The Privilege of University Advising
- Feb 22, 2025
- 4 min read
Getting into a university seems the ultimate goal for lots of students. Worries from parents, pressures from school, peers’ achievements… Everything is mounting on the students, inciting their anxiety to make more progress. In such a process, university advising emerges to provide help for students and give advice to parents so that they can better plan a future for their children. However, the debate over the effectiveness of University Advising as a system is always a thorny question.
A recent research on access to university advising shows that there is a clear divide between private and public school offerings. The research investigated 2251 high schools in the US and found that only 33% of public high schools provide full-time or part-time counselors focused exclusively on university advising, compared to 68% of private schools. The research further suggests that the situation is even worse in high-poverty regions, with a lower percentage rate of guaranteeing students access to in-school university advising. Under such differences in the university advising policies within private and public high schools as well as the worsened situation raised by wealth inequalities, some students have access to in-school university advising while others don’t, having access is therefore considered a ‘privilege’. Having this privilege is unusual and precious, which students in regions of high poverty and some public school systems can’t attain.
According to another recent survey by the Center for Community College Student Engagement, in the US, of returning students, 78% met with an advisor, with over half required to do so for course registration. For new students, 73% said advising was mandatory for enrollment. From the trend shown in these numbers and percentages, although the schools often provide students with the opportunity to access in-school university advising services, students only attend university advising sessions due to mandatory check-in requirements. Students around me in the same grade are busily preparing for applications, and almost all have their university advisors outside of school. Then what about in-school university advising opportunities? What happened to them? A great number of schools providing students such opportunities therefore doubted that their students are wasting their unusual privilege. However, some students point out that their passively receiving the services of in-school university advising is not a waste of privilege, but is for valid reasons.
University application encourages extracurriculars for students to explore their specific topics of interest. However, university advising is making students’ extracurriculars stay on the surface and homogenized. This is mostly shown from in-school university advising. As an 11th grader, I’m also preparing for my university application-related inquiries. When I met my counselor at my old school for the first time, there were only recommendations of the same extracurricular activities that everyone had told me about before, AMC for students who are applying for sciences or economics, John Locke essay competition for humanities students, establishing clubs in schools, taking as many leadership roles as possible. The suggestion for activities to participate in is in this way getting boring. There is a presupposition of activities that must be taken by a specific major’s application. Nevertheless, this dismisses the variety and uniqueness of students’ profiles.
On the other hand, there is also another polarization in in-school university advising. Some school academic counselors excitedly encourage free choices for students. According to my friend’s experience of visiting an in-school university advising office once, after asking about the recommendations for IB subject choices to better plan for her desired major, she only received general responses such as “Subject choices are not as significant as advertised. It will eventually be of your own choice.” This does sound convincing, but think about what the students facing similar situations finally gain from such advice - nothing. What can they do for the next steps according to these suggestions? Do they gain effective and specific suggestions on their subject choices? Will they assure confirmation of what subjects to choose eventually? The suggestions indeed encourage free choices of students to explore their interests and strengths through a variety of activities, however, sometimes they do nothing more than generalization, failing to provide any specific insights to assure students with a released and responsible answer.
For the above reasons, multiple students have argued that they are not wasting the privilege of having access to university advising, they are just unsatisfied with its effectiveness. Compared with countries of extreme poverty and public schools lacking university advising services, having access to university advice that is not effective enough is still better than not having it at all. Although there is never a concrete resolution to inequalities and differences in education systems, we still can work on improving the profession of university advising, truly offering practical help and specified advice to develop students’ various interests. Making “privilege” really a “privilege” might not deal with the ‘differences’ itself, but at least can resolve the existing problems in the relatively developed regions. As students have sufficient access to maximize the use of their privilege, privileges will no longer be wasted to enlarge the impact of the differences within the world's education systems and people’s financial capacities.
Refereneces:
Gewertz, Catherine. “College Advising Is in Short Supply in U.S. High Schools, Study Finds.” Education Week, 23 Aug. 2022, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/college-advising-is-in-short-supply-in-u-s-high-schools-study-finds/2018/11.
Waiwaiole, Evelyn N. and Center for Community College Student Engagement. “Show Me the Way: The Power of Advising in Community Colleges.” Center for Community College Student Engagement, report, The University of Texas at Austin, 2018, www.ccsse.org/nr2018/show_me_the_way.pdf.
This was a really thoughtful perspective on university advising, especially the idea that access to good guidance is actually a privilege that not everyone has. It’s easy to assume that all students get equal support when applying to universities, but in reality there’s a big gap depending on school resources and background. Some students have dedicated advisors and structured help, while others are left to figure things out mostly on their own, which can make a huge difference in outcomes . What stood out to me is how advising isn’t just about applications, but also about helping students understand their choices, plan realistically, and navigate the whole process with more confidence. At the same time, even when advising is available,…
This blog really highlights something people often overlook—the emotional and ethical responsibility that comes with university advising. It’s not just about guiding applications, but about shaping confidence, identity, and future direction, which can feel overwhelming for both students and advisors. I especially related to the idea that access to informed guidance is itself a privilege, because not every student has equal support systems. That imbalance is something we see across education, even in areas like academic writing where students often search for Help with Nursing Assignment UK just to keep up with expectations. It shows how guidance, when done right, can level the playing field rather than widen gaps. What stood out most was the human element—the care, listening, and…
This really got me thinking — I went through something so similar. My school counsellor would hand out the same advice to everyone: join a club, take a leadership role, do AMC if you're into STEM. It felt copy-pasted, not personal. And the worst part? You're sitting in those sessions during the most stressful stretch of school, deadlines piling up, wondering how to make time go faster in school just to get through it all. When the guidance you finally receive feels hollow, it adds to that frustration rather than easing it. I eventually found New Assignment Help UK helpful for managing the academic side while I figured out my own path independently. Your point about "privilege" only mattering if…
This post really resonated with me, especially the point about how university advising can sometimes feel generic rather than genuinely helpful. I remember sitting in a counsellor's session being told the same extracurricular recommendations everyone else received — it felt like a template, not real guidance. The inequality in access is deeply unfair, but as the article rightly points out, even imperfect access is better than none. What struck me most is how students are left to navigate complex decisions largely on their own when advising falls short. That's why many UK students turn to resources like New Assignment Help UK to bridge the gap — not to replace guidance, but to supplement it when institutional support isn't specific or…
I really connected with this post because it shows how deeply access to good advising can shape a student’s confidence and direction. During a time when I felt lost in difficult classes, even something like sophia online class help gave me enough structure to keep going and actually learn. Reading about privilege here is a reminder that having someone who listens and guides you isn’t guaranteed and it can make all the difference.