TLDR: Academic Advisors (previously called Personal Tutors) are a named member of staff in your department who can help with academic, professional, and signposting matters. You can find their name on SAMIS, and should meet them about three times in your first semester, then once a semester after. You can reach out to your personal tutor via email to request a meeting, and if you wish to change your Academic Advisor, you have to contact your Director of Studies. Email examples are provided.
In my four years as an undergrad, I got through three personal tutors.
My first was an absolute star, engaged and smiling at all points, a massive optimist who had super interesting research – but a double whammy of a literal pandemic timing with parental leave meant I had to switch. My second personal tutor lasted throughout the pandemic period (which I have to give a massive hats off to) and had an oddy endearing habit of only showing the very top of his head on zoom calls. My final year personal tutor is a bona fide psychology ICON who suggested “access with Amber” was a way better slogan than “you belong on the shed” – I can only thank you for pulling me out of my niche reference slumber.
But what is a Academic Advisor (previously Personal Tutor)? Who are they? What can I ask them?
How do I find my Academic Advisor?
You can find out who your Academic Advisor is by looking on SAMIS. Doing a ‘find in page’ for ‘Academic Advisor’ is the quickest way to find it. You can also log in, which should bring you to 'Student Home' and scroll down to 'Student Look Up Screen'
If you are a first year student, you should also be introduced to them during induction, and have a meeting, either 1-1 or with people who share the same Academic Advisor.
What can I talk to them about?
Academic Advisors are not counsellors, but may still be useful as someone to signpost you to appropriate services.
They can also help you settle in at uni, discuss all things academic and placement (e.g., unit choices, placement choices, and career plans), and can provide you with a work reference.
When can I meet them?
As a new student, you should meet your Academic Advisor during your first fortnight (during either welcome week/ freshers week, or the first week of teaching), and then two more times during your fist semester.
After this, you should be offered a meeting a semester.
If you want to meet your personal tutor about anything, reach out to them via email – they can help via email or invite you to a meeting. If you find that you haven’t been offered a meeting this semester. Its worth popping them an email. You could try something along the lines of:
Dear [name]
I hope you’re doing well! I wanted to see if we could set up a time to meet and chat about [topic]. I have a couple of questions about [specific topic e.g., course choices].
I’m next free on [time and date, you should also say if you want this to be in person or over Teams] if this works for you?
Thank you for your help!
What if something is wrong?
Sometimes, staff can forget to check in, not be a good fit for you, or anything else. If you want to change your Academic Advisor, you have to contact your Director of Studies. If you want help with this from outside your department, you can get help from University Student Support or SU Advice & Support.
An example email to your Director of Studies could be something like
Dear [name]
I hope you’re doing well! I am writing as I wish to change my current Academic Advisor.
This is as [reason why – are they consistently non-responsive? Do they seem disinterested etc?]. Can you please guide me on how I can go about requesting this change? If there is any further evidence you need, please let me know.
Thank you for your help!
Hope that wraps it all up - as always, let me know if you wanna know anything more !