1. Contending with the Sophomore Slump:
Opportunities and Challenges for Teaching and Supporting our Second-year Students
Katie Adamchik, M.Ed. Director of Exploratory Advising Patty Payette, Ph.D., Executive Director, Quality Enhancement Plan; Senior Associate Director, Delphi Center

2. Write down that word or short phrase
Remembering your 2nd year of undergraduate studies…
What is one word or short phrase you would use to describe your 2nd year of college?
Write down that word or short phrase
on a large post-it.
Think of a formative, significant experience in your second year of college.
Write down on the large post-it a word or phrase to capture that experience.
KA P2

3. KA P2

4. ECPY 302: Personal and Academic Inquiry Spring 2018: 2 pilot sections
2/23/2019
ECPY 302: Personal and Academic Inquiry
Spring 2018: 2 pilot sections
Section 1: Generation Z: Who Am I and How Do I Communicate?
Lead faculty: Mary Ashlock
Section 2:  Emotional Intelligence: how do emotions shape my thinking, my decisions and my everyday life?
Lead faculty: Eileen Estes
KA P2

5. Our Target Populations
~1/3 of entering cohort students are undecided or pre-unit (600 – 700 students)
~50% of entering A&S cohort students are undecided or pre-unit
~40% of UofL students change majors in their first year
Retention and Graduation:
Intended Majors > Undecided > Pre-Unit
KA P2

6. Find Your Fit (FYF) QEP Outcomes
Students will demonstrate informed decision-making marked by identifiable measures of reflective learning, independent inquiry, and critical thinking;
Students will increase their sense of academic and social belonging or fit;
Students will increase their sense of decidedness and self-regulated learning behaviors.
KA P2

7. What we learned about our own students’ journey in choosing a majorP2

8. QEP Student Feedback Initiative Fall 16
Total number of students: 106
45% changed major since enrolling at UofL
96% were full-time students
81% started their academic career at UofL
3% first-year students
35% second-year students
31% third-year students
22% fourth-year students
9% Other P2

9. When you think of what it means to have a successful second-year as an undergraduate student at UofL, what comes to mind? P2

10. To have a successful second-year as an undergraduate student at UofL, what comes to mind?
Receiving good grades/maintaining a good GPA
Having chosen a major
Knowing how to manage your time
Knowing how to balance classes, studying, activities, work
Developing good organizational skills
Building appropriate support network
Being strategic in engaging in activities
Knowing how to manage your studying
Developing good study habits
Knowing how to manage your stress P2

11. If you are in your 2nd year, what is the greatest challenge you are facing, both academically and socially? or
If you are beyond your 2nd year, what was the greatest challenge you faced in your second year, both academically and socially? P2

12. Greatest challenge: Balancing -Time management
Choosing the right major
Keeping good grades as classes become more difficult
-Forming good studying habits and skills
Keeping motivated
-Staying engaged
Mental health
-Stress management
Finding out who I am P2

13. How important was it for you to figure out your major early on? Why?

14. How important was it for you to figure out your major early on?
Vast majority of students stated that this is very important
o Waste of time, staying on track
o Waste of money, Have limited funding timeframe (scholarships)
o Needs to align my interest/focus/fit
A small subset stated that this was not important
o I was always going to major in X
o It’s more important to pick the right major
o I knew I was going to figure it out eventually P2

15. What factors/people/events influenced your decision to choose your current major?

16. Factors/people/events influencing your decision to choose your current major
Subject that really interests me, subject that I excelled in
High school teacher/experience/classes
My family/friends/mentors
Courses I took in the first year P2

17. What type of advising/counseling assistance did you seek and receive
What type of advising/counseling assistance did you seek and receive? Was it helpful? P2

18. Types of Advising/Counseling assistance
Academic advisors
None
Professionals in the field
Faculty members
Peer advisors
Counselor
Family member P2

19. In what ways do you feel like you “belong” to your major or that it is a good fit for you?P2

20. In what ways do you feel like you “belong” to your major or that it is a good fit for you?
I like the courses/coursework
The ideas are relevant to me
I succeed in the work, even when it becomes difficult
The major feels right to me
It feels like me
Matches my thought process
Matches my values
I feel like I’m part of a community (of learners)
Motivates me P2

21. Career? Major? What changes in the 2nd year? What about my future?
“Critical Moment”
Who am I and what do I believe?
How do I excel in my academics?
What about my future?
Career?
Major?
What changes in the 2nd year? KA
These are four areas
Questioning beliefs and values/ Searching for meaning, purpose and identity.
Classes are getting harder
Exploring and selecting an academic major and possible vocational choices.
I need to declare a major or figure out if this one is right because
the clock is ticking
the costs are adding up
Dealing with pressures related to future plans including internships, study abroad and life after college.

22. Challenge in the second year
The Pressure Cooker: the Critical moment of the Second Year KA
Metaphor of the pressure cooker from Molly Schaller:
Examples of external forces – choosing a major based on assumed job prospects (business or engineering or nursing)
- choosing a major based on what their parents want them to do
Old notions of themselves “I like psychology, but I’m not any good at math so I can’t do it because I’ll never pass stats”
- “what am I going to with a WGS major?”
As students find a foothold and make choices for themselves, their transitions become more fluid, but for some students these points can become places of "feeling stuck." As the “stakes" get higher and higher (entering the second year and beyond), the "stuck" feeling becomes potentially compounded by lower levels of self-efficacy, increasingly more complex coursework, and potential feelings of boredom and decreased self-direction/motivation.
Students may resort to external forces or old notions of themselves to make decisions.

23. Random Exploration Focused Exploration Tentative Choice
Provocative moments KA
These are the stages that Molly Schaller developed in her research. Students generally go through them although sometimes they makes choices based on external forces and do not spend enough time in focused exploration.
Rather we want to keep them in this space of random to focused to help them move with deeper appreciation and self-awareness about their choices.
Schaller, M. A. (2005). Wandering and wondering: Traversing the uneven terrain of the second college year. About Campus, 2005(July-August),

24. How can we help our students?
Go on this journey with them
Help them check their assumptions
Normalize uncertainty, confusion and “trusting the process”
Connect with resources, people and services on and off campus
Help them make sense of ‘disruptive moments’
Affirm value of their inner voice KA

25. Be ready to share your lists!
Your turn: what’s next?
Generate a list of the specific things you could do to support 2nd year students.
Generate a list of the specific things the institution could do to support 2nd year students.
Be ready to share your lists!
KA P2

26. https://louisville.edu/findyourfit
For more information:
Find Your Fit website:
Katie Adamchik:
Patty Payette:
KA P2