Advising the Sophomore Student

Just doing a bit of revisiting to notes that Lisa T gave me from the NACADA conference in Chicago. Hopefully between the two of us we can begin to implement something along these lines.

Even though I haven't been advising for that long, I have realized that once students return for their second year of post-secondary education administrators tend to allow them to fend for themselves. With freshmen we are worried about retention numbers and making sure that students understand how to navigate the university whereas second year students have supposedly "learned the ropes" and no longer require mandatory advisement, a review of the registration system, or guidance on their career goals.

The presenter argued that students should continue to have a tie to their advisement center and a common university experience throughout the sophomore year and beyond. I agree whole-heartedly with this sentiment but wonder if all universities have the resources to make this a reality. Four stages of progression were proposed for sophomore students:

1. Random Exploration- This seems to be the area where students really haven't thought about what they can do with their particular major. They have thought of a career (most likely based on money, prestige, or parental suggestion/occupation), but haven't done enough research to be able to discuss why they have chosen it.

2. Focused Exploration- Typically occurs once a student has had the opportunity to meet with an advisor and get more information on their skills, what is required for certain majors etc. In my case, once students have had a chance to go through the majors/minors list with me I send them off to research those majors that we have not yet eliminated. This usually requires them to visit the undergraduate catalog, looks through delicious etc.

3. Tentative Choices- This stage involves the student making a concerted effort towards a major. Usually I will explain to students that they can try a few courses out in a particular area but they are not committed at this stage. Students can try a few tentative majors before choosing the one for them.

4. Commitment- This is the stage where a student has throughly researched their prospective major, taken a few courses in the area, and is ready to commit to the full time study of it. Students will generally be very excited about their selection and want to do more research, read professional journals, join associations etc.

I have seen all of these stages in both freshmen students and sophomores, but would agree that they are most prevalent during the second year.

Random exploration is the stage where I think advisors have to be the most cautious. We can easily steer a student in a particular direction based on meeting with them one or two times. Many students come in with the mind-set that we are going to pick a major for them or help them to choose what they are going to do with their lives. When they come in with an idea of what they would like to pursue, I feel as though advisors should use that to teach students "how to fish" for their own information, how to do their own exploration, and assure them that nothing is set in stone at this point in their education. I also think we are responsible for questioning them as to why they want to pursue a particular field. There is a saying that a student should be able to talk about a particular career field for approximately 10 minutes if they have throughly researched it, but I honestly don't know if I could talk at length about why I wanted to pursue my particular career.

The focused exploration/tentative choices stage is my personal goal for the end of the fall sophomore semester. By this time the student has hopefully had a chance to explore on their own, find university resources to assist them, and feels ready to look for internships, mentors, or jobs which will help solidify or change their academic choices. This is the stage where I begin to suggest students shadow those in their tentative areas, discuss what alumni of a department are doing, visit career services, and all those other activities which can make or break a decision. I am not sure if there is a point when it is too early or too late to begin this stage, but I think that this would be the ideal time as it allows enough time for exploration before hand while also allowing the opportunity to change curriculum's while still staying on track to graduate on time.

Finally, the commitment stage tends to occur during the beginning of the junior year. Students at this point may have a good handle on what their post-graduate plans are (e.g., graduate school, employment). Their commitment to a certain discipline is essential so they are able to tailor resumes and applications to the appropriate areas. They also need to be reassured at this stage that their commitment is not a lifetime obligation. Their major need not be tied to their career and there may be opportunity to study something completely different at the graduate level. I typically will discuss with them my personal story (i.e., undergraduate degree in psychology with a master's degree in higher education administration) to reassure them that those with liberal arts majors can be highly successful in a variety of careers.