20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You spend mornings checking email in Microsoft Outlook, reviewing student records in Microsoft Access or Excel, and writing letters of recommendation in Microsoft Word. Midday is meeting students for degree audits, career talks, or crisis intervention, and referring students to counseling or employment services when needed.
Afternoons often include collaborating with teachers and families, attending meetings or training workshops, updating records on SharePoint, and planning recruitment or extracurricular activities like clubs or contests.
Expect Microsoft Outlook for scheduling and communication, Microsoft Word for reports and recommendation letters, and Microsoft Excel for tracking graduation requirements or enrollment data. Some offices use Microsoft Access for student databases and Microsoft SharePoint to store policies and shared documents.
You might also use those systems to run the data analysis tasks your job requires, like identifying factors affecting student performance or preparing files for meetings and committees.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports about 353,310 employed academic advisors and a median wage of $64,330 per year. The lowest tenth earn about $45,020 and the top tenth about $104,770, according to BLS 2025 data.
Actual pay depends on the institution (high school vs. college), region, experience, and added duties like supervising staff or running recruitment programs.
Study counseling, education, psychology, or a related field; many advisors hold a bachelor’s degree and some have a master’s in student affairs or counseling. Take courses in career development, testing, and data analysis so you can evaluate student abilities and analyze performance data.
Get experience by volunteering in student services, helping with recruitment events, or doing internships where you’ll use Outlook, Word, and Excel and learn to review transcripts and write recommendations.
You can use AI to draft recommendation letters, summarize student transcripts, or analyze performance data, but always check AI outputs against the official records in Access/Excel and against privacy rules. Never upload sensitive student data to an AI service that isn’t approved by your institution.
Use AI as a first draft generator or a time-saver, then edit in Microsoft Word, confirm facts in Outlook or SharePoint, and follow FERPA or your school’s privacy policies before sharing anything.
Clear communication for meetings, writing recommendation letters, and collaborating with teachers and families; and organization for keeping accurate student records in Access, Excel, and SharePoint. You also need basic data-analysis skill to spot factors affecting performance.
You should be able to handle crisis situations calmly, know when to refer to counseling or report abuse, and guide students on career options and job searches using local job-market knowledge and employer referrals.