When students first arrive on campus, two of their main concerns are selecting classes and choosing majors.
And although many do not know where to start, the Academic Advising Center is designed to be a primary resource for students in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.
Still, some have complained about the inefficiency of the advising process at the University.
"The main responsibilities of the academic advisers are to help our new students make a successful transition to academic life at Duke," Michele Rasmussen, assistant dean of Trinity College and director of the Pre-Major Advising Center, wrote in an e-mail.
Rasmussen said the center also helps students better grasp their strengths and weaknesses and understand their major requirements.
But although the center has created academic advising groups on East Campus as well as a new peer advising network, some students have continued to complain.
The primary criticism has been that faculty, though eager, are not knowledgeable about a student's particular interest, sophomore Dan Freshman said. Some also say that many advisers do not have a broad enough range of knowledge, particularly for students who are unsure about their major when they come to Duke.
"From my experience, the academic advisers have little vested interest," Freshman said. "They put little effort into advising. Whether that is a factor of their lack of knowledge about advising, or if they simply are preoccupied elsewhere, I don't know."
The University of Southern California's Office of College Advising is run in much the same way as Duke's, said sophomore Nikke Soremekun, who works in the advising center there.
She said students are assigned to advisers in their particular areas of interest. For some concentrations, however, several students can be assigned to a single adviser.
"It really depends on what major they have chosen," Soremekun said. "If they are in the business school, they are not assigned a specific adviser. For smaller majors, like classics, students will receive one adviser."
She added that advisers at USC, like those at Duke, help students declare their majors and choose classes for the upcoming semester.
USC sophomore Chris Reynolds, though, said his advising experience has been anything but helpful.
"My advisor was assigned to me the day I got here," Reynolds said. "I'm pretty sure there aren't any other choices for English majors besides her, which is terrible, because she's practically incompetent. She tells people she will give them access to classes and then forgets to do it so that her advisees end up not being able to get the classes they want."
At Duke, Rasmussen said the advisers' main responsibility is to help a student's overall transition to the University.
It is the role of individual departments' directors of undergraduate studies as well as departmental faculty to help students discern major requirements.
"We take the work we do in academic advising very seriously and are continually looking for ways to enhance the advising experience of our first-year and sophomore students," Rasmussen said. "We still pay attention to comments and suggestions from students and advisers and make enhancements to our electronic tools, training opportunities and process accordingly."
Jon Acton, Residence Coordinator for Edens Quadrangle, said he understands complaints from students because it is impossible for an adviser to know about every major.
"I have had a really good experience with advising," Acton said. "I want to get as much individual attention to each student. Trying to have a good concept of biology and sociology at the same time and just going back and forth from one discipline to another is not easy."
The two-year period that students are given in which to declare their majors is helpful, except it can be overwhelming if students are switching from one discipline to another, sophomore Christian Holmes said.
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"Having advisers keep more close contact with advisees would have been helpful," Holmes said. "Since students will not know exactly what they want when they get to Duke, they should have someone to talk to who can advise them about their specific interests."
Vickie Eason, an instructor in the Department of Biology, however, said she tries to accommodate all students, even if she is not familiar with their particular interests. Eason added that the Academic Advising Center is doing what it can to place particular students with professors who fit their needs.
"There are general ways in which we can help students even if they are not in our exact area," Eason said. "It is much more helpful to have students paired up with advisers in areas that they are going to potentially major in. I have had the occasional student that is an economics or environmental sciences major and it's much more difficult for me to advise these students."
Rasmussen said the Academic Advising Center is one of many resources for students.
"Every Trinity student has access to an advising system that is not limited to a single person," Rasmussen said. "From this constellation of people, students can glean the information they need to make informed decisions about their academic life at Duke and truly take ownership of their education here."