This is how advising used to look like. Anna Thompson, the administrative support specialist in WCU’s Advising Center, helps student Amarillis Harper look for classes on Advising Day. Photo by Shelby LeQuire, Oct. 27, 2015.
As advising for Spring classes unfolds, many WCU students are meeting with their advisors virtually instead of the traditional face to face interaction. Western’s advising day was on Oct. 27 and registration for classes has already started for some students.
Some students are finding virtual advising harmless, but for others, it is a challenge to get in contact with their advisors or figure out their schedule.
“It does effect students that we do not have face to face interaction but I also think it is case by case depending on the program,“ SGA Director of Operations, Rebecca Hart, said over Zoom call during advising day. “My first advisor was communicative over email and explained that she was going to send my CRN’s and ALT-PIN over email rather than Zoom, while my second advisor has yet to reach out to me which is usually the procedure to begin with.”
Hart said that freshmen and first semester transfer students might have the most problems because they are the least familiar with the advising process at WCU.
This happened to first year transfer student Jacob Coxe.
First year transfer student, Jacob Coxe, had a hard time understanding advising and the process of registering for classes at WCU during the Advising day on Oct. 27, 2020. Photo by Michael Troche.
“I genuinely thought advising day was just the day that we chose our classes for next semester, but after being brought up to speed, I have been in contact with my advisor and we will be meeting sometime this week,” said Coxe, who was eventually able to meet with his advisor over zoom two days after Advising Day
For Out of the Darkness WCU President, Carleigh Ballard, this advising was stress free.
“Since I am already in the nursing program, I do not have to go through the scary advising day that involves being in a room with over a hundred other people wondering whether or not I made it into the program or not,” Ballard said via Zoom.
Ballard explained that this time her cohort of around 30 people met with the advisor over zoom.
“He said he would provide us with our ALT-PIN numbers via email which I always though was not allowed. Regardless, he also provided us with a list of CRNs to type in when registration begins,” Ballard said.
Ballard saw online advising day as a “blessing” because “even with the changes we got the information needed.” Hart, however, believes online advising is neither a hurdle nor a benefit, as she believes that many faculty members are simply viewing this semester as “voluntary.”
“The way they are operating this year is just not official compared to previous years,” Hart added.
Compared to last spring when over 80% of the classes were face-to-face, the spring semester will be much like this fall semester. This semester we had only 14 % of the classes in person and 60% are online or hybrid, explained Larry Hammer, director of the Office of the Registrar, via zoom call.
Registration started as early as Oct. 28 for undergraduate students requesting early registration and graduate students. Normal registration will begin on Nov. 1, for undergraduate students with anywhere between zero and 15 required credit hours remaining, Nov. 2, for undergraduate students with 16 to 30 required hours remaining and so on until Nov. 5.
The spring 2021 semester will begin later than usual next year on Jan. 25, with the last day of class on May 7.
