| Academic advising has traditionally ranked very low among college students on campus surveys of student services. Most of the studies conducted on the advising function are solely focused on student satisfaction. Despite the overall low levels of satisfaction, academic advising has also been identified as the cornerstone to achieving student retention. While administrators in higher education acknowledge the importance of academic advising, little has been done to explore the reasons associated with the lack of student satisfaction and the advising process. Within colleges, many academic deans are creating mission statements that include the advising function, yet are doing so without linking these efforts to measuring student outcomes.; This study challenges administrators to look beyond satisfaction and examine the links between constructs, such as the achievement of student development tasks as identified by the Student Development Tasks Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI), advising theory, decidedness of major and overall satisfaction with advising. For example, what advising theory, if any, do students associate with the advising experience? What advising theory would students ideally select, if any, for an advising session? How does decidedness of major relate to the style of advising used and the level of satisfaction? How does achievement of developmental tasks affect the satisfaction level with advising?; Freshmen and sophomores from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the College of Letters and Science (L&S) were surveyed in Spring, 1999 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to address these questions. The data also included responses from the UW-Madison Undergraduate Student Satisfaction Surveys conducted by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center 1993--1998.; The results of the analysis suggest that students ideally want to receive developmental advising regardless of their college affiliation, achievement of student development tasks and decidedness of major. In addition, the analysis suggests that students within CALS have achieved tasks related to career planning and academic autonomy at a significantly higher level than students in L&S. The fact that CALS students are advised by faculty members may account for the increased focus on job preparation and career opportunities. |
