Freshmen at GW have much to worry about when they arrive on campus, including what classes to take, how to live with roommates and, well, how to survive college.

For many, the thought of what to do after graduation is justifiably far from their minds.

So it is promising that the University has recognized the need for students to build strong career paths from the moment they step onto campus. As part of the career services overhaul the University initiated this year, the Career Services Task Force is looking to potentially revamp the way students interact with job-focused advisers.

But if GW wants this type of advising to be effective, it must be personal. The most effective career advising should not feel like a meeting in an unemployment office – it should feel like a meeting with a mentor.

To bring about this relationship, the University should rework how students interact with advisers in the GW Career Center. Like an academic adviser, a career adviser should be a constant figure in a student’s time at GW.

There has long been a debate over the role of academic advising: Should it be about classes or careers, or both? No matter what the University decides with the review, the decision should be based on what will allow students the most personalized relationships with advisers.

This sounds intuitive, but some schools at GW have been plagued by poor academic advising. For too many students, advising is not a resource, but rather, a routine that consists of walking into an office, going over class schedules and signing a form. Other than the four-year plans students draft and the occasional decisions to switch majors, the semester-to-semester meetings with an academic adviser do not instill a sense of permanence.

Career advising should be long-term. In the very first meeting between a freshman and a career adviser, a new Colonial, unsure of job plans, should be able to consult the adviser about goals, interests and potential internships. That same adviser, during later meetings, can help a student look at the larger picture.

Sometimes, career interests change – and majors often do – so a mentor should be there as a guide to help connect new interests to existing experiences and strengths.

Maybe this means abandoning the field-focused approach that GW is considering for the new batch of career advisers.

Students in the business school already have a system that incorporates both academic and career plans, and the advisers and students say that model generally works. Meanwhile, advisers in the Elliott School of International Affairs want to keep the two experiences separate. Both models have potential.

Beyond whichever model the task force chooses, the University must remember that, to provide students the best advising experience, advisers must make all students feel they have someone who is out there and can help them find a job. Unlike professors, a career adviser can be there for a student from day one.

Lyndsey Wajert, a senior majoring in journalism, is a former Hatchet opinions editor and a senior columnist.