If you’ve opened up CAESAR in preparation for Winter Quarter, you may have noticed your pre-registration time buried somewhere among “Syllabus Yearbook Orders” and “What-If Degree Process.” CAESAR’s clunky, user-unfriendly database is supposed to be the worst part of registering for classes. Yet somehow Northwestern’s academic advising system manages to be even worse.

Coming into NU, Medill graduation requirements made little sense. Digging through my handbook for information about Journalism Residency or the “Diverse Cultures requirement” yielded vague, confusing results. Only after two quarters did I realize I had an adviser. I made first contact, sending out an e-mail to set up a meeting. During the meeting, the professor explained that he didn’t quite understand the requirements either. I was left with a list of e-mail addresses for others who might know. Despite switching advisers during my sophomore year, the experience only got more disheartening. This second professor just didn’t show up for our meeting.

Sadly, I’m not the only one with advisy woes. Many students across schools and majors seem to have stories about stumbling through their degree process with advisers who barely know their names.

Professors aren’t entirely to blame. At a prestigious university like NU, it’s understandable most professors are consumed with academic pursuits leaving little time for poring over details on requirements.

NU higher-ups should be responsible for better explain these requirements to professors or rework the advising system altogether. Either way, NU needs to do something to ensure advisers aren’t as rusty as CAESAR.

-KATE BERNOT

Multimedia Editor