In an article Oct. 5 (Absentee advising at the Columbian School, p. 6), The Hatchet exposes an unfortunate case of miscommunication between the Columbian School of Arts and Sciences and a student. The student was never made aware of the GPA requirement for the degree in Communication she sought, causing her to switch majors and subsequently extend her stay at GW. Indeed, the student should have been more conscious of the requirement; however, this begs the question: How can we limit these mistakes in the future? We at the Student Association believe that there is a more effective way of relaying this information to students.
The SA, with the facilitation of the Columbian School, is currently working to implement a Major Advising Cabinet at GW. The Major Advising Cabinet will include an invaluable resource in the advising process: successful students! The Cabinets will not only serve as an advising resource to students within a given major, but will assist students who are considering the major as well. This includes informing students what courses are required to declare for that major and apprising students of other regulations for a given major, such as the minimum 2.7 GPA to request enrollment in the Communication program. This year, the pilot year of the program, there will be Cabinets in the larger majors in the Columbian School; contingent upon the success, we will expand the Cabinets to include other majors in the Columbian School. Cabinet members, chosen through an application process, will receive training from the chairs of the departments or from the director of the undergraduate advising for the department, as well as other interested faculty members, serving as a supplement to faculty advising.
A system similar to this has thrived at Princeton University, adding a hands-on, student dimension to the entire advising process. It is true that GW doesn’t hold your hand and nobody is going to do it for you, but it would be nice to have a companion along the way.
– Jordan Usdan and Liz Latwin
SA academic affairs team
