Your academic life is not random or your choice anymore. The data on your file will tell what is the best for you. The information on your background and your past performances estimate the probability that you will pass a certain class. These data-driven approach in the academic advising can be a great tool to use if the student uses it correctly.
Individual students' past record will be organized to a structure to provide tailored suggestions. As the more data backed up on him/her, there will be better suggestions for the individual's academic progress. The data that one student creates must be a lot in quantity and could be very messy in terms of its categorization. These various data of an individual can be organized in a productive manner, and also the system can tell and suggest its user. Fortunately, most of academic performance and background info are in a format of digital document mostly; thus, conversion from paper document to digital one wouldn't be a problem, but there could be a problem of many exceptions. So far, this data-advising is usually applied to the math course where a lot of students fail and drop. These math courses are easier to quantify and process with instant help for the students' schedule building and projecting.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/education/edlife/colleges-awakening-to-the-opportunities-of-data-mining.html?pagewanted=all