Academic advisors are an essential part of every Amherst student’s experience, even from the very first day. For first-year students, they’re assigned an academic advisor based on a form they fill out with preferences indicating what potential majors they’re interested in and what they look for in an academic advisor. Their academic advisor is usually the first person from Amherst they talk to before the school year starts as every academic advisor has to approve a student’s schedule before registration. This usually involves a conversation between the student and the academic advisor about the student’s potential major and academic goals.
My first-year academic advisor always encouraged me to take humanities classes even though I knew that I wanted to major in Psychology and Economics from the very start. Her advice helped me build a roster of diverse classes that have allowed me build skills that I can apply in my major coursework. Usually, whenever I had a hard time deciding between which classes to take, I found it helpful to talk it through with my academic advisor and see what students she’s worked with in the past have done or hear her opinion.
Upon declaring my psychology and economics majors, I switched to two academic advisors, one for each of my majors. For my psychology major, I was assigned a psychology professor, and I was lucky enough to get Professor Sanderson, who is one of the most esteemed professors in the field of psychology in general. She has been super supportive in the process of registration as she invites all her advisees to her house for cookies and pizza and to discuss the potential classes we’re going to take. Professor Sanderson is also really forward-thinking as she always double-checks with students about whether they’re planning to study abroad or if they’re planning to double-major, therefore considering all factors before giving advice about which psychology class to take.
For my economics major, I declared it with the intention of having my advisor be Professor Hyman, who was my professor for my Inequality in the U.S. class. Since I’m interested in studying abroad for economics, I’ve been having conversations with him about gaining economics credits abroad and navigating the economics major. All things considered, academic advisors are an important source of support, especially when it comes to academics, for students throughout their time at Amherst.