well in my current job and don't think I can "start over" a third time.

[cookderosa]

I did academic advising from 1992-1996.
It's not what you think. The goal isn't to advise the person, it's to advise the student; to guide enrollment.

Edit: It's a little like working for McDonalds, you don't get to suggest they get their burger from McD, their fries from Hardees, and bring a drink from home. That's what we do HERE, we do the good stuff. When you're an employee, you're loyalties are in-house.

[Prloko]

I did academic advising from 1992-1996.
It's not what you think. The goal isn't to advise the person, it's to advise the student; to guide enrollment.

Edit: It's a little like working for McDonalds, you don't get to suggest they get their burger from McD, their fries from Hardees, and bring a drink from home. That's what we do HERE, we do the good stuff. When you're an employee, you're loyalties are in-house.

Explains why you're so good at it

I'm actually a little surprised about the loyalties part, even with a non-profit? I know schools always prefer students take their specific courses because that is the intent of the program, but I figured the school would be helpful in regards to outside sources (CLEP, concurrent enrollment, etc).

Interesting.

[cookderosa]

Explains why you're so good at it

I'm actually a little surprised about the loyalties part, even with a non-profit? I know schools always prefer students take their specific courses because that is the intent of the program, but I figured the school would be helpful in regards to outside sources (CLEP, concurrent enrollment, etc).

Interesting.

I worked for Eastern Iowa Community College District for 18 years (the last 14 only as an instructor), and we accept 45 out of 60 CLEP credits toward the completion of a degree. We are also a testing center. I'd never heard of CLEP until around 2005 despite our college's liberal policy. (I'd been in an administrative role AND led the apprenticeship committee at that point for 13 years)
I've shared this story many times, but in our dept (AAS Culinary & Hospitality) our students complete a 3 year apprenticeship which is roughly 87 credits. There were 15 gen eds in that group, so typical progression was 2.5 years on only culinary, last semester gen eds. Of course, as a culinary apprentice, you're working at your site for 40 hours per week minimum, which means no time for gen eds. Though we NOW offer online options, we didn't for the first 15 years of our program, so it was typical for students to drop out in the last semester. Simply, they couldn't be on campus for 4-5 days a week for gen eds and still do their apprenticeship. HUNDREDS of my students dropped with >60 credits and no degree. They could have CLEPped. I should have told them. I didn't know. Even after I learned, I'd tried to educate the other AAS dept chairs (all non-transfer degrees are advised by dept chairs) but it's still not encouraged. That experience was part of where my fire comes from.