When you visit the Texas One Stop website, the first step listed to register for classes is to meet with an academic advisor, which is something that should be relatively easy. Depending on the student’s college and major, meeting with an advisor can be a requirement, but it is highly recommended for everyone. 

However, academic advising currently looks different for each college at UT since many use a variety of advising methods and platforms to schedule appointments. This lack of consistency creates a problem not only for advisors, but also to students who are left on their own to complete their degree. 

UT should standardize academic advising and create a universal scheduling system where students across all colleges and majors can book an appointment online according to their advisor’s availability.

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 The problem is variability. For example, Moody uses STAR, which is a system that schedules academic advising appointments based on the advisor’s schedule. Depending on the major, the College of Liberal Arts uses Calendly, a system similar to STAR. With this in mind, centralizing academic advising is definitely feasible. 

Medical laboratory science freshman, Michael Huang, shared his struggles to book advisings appointments after his current advisor failed to meet due to an emergency. 

“The first time I had to schedule a meeting with my counselor was very difficult … We (currently) have a meeting after (my) registration to talk about my academic plans for the next four years, but it would have been more beneficial if it was before,” Huang said. “It would be much easier if you could schedule an appointment (online).”

Huang was left to hope he picked the right classes for the fall, and he strongly believes that a standard system to schedule appointments for advising would be helpful to all students.

Jeff Handy, the Director of the Vick Advising Excellence Center, explained that the differences in how individual offices and colleges currently operate have prevented a singular system so far. 

“Some (colleges) have caseload (advising), some have a more team approach to advising, or choose to do drop-in advising instead of scheduled appointments at certain times of the year,” Handy said. 

This discrepancy is exactly why we need a standard system. Eliminating the collegiate differences in academic advising would mean that all advisors would use the same system, making the advising process easier for both advisors and students. 

A universal system for scheduling would also help the turnovers in advising staff, an issue that Handy mentioned students have expressed concerns over. Handy also discussed how a universal system would make training easier for advisors since there would be more consistency.

There are already strains on advising staff, which make it even more difficult for students to find time to meet with a limited number of advisors. A standard system would expedite the training process for staff, which would open opportunities for colleges to hire more academic advisors.

It is clear that a standard system is needed. The best way to resolve this ongoing issue is to make advising consistent throughout all colleges by establishing an official platform for all students to use for appointment scheduling. 

Students already have enough to worry about throughout the semester, and scheduling an appointment for academic advising should not be difficult. A standard system would help alleviate this stress and would address the lack of staffing that some colleges are experiencing. UT needs to standardize academic advising and create a universal scheduling system to make it an easier and simpler process for all.

DonJuan is a Plan II and economics freshman from Quanah, TX.