A bit of a continuation of my topic form last week, this week I've talked with a number of students looking for help. They were frustrated, disappointed, or in some other way discontent about their situation. In one case the student said that "he kept on getting the runaround" and that "nobody would help him." Two others were facing consequences from literally "not making the grade" they needed. Both of the situations are ones that many people, myself included, face in different ways throughout our lives. It was thinking about these that prompted this particular musing.
In the first situation the student didn't feel like anyone was able to help him. When I asked him what the situation was he related what a lot of students would like to know: What classes go well together to provide a balanced workload? In some ways this is similar to when students ask what classes are "easy." I used to get after students for asking for easy classes until I found myself asking my master's advisor the same questions. Most university personnel don't have an ethical problem answering this questions. It's not like we are banned from endorsing one professor or class over another. The reason why advisors say they can't answer this question is simply because it's impossible. Easy is relative. What one person finds easy another one finds hard. Anybody who has received a personal recommendation about this or that book, movie, game, restaurant, college, person to date, etc. knows that while the person recommending may have good intentions they may not know enough to provide a perfect match. Sometimes they get close and sometimes they are way off - it depends on how well they know you, how long, etc.
Many students expect advisors to know the "best" schedule of classes for them to take. However, I don't have many interactions with professors, have never (in the majority of cases) sat in on lectures or taken their class, and have no idea what the student's preferences are in teaching style. How can I recommend a class to a complete stranger when I don't know anything about the person or the class? It would be nice if I did and it's not always difficult. At my last school I did know many of the professors by sight and name and we had a small enough faculty that I heard a lot of things from students. However, I still felt very uncomfortable when students asked me for recommendations. I explained this all to the student and referred him to ratemyprofessors.com, where our university has a pretty decent following. In some ways this is the easiest way to find out about professors and classes as the reviews are done by students who have to say what class they took. I still tell students to take the reviews with a grain of salt as what someone like somebody else hates. The student then asked how he would go about meeting with an advisor. Figuring he was just looking to talk to someone else (or perhaps he thought I was just a secretary because I was manning the front desk) I asked him what kind of help he was looking for.
That question, "What kind of help do you want?" is an important one. I think that when we are looking for help it's important that we answer that question first as it will help us narrow things down. The kind of help he was looking for was basically a variation of what he asked me for - what classes should he take together. I told him who he needed to talk to for his degree and suggested a way to approach the appointment so he should get better results. What is this way, students ask. Try to ask specific questions whenever possible. The easier you make it for someone to help you the more likely they are to be able to. If you ask someone, "Can you help me?" without preamble they will probably not be able to until you tell them more.
This has run a little long, so I'll continue with the 2nd situation next week.
In the first situation the student didn't feel like anyone was able to help him. When I asked him what the situation was he related what a lot of students would like to know: What classes go well together to provide a balanced workload? In some ways this is similar to when students ask what classes are "easy." I used to get after students for asking for easy classes until I found myself asking my master's advisor the same questions. Most university personnel don't have an ethical problem answering this questions. It's not like we are banned from endorsing one professor or class over another. The reason why advisors say they can't answer this question is simply because it's impossible. Easy is relative. What one person finds easy another one finds hard. Anybody who has received a personal recommendation about this or that book, movie, game, restaurant, college, person to date, etc. knows that while the person recommending may have good intentions they may not know enough to provide a perfect match. Sometimes they get close and sometimes they are way off - it depends on how well they know you, how long, etc.
Many students expect advisors to know the "best" schedule of classes for them to take. However, I don't have many interactions with professors, have never (in the majority of cases) sat in on lectures or taken their class, and have no idea what the student's preferences are in teaching style. How can I recommend a class to a complete stranger when I don't know anything about the person or the class? It would be nice if I did and it's not always difficult. At my last school I did know many of the professors by sight and name and we had a small enough faculty that I heard a lot of things from students. However, I still felt very uncomfortable when students asked me for recommendations. I explained this all to the student and referred him to ratemyprofessors.com, where our university has a pretty decent following. In some ways this is the easiest way to find out about professors and classes as the reviews are done by students who have to say what class they took. I still tell students to take the reviews with a grain of salt as what someone like somebody else hates. The student then asked how he would go about meeting with an advisor. Figuring he was just looking to talk to someone else (or perhaps he thought I was just a secretary because I was manning the front desk) I asked him what kind of help he was looking for.
That question, "What kind of help do you want?" is an important one. I think that when we are looking for help it's important that we answer that question first as it will help us narrow things down. The kind of help he was looking for was basically a variation of what he asked me for - what classes should he take together. I told him who he needed to talk to for his degree and suggested a way to approach the appointment so he should get better results. What is this way, students ask. Try to ask specific questions whenever possible. The easier you make it for someone to help you the more likely they are to be able to. If you ask someone, "Can you help me?" without preamble they will probably not be able to until you tell them more.
This has run a little long, so I'll continue with the 2nd situation next week.
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