The Advisor Diaries

Dear Diary,

On most days I am surprised by at least one student in some way, shape or form. Little did I know that one day this conversation would take place!! As I prepped for Sally’s (name changed to protect her, bless her heart) advising appointment, it looked as though this was going to be a typical meeting with an undeclared student who needed to pick a major.

Sally was out of general education courses and needed to be taking something in her major. Most students in her shoes come in and have some idea of what they want to do. Sally on the other hand had NO IDEA! I asked her what she liked to do for fun or what she does when she is not doing academic work. She says she likes to go out dancing with friends. Ok, typical answer for a college age woman living in a college town. So I ask is she has other interests…does she do anything else in her spare time. I was a bit shocked when she said NO. So, I went back to the dancing. I told her she could look into a major in dance but she wasn’t interested.

I then ask her to visualize what she sees herself doing once she graduates. She quickly tells me she wants to own a club. Excited that she came up with something, I quickly flipped to Business in the university catalog.  We began talking about majors in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship. She told me about people she knew in her home town (NYC) that owned clubs and she wanted to do the same.

At this point I am thrilled we have potentially found a major that Sally is excited about. In the midst of all the excitement, from me and from her, she stops and asks if I really understand what she is talking about. I said of course, I was in college once and went out to dance clubs all the time with friends. She shakes her head and says “No, I want to own a Strip Dance Club.” Thank goodness, that non-verbal communication class I had in college helped me to ward off the -want to drop my chin on my desk- look.  I let her know that everything we had discussed applies no matter what type of club she wants to own.

Fortunately, she left happy to have a major and excited to move with her college career and I was left with a fabulous story that will last me a lifetime.

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