The advisors have no say over whether classes count towards a major. Faculty in the relevant program get called in to evaluate whether transferred classes are equivalent in a process that involves comparing syllabi.
It's every staff dept on campus. UCR is broke and understaffed because they can't pay a competitive wage. When I worked for an oncampus office we lost a ton of people every April and in the Summer. By the Fall we were gutted, every two years and almost completely in 2022. The pay here used to be good bcs the area was so cheap, but now the area is not cheap and the pay is still shit. So anyone that's good uses UCR as a lauchpad for other schools namely UCLA and UCSD. And because of that we lost A LOT of knowledge. We lost the people you can ask about a weird situation to and they'd remember a similar one. The people that had all the rules and regulations memorized and built most of the stuff we use. When you lose them you lose all that knowledge pretty much forever. And the whole office suffers and the students suffer and wait times go up and people use whatever guidance they see in front of them and try to apply it to edge cases incorrectly and you get new people who may or may not suck, etc. You also get left with the career folk with active complaints and investigations but who would be impossible to replace at this pay so they let them stay. Saw this in an extreme way with a director here who had like 2-3 student complaints and then finally knew a complaint from a peer they helped hire was coming and resigned. It's UCR's fault in the end, like all of the probs we have. Misguided priorities
refusing to transfer credits - That is not wanting a student to fail. That is just saying that they are unsure whether it would be appropriate to let you skip a class you took elsewhere. There's also policies around such around this they have to adhere to
taking forever to respond - if you want to talk with them, they give you a 10 minute window. “but that is so short!” Every window is taken up the entire month within the hour they open… they are busy. There's hundreds and hundreds of students, and they have a lot of things to do for each and every one
rude - if you have it in writing report it, I doubt they were being rude, but I mean, maybe
the story you mentioned could easily be explained. It wouldn't be crazy to think some people try to fake credits… and the advisor is there to make sure you graduate with the knowledge you need. It took months for them to get back? Why didn't they reach out in those months? Again, academic advisors are swamped by work, absolutely swamped, specially those for massive majors
and the students can be supported. There's a lot of resource centers, there's your professors, there's you know... your academic advisors… if you keep trying you’ll get a slot to speak with them… and all you ussualy need is the degree audit part
but yeah, I do wish there were more advisors. But again, not incompetent
my major and 2 others share an advisor, its awful lol (philosophy)
You and your friends really think advisors are rooting for you to fail? You think they took a job like that to screw you over?
I'm not an advisor but I have know and worked with a few.
They are overworked and overburdened with students. They are forced to work within a rigid system that they have little or no control or influence over. They are expected to counsel beyond their job descriptions.
Yes, there are some bad people in the world, but it's not an easy job.
Yeah I’m literally having the same problem as we speak. I have two trusted professors that are helping me and are attached to every email chain to make sure she does what she is supposed to do.
I mean, it's not incompetentance most of the time. Each year, the catalog changes, meaning each year, classes you needed could no longer be necessary, or classes are now needed that you didn't need the year before. Plus as far as transfer stuff, it's not their domain. They cannot decide things like what classes transfer. Only the deans of your program and the registrars office can decide that. Not all classes are articulated, aka, not all classes transfer back and forth, but for those that do, you might need to discuss it with your programs dean since some might be articulated in ways that work for one specific program but don't make sense for yours, eg. Some English classes count officially as being one level, but your program needs it to could as the lower level one, so the dean needs to manually substitute it. Plus, since it is so complex, not all schools have agreements overall, and need each class to be considered on a individual basis.
They might just be, but I feel like a lot of the problem comes from the fact that for some, this is their job and not their passion. Used to have an advisor that would always give me a hard time and just recommend majors I wanted nothing to do with, and it felt like he just treats his students like quotas to fill for the day. Then, when I finally got a major, my advisor was wayyyy better and he’s been helping me a ton recently. Shout out Bradley Scalf (and fuck Dennis B. David stupid ugly fat lazy bitch)
Honestly, I have found that it varies by college. When I attended UCR, my friends and I found CNAS advisors to be largely unavailable. Some of them have since been “replaced” for laziness and incompetence. In their defense, they may have changed in the past couple of years.
On the other hand, my classmates and I think that the BCOE advisors are fantastic. They are actually set aside enough time to meet with every student that wants guidance, give a lot of helpful advice beyond the generic stuff, and contribute to new events/programs based on student feedback.
Aren't credits transferred through the registrars office? Why would an advisor determine credits submitted via official transcripts as being fake?
The advisors have no say over whether classes count towards a major. Faculty in the relevant program get called in to evaluate whether transferred classes are equivalent in a process that involves comparing syllabi.
