Purpose. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore and understand the opinions of community college students about their experiences during academic advising sessions. In particular, this study explored the dynamics of academic counseling sessions and focused on the opinions of students about their experiences with their advisor, and from narrative feedback, to develop a general abstract theory of a process, action, or interaction grounded in the views of participants that results in sessions participants believe to be most effective.

Methodology. In-depth face-to-face and phone interviews were conducted with 21 participants. The same interview questions were administered to 16 additional participants. The resulting data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding.

Findings. Four main themes and 24 corresponding subthemes emerged. The main themes included creating a personal connection, emboldening students, making the session about the students, and being knowledgeable. These themes were presented as an abstract theory of high quality academic advising.

Conclusions. Student participants expressed an interest in counseling sessions focused not only on knowledgeable selection of classes and pathways but also on addressing the social, emotional, and personal needs of the student. Thus, the study confirmed the value of the student-centered approach associated with developmental advising.

Recommendations. Four main recommendations were offered: (a) college administrators and advisors must be aware of the importance of the interpersonal aspects of advising sessions; (b) a similar study should be conducted to identify practical exemplars of behaviors in support of the four main themes; (c) replicate this study, but include methods to differentiate possible differences in age, ethic and socioeconomic groups; (d) conduct a quantitative research study to test, validate, analyze, refine, and legitimize a proposed summated rating scale composed of constructs associated with each of the themes identified in this study.