New Student Orientation (NSO) is much the same every year, but this year’s freshmen had a little extra help when it came to advice about scheduling and picking classes. Whereas freshmen of old met with a single academic advisor during NSO, members of the Class of 2011 have a second advisor from the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Research (UAR).

Beginning this year, UAR advisors have been chartered to provide assistance to students at every stage of their careers, according to the UAR Web site. Such advisors can provide valuable information about curricula, research opportunities, fellowships and scholarships, professional school requirements and preparations for graduate school.

As the academic interests of freshmen change in the months leading up to their arrival on campus and during their first quarter at the University, preassigned academic advisors are often insufficient in and of themselves.

“I think the reason for the second academic advisor is that some students would get a faculty advisor in a department that they were not interested in, and so that advisor would not be very useful to them,” said Jesse Weinstein-Gould ‘09, a peer mentor who works with advisors to provide academic counseling and support to freshmen and sophomores.

“This second advisor acts as sort of a safety net so that there is at least someone who has some knowledge about a broad range of departments and knows all the requirements.”

Unlike academic advisors, however, the new UAR advisors do not work directly with peer mentor groups, according to Pin-yi Ko ‘09, another peer mentor.

“I don’t really interact with the second advisor,” she said.

“We did not have to arrange meetings with the second advisor or even really have to make contact with them,” Weinstein-Gould added.

Former peer mentors said freshmen are often concerned with the lack of organized advising meetings, and they questioned the extent to which an additional advisor could solve this problem, citing instead the need for a residential advisor.

“Regardless of how many there are, I think random advisors aren’t really that helpful,” said Theresa Zhen ‘09. “[But] if I had an official advisor and a more low-key residential advisor, maybe I would’ve sought more help.”

“Our advisor talked about both academics and extracurriculars,” said Nabill Idrisi ‘09. “But I also think we had a really good one. I like the UAR’s idea of addressing the problem of mismatched academic interests and faculty advisors.”

UAR advisors have offices in both Sweet Hall and in freshman residences. Athletes can also seek advice from the academic director located in the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center.

Contact Daisy Chen at dchen1@stanford.edu.