Academic advisors give bad advice. Luckily, you have the Review to tell you this blatant truth before it is too late. Too often, freshmen blindly take advice from academic advisors and end up wondering why they took pointless classes their freshmen year. The University portrays academic advisors as your greatest advocates during orientation, but advisers truly don't have your best interests at heart. Before listening to your advisor and signing up for a course on "American Social Consciousness," heed this advice from The Michigan Review.
I vividly remember the worst advice I ever received from academic advisors at U-M. Their advice was sugarcoated, made up of liberal vague sayings such as "explore different classes" or "you don't really have to know your major." That advice can lead to procrastinating on making important decisions. Know your major before you get here so you can graduate early or get required classes out of the way. Have a plan before you get to U-M.
I wish someone had spoken this common sense to me. "Exploring different classes" cost me an extra year's worth of tuition and time spent on classes unrelated to my ambition to attend law school. Had I listened to my instincts, I would have been taking more pre-law classes freshmen year and could have graduated an entire year and semester early, rather than just one year.
Most academic advisors lure you into taking the least filled courses at UM, which also happen to be the most liberal. Their job exists to fill unpopular courses like "Human Race and Evolution." Look at what requirements you need to fill. Fill your general requirements for your major, before taking 18 credits of U-M's finest liberal garbage.
Beware; some academic advisors will try to tell you that your choice of major doesn't matter for law school or med school, but it does. They will throw in something about needing to "explore your identity" in order to distract you from your true purpose: getting a solid education from U-M.
There are ways to get a traditional, solid education here on a pre-professional track. Do not be afraid to approach students in the fishbowl or a tour guide for advice on which courses to take. Ask U-M students on Facebook about courses and majors. Most students will be more than willing to help a freshman that's smart enough to sift the good from the bad professors at U-M. Go to ratemyprofessors.com. I have found that many of the ratings were fairly accurate, despite rumors you may have heard from others about the website. Students try to use that site to help other students.
Before your classes begin this fall semester, take another look at your schedule and ask yourself the following questions. Do your classes relate at all to the career you want to pursue? What majors are you seriously considering? Think twice before accepting advice from academic advisers as truth. It is common knowledge that you will rarely receive common sense advice from the University. So, look to the Review as your source of unabashed rationality, advice, and common sense. We tell it like it is, unlike your academic advisors.
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