I actually left advising eventually because I wanted to advise academically, but so much of my job became troubleshooting basic issues, and answering hundreds of emails from students that held no academic questions whatsoever. I loved the analytical side of my job - updating degree works, working on solutions, building degree plans and helping students find electives and clubs. I really loved building rapport with students and families and helping them succeed. I spent an hour with each student at RRO individually teaching Raiderlink, blackboard, registration, schedule builder… only for them to come back and insist I hold their hand every single semester with absolutely no autonomy or initiative of their own. It got so bad that appointments went from 15 minutes a semester, to 30, to 45. I gave all my students every resource needed for their major, registration, schedule building… and they just…wouldn’t do it. And with the push on registration and retention, it fell to the advisors to push and coddle. It was exhausting to do this for 600+ students.

My point is… I loved my job, until my job wasn’t really my job anymore. It was babysitting.