These results can be important to advisers, for they have the capacity to increase meaningful contact with students and to encourage them to persist in college. One essential way to engage students in advising is to design programs that acknowledge their individual needs. Diversity not only characterizes today's student population, but also contributes to a pluralistic society that benefits all members of the college community. Because advisers can encourage students to explore their differences as positive factors, the advising relationship can be particularly responsive to pluralism. Developmental advisers involve students in the advising relationship and demonstrate that circumstances surrounding individual differences, not stereotypical differences, define students' needs.
Advisers can also respond to students who are in stages of transition.
Advising freshmen is especially important. Advisers who facilitate assimilation to college understand factors affecting freshmen's fit and persistence. They share responsibility for advising with students and begin educational and career planning. Perceptive advisers encourage all students in transition to focus first on exploring life, career, and educational goals. The central theme is one of shared responsibility, an essential ingredient in an effective relationship between adviser and student.