First
Year Students | Undecided
Exploratory Students |
Transfer Students
Professional/Graduate
School Planning |
At-Risk Students
Exploratory Students
Exploring students comprise a large
portion of most college and university student populations.
Gordon (1995) defines this group as “unwilling,
unable or unready to make educational or vocational
decisions.” Exploratory students come from a variety
of age groups, backgrounds and educational experiences.
Consequently, there is no single advising panacea that
works best with every Exploratory student (Steele &
McDonald, 2000). Students enter higher education at
various levels of undecidedness. These students may
be in a cyclical process; they will make a decision,
return to undecidedness due to doubt, lack of information,
peer or parental influence or basic fear. All exploring
students need to be assessed as individuals.
Things to consider as you are helping
student through the decision-making process:
Students may use many strategies as they explore personal
attributes, as well as major and career information.
Virginia Gordon (1992) cites four elements to classify
these strategies:
Self-Knowledge
Assessing personal interests, abilities and values.
A computerized assessment, the Self-Directed Search,
is available for students to complete and meet with
an academic advisor for interpretation in the Advising
Resource Center.
Educational Knowledge
Information about educational program, majors, academic
skills development and curricula.
Occupational Knowledge
Job seeking and job exploration activities as well as
examining occupation information.
Decision-Making Knowledge
Integrating self-knowledge with educational
and occupational information. Exploring decision-making
styles and goal-setting styles are also very important.
Resources
to utilize when working with Exploratory Students:
UMBC Resources:
Office for Academic & Pre-Professional Advising
• Offers resource guides and other reading
material, online assessment tools, workshops and peer
advising
FUEL - For Undecided and Exploratory Learners
• Offers workshops and advising programs
specifically for undecided students exploring majors
Career
Development Center
• Center provides assistance in career exploration
and job and internship placement.
Shriver
Center
• Specializes in service learning and internship
opportunities.
UMBC Academic Departments
Other Resources:
Occupational
Outlook Handbook
Professional Organizations:
National
Academic Advising Association (NACADA)
National
Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students
in Transition
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