Four Year Advising Guide
- Encourage them to explore curriculum and major interest areas – take one/two courses during your first year – more if science or education interests. You may find the Major Checklists and Department Guidance to be helpful for this).
- Discuss how to study- differences between high school and college. Many students can struggle in college courses, especially some of the science courses- that is normal. Learn new study techniques, take advantage of resources such as Writing Studio, Quantitative Reasoning Studio, Academic Support office and tutors. High achieving students learn to take advantage of these resources- it doesn't mean you are failing.
- Discuss balancing academics and extracurricular activities- encourage students to get involved, expand their interests, and find their community. This is highly correlated with retention and success in academics.
- Discuss study abroad, internships, independent work, leadership opportunities, and student-faculty research possibilities, mention experiential program pilot and whether they want to participate.
- Recommend the Berry Career Institute and their career roadmap. When deciding on a major, recommend the student take TypeFocus and explore candid career as resources to assist them with matching major to career and hearing from real people about different types of careers.
- Ask advisee about possible majors: are there prerequisites for the major that need to be fulfilled, think about individualized major if no one major seems to meet the student's needs. They need to be keeping track of BA requirements; review requirements if necessary, particularly foreign language if it hasn't been taken yet, it should ideally be underway in sophomore or junior year.
- For newly declared major advisees, discuss major advisee's reasons for choosing the major, goals and ask questions to clarify the advisee is in the right major to meet those goals and match their strengths. If your student is in the wrong major, refer to Academic Support office for major exploration.
- Discuss the experiential learning program and how to find opportunities to participate in currently supported programs through the Berry Career Institute, Off-Campus studies, Cornell Summer Research Institute, student leadership groups, or community programs. Consider how they use their summer to participate in experiential opportunities.
- Ask them to start their resume and take advantage of BCI resources. If student is Pre-Health, they need to contact Dimensions office.
- Make sure advisee is satisfied with junior year schedule; does it foster interconnectedness of knowledge, inter-cultural literacy, writing, quantitative literacy, and information literacy- Also, are they meeting the requirements and on track for graduating on time. If they have not taken their foreign language requirement, they should complete that by the end of the year.
- If the student has not yet participated in an experiential opportunity, they need to plan to participate in at least one either during the year or summer. Some options are research with faculty, CSRI, paid/unpaid internships, work related employment or volunteering, campus leadership opportunities. They should work with the Berry Career Institute on a resume if they have not already.
- Help the student network in the field- suggest organizations to join, journals/online forums to read, and people to meet.
- Plans after Cornell
- If Grad or professional school, discuss the availability of scholarships, grants, and stipends at graduate/profession schools; discuss other requirements for admission; take GRE, MCAT, LSAT, etc.
- If a career, then work with the Berry Career Institute to decide on appropriate options, speak with alums, attend job fairs, job shadow, or complete an internship.
- Discuss steps that seniors take: "apply for graduation", then scheduling the “senior check" with Registrar early in the Fall and pitfalls of dropping/adding classes without double checking with advisor or Registrar if necessary. The Registrar will send advisors the results of the senior check. If the senior will not be able to graduate, the advisor should call advisee in to discuss a plan to change the situation or discuss a 5th year.
- Reflect with them on their experiences to ensure students make connections between their education and future career.
- Look for opportunities for leadership; mentor or tutor other students, join professional networks/associations (many have student rates to join). Help the student develop a network, suggest opportunities in the field.
- Refer students to the Berry Career Institute to refine their resume, identify job search resources, and identify networking connections.
- Discuss realistic goals for the future. Encourage the students to check with the financial office to understand their student loans. Talk about searching for a job and encourage them to meet with the Berry Career Institute Early in the year with plans to start applying in the spring.
- Discuss the pitfalls of senioritis and look for any signs of students who may be afraid to graduate and who may self-sabotage.
- They should request/organize letters for career and or graduate professional school.