First-Year Student Perceptions of Academic Advisement: A Qualitative Study and Reality Check

Researchers on student preferences for academic advising style suggest that students prefer developmental advising but experience prescriptive advising. However, data regarding first-year students are absent from these studies, thus limiting the conclusions. Therefore, I describe first-year students and their expectations and experiences with academic advisement. Students in the study preferred prescriptive advising and described their advising experience as primarily prescriptive. Further examination of first-year students' advising preferences and consideration of effective advising as a developmental process, rather than a static philosophy of either developmental or prescriptive advising, is indicated.