Art Department advising sucks (by anon)

I am critically pissed at the Art Department’s advising system. It is absolutely terrible for several reasons. The department switched my advisor several times, and I had someone new each year. None of them were ever able to help me with classes. They would tell me what I was required to take, but then they would inform me that I would not be able to register for a class because it wasn’t offered that semester or there was a waiting list. Then they would tell me that there was not anything they could do. I would often have to go straight to the head of the department (who is no longer the current department head) because he was the only one who could offer some direction. He was also the only one who actually knew what he was talking about. Also, pre-registration in the Art Department is a joke. For those of you who are not familiar with the process, you are lucky. I would stand in a line for an hour to manual sign up for core classes. Seniors would have a time slot; juniors would have a time slot, and so on. Then within the class rank, those who had the most credits would get to go first. We would all stand in line during our time slot until it was our turn to write our name on the sign-up sheet for the classes that we wanted to take. This whole process should be done online. Technically, those who have more credits get to sign up on WINS first anyways, so there is no reason why we should have to wait in line to sign up in person.

I found most of my advising from the Communication Department (I have a comm minor). Even for my major, which is a visual emphasis in the Art Department, they were more willing to help me than the actual Art Department advisors. The Art Department should take notes from the Communication Department. Everyone over there was nice and willing to help. They know me by name and say “hi” to me when they see me. Those in the Art Department come across as not wanting to be there. Trust me, I don’t want to go to advising either but it is a requirement to sign up for classes. A change needs to happen over there, and the crabby professors need to go.