Mentors vs Advisors

 College can be a scary place for students. Frequently, students may feel confused about how to handle their academic career. Often, students will proceed blindly through college because they don’t realize the resources available to them.

The Difference 

There are people who get paid to help students with their academic careers, and those people are called advisors. Advisors are usually assigned to a student depending on the student’s major, and they help students by guiding them through their college experience. Are advisors there to help with other issues, such as problems with friends or a professor? Not really, the advisors are just there to help students make good choices concerning their educational track. If a student would like to get on a more personal level with someone, then they should look into getting a mentor. Mentors are the individuals who can talk students through many of their situations in school, whether it’’s dealing with that difficult friend or they can give advice on how to handle stressful situations. This blog is to help differentiate the two and how to help them help you be a better person within the collegiate realm.

How Advisors Can Help 

Lets start off with advisors. Advisors are the gatekeepers of a student’s education. They help students plan their educational career. They also inform students on how many credits they need to graduate. Advisors can be used to locate the multiple services needed for students to succeed in their college career. Even though advisors are great people to have in your corner for academic planning, remember that you are not the only student they are advising, so they may not be idea when you may need other advice due to their frequently busy schedule.

Why Mentors are Awesome

Mentors are another topic. Mentors are great to have in your corner. Throughout history, majority of “the greats” had mentors and others they looked up to. Mentors are great assets and if you have someone that you can talk to and you look up to, then they are a great option for becoming your mentor! What makes mentors so great is the fact that they have all gone through the same experiences that you will in some form, so they can give you a vast amount of advice on a number of topics.

Having a mentoring/mentee relationship can be one of the most rewarding and helpful connections you can make, and can prevent you from making common rookie mistakes.