Harvard To End Faculty Pre-Concentration Advising Program After Two-Year Pilot

The Harvard Advising Programs Office will end the faculty pre-concentration advising program at the end of 2025 after a two-year trial run, a Harvard College spokesperson confirmed this week.

Current freshmen assigned to faculty pre-concentration advisers will continue to work with them until their contracts end in December 2025.

The APO initially restructured its first-year advising program in July 2023 to align with new course registration timelines and provide more continuity for students — replacing a program that included both freshman and sophomore advisers with a pre-concentration adviser who supports students from matriculation through concentration declaration.

The restructuring included the addition of six faculty advisers who split their time between teaching and advising 50 students each. The rest of the students received pre-concentration advising from 65 proctors and 200 volunteers.

“We have been so appreciative of the support around this new endeavor and feel as though the six faculty pre-concentration advisers that we brought onboard demonstrated much success and tangible results in such a short period of time,” the APO wrote in an email sent to Peer Advising Fellows obtained by The Crimson.

“Nonetheless, and naturally with some disappointment to the APO and our faculty PCAs, the College made the decision to dissolve the pilot work at this time,” the office added.

Harvard College spokesperson Alixandra Nozzolillo wrote in a statement that based on the APO’s assessment of the pilot, the College is “refining the approach and considering new ways to enhance advising,” including “the use of technology, enhanced student preparation pre-enrollment, and group advising.”

“The College remains committed to providing robust pre-concentration advising that supports students throughout their first three semesters, leading up to concentration declaration,” Nozzolillo wrote.

To replace the faculty advisers, whose contracts will end in December, the APO will be expanding their number of volunteer advisers. Anyone with an undergraduate degree and a current, formal Harvard affiliation can become a volunteer adviser, according to the application.

Only about 300 students from each class received faculty advisers through the pilot program, and many students were not aware of the dissolution of the program.

In several interviews, students said they had unproductive experiences with freshman advising. In some instances, students said that advisers occasionally gave them false information.

“I was debating doing biomechanical engineering. And I was like, ‘Oh, can I do biomechanical and something else?’ She was like, ‘Yes, of course, you can do that. You can double major with any major at Harvard,’” Alexander J. Risio ’28 said about his experience with his pre-concentration advisers this past fall.

“I go look at the engineering website, where it says, engineering are the only majors at Harvard where you cannot double with anything and can only do the engineering degree,” Risio said.

While other students have found their advisers to be somewhat helpful, they said it is not a particularly strong relationship.

Iyanuoluwa K. Shonukan ’28 said his adviser “aligns with what I want to study, which was very helpful.”

“But, like, I don’t talk to him as much. It’s kind of just like, okay, check off my Harvard hold and everything,” he added.

A College spokesperson declined to comment on the student criticisms.

Shonukan said that he is disappointed to see the replacement of faculty advisers with volunteers.

“I guess the freshmen have to fend for themselves,” Shonukan said.

—Staff writer Dionise Guerra-Carrillo can be reached at dionise.guerracarrillo@thecrimson.com.