Every semester I have the immense pleasure of reading another column about how advising is terrible and insufficient for the complex needs of students. Ostensibly, the tremendous growth of The University of Alabama has formed a deficit of advisors ,ill-equipped to advise so many students. Through an aggregation of assumptions, the advisor somehow cripples the student’s chances of success at the University and in the future. Thus, the student is doomed to suffer without a job or hope for the future because of an advisor from freshman year.

Really? Even though I took a few liberties in that tragic tale, the University is a place of higher education for adults, not kids. Sure, we students act like kids that are often so self-absorbed as to think that what happens to us is someone else’s fault. That failing the test is the professor’s fault; that the hard courses one’s taking is the advisor’s fault; that the division of students on campus is the administration’s fault. Let’s be honest with ourselves and answer the necessary question: To whom does the fault actually belong?

The fault lies not on those who try to support students, but on the students who fail to accept responsibility for their very own education. The onus is on students to acquire the education they desire. The greatest perk of attending college is the freedom of academic choice. The powerful ability to choose from a vast array of majors, minors and specializations, and within these selected routes of education to choose the professors and classes that best suit a student’s interests and learning style.

The unwillingness to put forth effort into discovering what majors are interesting to a student, who the best professors are, and which advisors provide the best counsel will yield a distrust and dislike of advising and professors. It doesn’t have to be like this though: students do not have to feel betrayed and hurt by advisors and professors.

Contrary to popular belief, advisors and professors are here to best serve students in their educational journey. However, for them to best serve a student, the student has to bring something to the table. We need to meet them halfway to get what we want out of our short four years here; we need to do a little preparation before we meet with them and decide on a plan.

A little initiative and hard work will yield tremendous benefits when the meeting with an advisor or professor occurs. Plus, on a side note, relationships with professors can often help produce future opportunities.

We lucky few students are in the process of acquiring an education, and subsequently a bachelor’s degree, that will greatly increase our lifetime income, production and happiness. Advising and your education at the University are fundamentally dependent on preparation, hard work and perseverance – similar to almost everything in life. I encourage you, then, to prepare and work accordingly. An education for the future is worth the effort in the present.

Patrick Crowley is a junior majoring in mathematics and finance. His column runs biweekly.