Description
This resource provides the most recent plan for working with first-year students’ advising needs. Also, it includes the actual outlines and scripts for first and second semester checkback appointments.
Introduction
While each new first-year student is unique, there are developmental patterns that apply to most students during their initial year at the University. At orientation, the new student’s primary need is to map out the new and complex world of the University and to take the first steps toward becoming a part of that world. During their first term, first-year students test themselves against the policies, expectations, and resources of the University. During the second term, they will begin the ongoing process of gauging their curricular and extracurricular performance against their goals, and start making commitments to majors and careers.
After Orientation/Registration (O/R), two expected contacts during the first year provide a framework for helping students work through this developmental process in an orderly and constructive way. Giving each contact a theme emphasizes the developmental model:
Orientation/registration: “Getting Started”
First semester: “Exploration and Getting Established”
Second semester: “Assessment and Decision-Making”
By keeping this developmental model in mind at each meeting, advisers can anticipate as well as structure the focus of the interview. They can also make an effective bridge to the next interview by helping the student identify goals and make plans to reach them.
While each meeting has a specific syllabus, each should be seen as part of a whole structure designed to support and challenge the student during the first year at the University. Advisers should emphasize, for instance, that the orientation interview is the beginning, not the end, of the orientation experience; it is the first of three meetings that are to take place during the student’s first year. Advisers should also set expectations for what these future appointments might involve.
Related Information/Forms
- First Semester Checkback Appointment
- The High School-to-College Transition article by Claire Weinstein. Page 1
- The High School-to-College Transition article by Claire Weinstein. Page 2
- Signs to Watch For Which Suggest Student Difficulties, provided by the University Counseling and Consulting Services
-
First Semester NHS Checkback Appointment Outline
-
First Semester NHS Checkback Appointment In-Depth Script
- Second Semester NHS Checkback Appointment Outline
- Second Semester NHS Checkback Appointment In-Depth Script
- Second Semester Checkback Appointment
- Second Semester NHS Checkback Appointment Outline
- Second Semester NHS Checkback Appointment In-Depth Script
The scripts need to be modified for transfer students as appropriate
