"I admit there's very little handholding," says economics concentrator Davis J. Wang '97. "That disadvantages some people, [but] in my case, I felt the advising was adequate."

Wang says that course requirements are laid out well enough that he does not feel he needs a great deal of guidance. When he does need advising, Wang says he takes the initiative to get it.

"The academic requirements are quite clearly set out and I never felt at all the need for advice to decide my course selection," he says. "I have felt the need for advice on pursuing graduate studies and what track to take, and I was able to get the advice with a little initiative."

Students agree that advising varies greatly between different departments.

"The quality of advising depends completely on the department's commitment to it," says social studies concentrator Jedediah S. Purdy '97.

Purdy began as a philosophy concentrator and later switched to social studies. The advising in social studies was far better than the advising in philosophy, he says, partly because students have the same adviser for three years.

However, despite occasional shortcomings, Davis says that he is satisfied with the current state of advising within the department.

"I've made the changes [to advising] which I think can reasonably be made in the past five years," he says. "There is nothing I'm burning to do that I haven't done."