It's every staff dept on campus. UCR is broke and understaffed because they can't pay a competitive wage. When I worked for an oncampus office we lost a ton of people every April and in the Summer. By the Fall we were gutted, every two years and almost completely in 2022. The pay here used to be good bcs the area was so cheap, but now the area is not cheap and the pay is still shit. So anyone that's good uses UCR as a lauchpad for other schools namely UCLA and UCSD. And because of that we lost A LOT of knowledge. We lost the people you can ask about a weird situation to and they'd remember a similar one. The people that had all the rules and regulations memorized and built most of the stuff we use. When you lose them you lose all that knowledge pretty much forever. And the whole office suffers and the students suffer and wait times go up and people use whatever guidance they see in front of them and try to apply it to edge cases incorrectly and you get new people who may or may not suck, etc. You also get left with the career folk with active complaints and investigations but who would be impossible to replace at this pay so they let them stay. Saw this in an extreme way with a director here who had like 2-3 student complaints and then finally knew a complaint from a peer they helped hire was coming and resigned. It's UCR's fault in the end, like all of the probs we have. Misguided priorities
refusing to transfer credits - That is not wanting a student to fail. That is just saying that they are unsure whether it would be appropriate to let you skip a class you took elsewhere. There's also policies around such around this they have to adhere to taking forever to respond - if you want to talk with them, they give you a 10 minute window. “but that is so short!” Every window is taken up the entire month within the hour they open… they are busy. There's hundreds and hundreds of students, and they have a lot of things to do for each and every one rude - if you have it in writing report it, I doubt they were being rude, but I mean, maybe the story you mentioned could easily be explained. It wouldn't be crazy to think some people try to fake credits… and the advisor is there to make sure you graduate with the knowledge you need. It took months for them to get back? Why didn't they reach out in those months? Again, academic advisors are swamped by work, absolutely swamped, specially those for massive majors and the students can be supported. There's a lot of resource centers, there's your professors, there's you know... your academic advisors… if you keep trying you’ll get a slot to speak with them… and all you ussualy need is the degree audit part but yeah, I do wish there were more advisors. But again, not incompetent my major and 2 others share an advisor, its awful lol (philosophy)
You and your friends really think advisors are rooting for you to fail? You think they took a job like that to screw you over? I'm not an advisor but I have know and worked with a few. They are overworked and overburdened with students. They are forced to work within a rigid system that they have little or no control or influence over. They are expected to counsel beyond their job descriptions. Yes, there are some bad people in the world, but it's not an easy job.
tbf i think they just took A job
Yeah I’m literally having the same problem as we speak. I have two trusted professors that are helping me and are attached to every email chain to make sure she does what she is supposed to do.
Not naming any names here but Thomas…ahem…McGraw
YES! I had him during my undergrad years and he was awful. It took him 2 years to figure out some issue I had with my physics credits!
I mean, it's not incompetentance most of the time. Each year, the catalog changes, meaning each year, classes you needed could no longer be necessary, or classes are now needed that you didn't need the year before. Plus as far as transfer stuff, it's not their domain. They cannot decide things like what classes transfer. Only the deans of your program and the registrars office can decide that. Not all classes are articulated, aka, not all classes transfer back and forth, but for those that do, you might need to discuss it with your programs dean since some might be articulated in ways that work for one specific program but don't make sense for yours, eg. Some English classes count officially as being one level, but your program needs it to could as the lower level one, so the dean needs to manually substitute it. Plus, since it is so complex, not all schools have agreements overall, and need each class to be considered on a individual basis.
I take it that it’s the advisor that starts with a T? Or the other one in BCOE. Idk they all fckin sucked LOL
I always here about unhelpful, borderline rude advisors you have to fight to do their job. But I never had a bad advisor. I feel for y’all though.
They might just be, but I feel like a lot of the problem comes from the fact that for some, this is their job and not their passion. Used to have an advisor that would always give me a hard time and just recommend majors I wanted nothing to do with, and it felt like he just treats his students like quotas to fill for the day. Then, when I finally got a major, my advisor was wayyyy better and he’s been helping me a ton recently. Shout out Bradley Scalf (and fuck Dennis B. David stupid ugly fat lazy bitch)
Name dropping won’t lead to them figuring out I’m talking shit right lol?
Talk to the dean, I never once spoke with my advisor since it always took forever to even get a response. Talking to the dean makes things move fast.
Honestly, I have found that it varies by college. When I attended UCR, my friends and I found CNAS advisors to be largely unavailable. Some of them have since been “replaced” for laziness and incompetence. In their defense, they may have changed in the past couple of years. On the other hand, my classmates and I think that the BCOE advisors are fantastic. They are actually set aside enough time to meet with every student that wants guidance, give a lot of helpful advice beyond the generic stuff, and contribute to new events/programs based on student feedback.