With high school graduation comes the choice about where you will spend the next four years. The questions that come along with this may seem hard to answer at first, but the great thing about the Center of Advising and Student Achievement is that the counselors can help make the long list of choices easier.
As a freshman, deciding which courses to take was extremely stressful. However, those associated with CASA helped me choose not only the courses that best fit my learning abilities but the courses I could handle.
As a college student I completely understand those who are independent and do not like being advised.
Looking back now, as a soon-to-be sophomore, I realize how dependent I was on my CASA advisor. Class scheduling as a freshman can bring out intense anxiety. The CASA organization goes out of its way to help fit courses into your busy schedule.
When my entire list of courses that I was prepared to take for the next semester were all booked along with my backup courses, my advisor was only one email away. She helped sort out my schedule within ten minutes and helped with the stress of it all.
CASA benefits transfer students, incoming freshmen and even those few who decide that their original plan is not quite what they want. CASA can also be frustrating for some, whether that student is trying to make contact with them or even how involved the advisors seem to be. Within an hour of switching my major, a CASA advisor contacted me to make my new schedule.
Think back to when you were a graduating senior in high school. You were secretly stressed about going off on your own to college, but when you arrived, you were mandated to see a student advisor.
I can understand the frustration there, but what would you do without CASA? Nobody comes to college knowing what courses to take, but the faculty advisors, as well as CASA help students figure that out.
I believe students actually do need both. With the entire class of incoming freshman along with the rest of the students the faculty can be overbooked. Students have to remember you may have a faculty advisor but that advisor may also teach six other courses. CASA helps break it up so many students are not swarming the faculty. Plus, it is smart to start out with CASA because a student may always change their major.
Not only do we see our advisors our freshman year, but also our senior year. Say for argument sake, you never changed your major and have had the same advisor all four years. Why can that advisor just sign off on your graduation? I believe visiting CASA senior year is redundant in that case.
Like I said, everyone has his or her own set of opinions regarding CASA. But between taking students off the hands of faculty advisors, and helping to place students in the correct class, I say CASA is doing a rather fine job.
