>> My name is [Inaudible] Brown, and I'm an academic advisor at the USC Annenberg School
for Communication and Journalism.
What goes into the day of an academic advisor?
Well, basically we start off, and we are working with the students to make sure
that they're going to do a couple of things.
One, to ensure that they graduate by their targeted degree date; two,
to make sure that they meet their goals and establish realistic goals
for the time they graduate from college, and this can include anything from studying abroad
to incorporating internships to core curricular opportunities to meeting mentors
and just the types of things; and three, we make sure that all of their questions are answered
by the university so they have someone they can talk to and run ideas by
or get their questions addressed, interpret policies and procedures,
or connecting with the services or people that they need to be connected with and to.
Well, during our peak period, we can see up to about 15 students a day.
When we're in our [inaudible] period, we see at minimum about eight students
for half hour each, for each appointment.
So that's what we do most of the days.
On a slow day, we can see anywhere from two to no students, but we're working on other projects
in terms of keeping up with students' records,
contacting them if they need anything outstanding, doing reports for the university
and making sure that our students are on track to graduate, and identifying services
and scholarships that students can apply for.
To be a good academic advisor, you must really care for your students and care
about the service that you provide for them because it is a service,
and one of the best things about being an academic advisor is you get
to see how students develop from the time they're freshmen or their first semester
at the university until they graduate, and we're fortunate in our department that we work
with the same students for the entire time that they're at the university.
So I still keep in touch with students that I first advised maybe ten years ago
when I first became an academic advisor.
We still keep in touch.
They keep me aware of what's going on in their lives,
and it's a good relationship that we're able to maintain.