Helping Students Succeed: Give Them What They are Looking For

How do you know if you are really helping students succeed? Do you know what your students are looking for? From my experience at a large university, going to the advising or career center is something that happens only once a semester just to see what classes I need to take. How can you help your students succeed and understand their purpose on your campus beyond what classes they need to take next semester?

Here are a few tips to understand how to help students succeed and give them the guidance they are looking for!

Help students succeed by understanding them on a personal level

Most advisors see hundreds of students throughout the year, so it can be difficult to remember who each student is, what they are passionate about, and even their future goals. For some students, seeing an advisor can be intimidating. You don’t want to ask the wrong questions!

Take the time to ask your students if they are happy in school, what can you do to help them be successful or what resources can you provide them with to get to their goals and if so, what are their specific goals?

Help students succeed by understanding their strengths and confidence

As a student, we often don’t see what our professors or advisors see in us. A student may be really good at public speaking and building relationships, yet in a major that works at a desk all day and isolated. See and understand those strengths in your students and speak on them!

Ask them what they think their strengths are with this personal strength exercise. It can be hard to articulate why you like doing something and how that can be translated into a passion. As an advisor, you then have the power to help them talk through it and discover together how they can apply it to what they are studying and how it can help them in their future career.

Give them resources to succeed

For students who are more reserved, offering tools where they can self-discover are also extremely beneficial to helping students succeed.

• PathwayU

PathwayU is an online platform help guides a student’s needs to connect with a destination before they start an education journey. By using predictive analytics, it connects them to education and career pathways where they will find purpose.

• MyPath101

MyPath is a great tool for students looking for internships or those in their junior and senior year. It helps students identify how they want to represent their personal branding and market themselves for future career.

• Aimee

Aimee is another great tool where your students can develop an understanding of their gifts beyond academics. Students can discuss their hobbies, volunteer experiences, conferences and more.

Overall, each of these platforms is dependent on where the student is at in their academic career. By being a voice to help your students, you can help them succeed further and understand what they need help with on campus.