Fletcher- Week 3- Undergraduate Academic Advising

Activities: 

• Organized student files and materials for the daily orientation sessions.

• Met with future students during orientation and discussed their upcoming goals while attending school at Mississippi State University.
• Made a "Strengths & Weaknesses" lists with students who were truly undecided in what they wanted to major. 
• Sat with and encouraged confused, undecided students and helped demystify the major and minor selection process.

• Instructed future students on the course registration process and how to fulfill the core course curriculum while deciding on a major.

• Troubleshot during orientation sessions by communicating with command center about registration errors during academic advising portion of orientation.
• Met with supervisor and went over the Evaluation Form. 

Reflection:
       Orientations are complete and we all survived! YAY! The last few academic advising sessions were rougher than the rest, but not as bad as they could have been. Students were surprisingly understanding when we strongly advised them to keep the schedule they were given. Only a few changes needed to be made for a few students. To my knowledge, everyone left with a decent schedule and a positive outlook on the fall semester. My supervisor and UAAC staff are all encouraging and helpful when I ask questions about registration errors and conflicts. There were many times when I did not know the next step to take when helping students swap or add courses. I was always able to call on someone (once they had a free moment) and figure out the issue collaboratively. Working mass academic advising sessions and my graduate assistantship's summer camps at the same time was one of the biggest challenges of my life. However, I survived and learned more than I ever could in the classroom setting. Hands-on learning experiences are priceless and my summer, so far, is packed with them! 
      I am exhausted, yet anxious to see what July has to offer. There are plenty more things that I will be learning in the UAAC. According to my supervisor, students will come in during July without schedules for a multitude of reasons. It is my job to sit with the student and academic adviser and learn as much as possible about how to deal with these situations. With this information, I will be even better prepared for a future in academic advising.

-Kimberly