The relationship of undergraduate cognitive development and academic advising preference at two small, private, liberal arts colleges

Though developmental advising has been widely accepted for some time, some recent studies have questioned whether this approach to advising is universally appropriate. The primary purposes of this study were to determine what, if any, relationship exists between students\u27 preference for academic advising approach and either their level of cognitive development or their gender. One hundred seventy-three students at two small, private, liberal arts colleges completed the Academic Advising Inventory (AAI) to assess their advising preferences and the Measure of Epistemological Reflection (MER) to measure cognitive development levels. A correlation coefficient of scores on the AAI and the MER indicated there is no significant relationship. Similarly, there was no statistically significant difference in mean scores on advising preference between men and women. In response to additional research questions regarding other factors that might influence student preference for advising approach or affect students\u27 advising experiences, MER results and information from interviews of twelve participants revealed that relational skills of advisers, student lack of experience with advising, and adviser accessibility influence student advising experiences. Implications for practice in the field of academic advising and recommendations for further research are included