Stanford coterm Martin Blue got his first taste of applied research last summer when he traveled to a farm in Central California to investigate how dairy farms are utilizing machine learning to improve operations. He called it an “eye-opening” experience.

“I realized that research can be very hands-on and interactive,” Blue said of his ethnographic field research experience. “And I have Dr. Julia Burrows, the undergraduate advising director in my residence, to thank for much of that. She connected me to the opportunity and has been an incredible resource at Stanford.”

Advisors like Burrows are embedded in student residences, offering undergraduates academic support where they live and complementing the guidance they receive in their departments. The model, launched by Stanford 20 years ago, has proved highly effective in helping students navigate their education, careers, and the university.

“Residential advising helps individual students make the most of a landscape that is so rich in opportunity, it is like drinking out of a fire hose,” said Alice Petty, associate dean of residential advising in the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE).

An evolving landscape

For many years, Stanford undergraduates were advised mostly by volunteer faculty and staff. Once they declared a major, faculty advisors in the academic departments took over. In 2004, VPUE, which oversees Academic Advising, hired Christina Mesa, ’82, PhD ’99, to serve as the new undergraduate advising director and lead a three-year pilot program to bring advising to the residences.

“The goal was to provide a PhD-level advisor – someone who was familiar with the university, had a general command of the curriculum, and worked in collaboration with assigned freshman advisors and residential staff – to meet students one-on-one and serve as a bridge between them and faculty,” Mesa explained.

The residential advisors would stay abreast of the university’s academic policies and curricula, resources, and opportunities, and support students in any way that related to their education. “A big goal was to find out what issues might have an impact on a student’s academic experience – say, personal or health-related – in order to find solutions for difficulties before they had a negative impact on their academic status,” said Mesa.

In the first three years, Mesa led the development of weekly academic information sessions; helped prepare and review undergraduate research grants; helped hire academic directors for Wilbur, Florence Moore, and Stern halls; co-created an introduction to advising session for New Student Orientation (NSO); started an advising newsletter; and began meeting with sophomores, in addition to frosh.

“The pilot was successful and now, 20 years on, the landscape of advising looks really different,” said Petty.

A ‘boutique’ experience

Today, Academic Advising is comprised of multiple teams, including 16 advisors with offices in undergraduate residences across campus. Advising begins shortly after a student accepts an offer of admission, and students are encouraged to take advantage of advising prior to NSO. Throughout their time at Stanford, students receive weekly outreach from their undergraduate advising director, or UAD, and are invited to schedule a meeting where they can discuss everything from courses to research opportunities to personal issues that may conflict with their academics. Students often find that their residential advisors are among their closest mentors on campus.

“Over time, as Dr. Burrows and I got to know each other better, our meetings evolved into something more organic,” said Blue. “At our check-ins, we’d discuss things I was passionate about or how to tailor my Stanford experience to get the most out of it with the time I have left.”

A four-year advising model ensures students can stick with their advisors for the duration of their undergraduate career. Petty said the greatest advantage of this model is that it’s customized to the individual. “We focus on that student and what it takes that student to succeed, and we meet them where they are at any point in their career,” she said. “We aim to deliver a boutique experience at scale.”

Residential advisors bring a wealth of expertise in academia and a wide range of professional fields, from biochemistry to anthropology. As a result, they have extensive experience in research, publishing papers, grant writing, the graduate school application process, teaching, and academic coaching. For Blue, being able to consult with someone with that level of academic experience has helped “demystify” the graduate school landscape as he begins researching doctoral programs.

Stanford’s overall advising model, including residence-based advising, is proving to be successful. Between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, UADs met with 98.4% of first-year undergraduates. Petty’s team of residential advisors had more than 35,000 individual interactions with students, either through one-on-one meetings, phone calls, or email exchanges.

Students are finding that connecting with experienced residential advisors is helping them prepare for the next phase of their lives.

“I’m just overall very, very grateful for the advising experience here,” Blue said. “It’s definitely helped set me up for the next part of my career and academic journey.”