With class enrollment just around the corner, many students are
struggling with decisions about their academic and professional
futures.
I personally face a seemingly endless list of concerns:
“Can I handle this number of units? Will I be able to fit in
my job? Am I taking the right classes that will not only fulfill
the requirements of my majors, but prepare me for a future career
as well? What if I want to get involved in research as an
undergraduate, or maybe do independent fieldwork? What about
graduate school?” All of a sudden, I am breathing into a
paper bag as my blood pressure climbs to uncharted levels.
The average freshman, a student not involved in any specialized
academic programs such as the Academic Advancement Program or
Honors, arrives at UCLA hoping that knowledgeable and accessible
counselors will be at his or her fingertips to provide guidance
with academic program planning, research opportunities and career
development.
The reality proves otherwise.
Lack of academic advising and guidance dramatically affects a
forgotten group of UCLA students: those average Joe and Josie
Bruins wishing to leave UCLA with not only a degree in hand, but
with real-world experiences to reinforce their newly acquired
textbook knowledge.
And while independent perusal of campus opportunities can
certainly enhance campus experience, the average student still
requires a modicum of guidance to navigate through the complicated
and confusing UCLA system.
Current advising programs fail to adequately serve those
students. Recent cuts in the university’s funding exacerbates
the problem.
The Freshmen Orientation Program, a three-day crash course for
incoming freshmen on UCLA life, does not and cannot adequately
provide freshmen with the type of long-term academic advising and
planning they need. Students juggle placement tests, scheduled
presentations on campus issues and very basic instructional
sessions about the UCLA system, all in just three short days. I
remember, like many others in my orientation group, running from
placement test to orientation counselor, from presentation to
placement test and so on.
Despite reassurance from orientation counselors, I still felt
ill-prepared for college. They placated me and told me that I would
have plenty of opportunities in the coming year to receive
guidance. Like many freshmen, I stepped into UCLA declared in a
major I did not want to pursue and went on without a real guiding
hand to direct me through my uncertainties.
What about further academic advising and planning? Many students
just need 10 to 20 minutes with a counselor who can effectively
provide them with information and answer their questions. But prior
to choosing a field of study, students may find it difficult to
receive academic planning advice ““ which is almost a catch-22
since students need assistance choosing a field from the start.
Research, career and scholarship assistance may be just as
difficult, if not harder, to access. For example, the Student
Research Program aids in facilitating and coordinating student
research projects. Students develop their own research program or
work with a faculty member as an assistant to his or her research,
receiving units for the work that they accomplish.
Last year, only 18 percent of social science and humanities
students participated in research, while over 50 percent of
students in the life and physical sciences participated. I went to
the SRP offices to discuss research opportunities in the social
sciences but was told I would either have to come up with a project
or track down a faculty member and attempt to become his or her
assistant on my own.
As if it’s not daunting enough to track down one of your
own professors during their office hours, how is the average
student supposed to divine the individual research needs of an
entire division? Would it not be more reasonable if the SRP
operated a database of faculty looking for research assistants in
particular subjects? Both students and professors would be served
by this system. Such a database would promote potentially
groundbreaking interdisciplinary work while upholding one of the
main missions of UCLA: research.
The recent UC budget cuts have only made the problem worse.
Funding cuts have forced the university to lay off various
counselors, advisers and program coordinators. Students
increasingly seem to be forgotten and left without assistance,
forced to fend for themselves.
Who knows, maybe it’s a good thing ““ at least
it’s like the real world.
Paganini is third-year geography and political science
student. E-mail her at cpaganini@media.ucla.edu.