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Faculty help ease transition into college

January 26, 2001

Marqus Coleman knows what he’ll be doing after he graduates from East Lansing High School in June.

He’ll attend Defiance College in Ohio.

“The counselors at my school helped me with deciding but my mom and my dad always told me that I had to do something after high school,” Coleman said.

Although the senior high school student’s decision was influenced by his counselors and parents, MSU officials say the trend is for prospective college students to get too wrapped up with career plans.

William Metcalfe, a psychologist at MSU’s Counseling Center, said he talks with MSU students who are concerned about their niche at college and about future careers.

“Sometimes I’ll see students early on adjusting to just what this place is like, where their niche is and what their opportunities are here,” he said. “This can be an overwhelming place for some folks, with 43,000 students plus the faculty and staff.

“There are some students who come here who may be better off in a different environment.”

Janine Ackerman, a no-preference freshman, came to MSU from a small high school in New Jersey because she wanted to attend a big university.

“There’s so many different things to choose from here,” she said. “There’s a great variety and it’s helped me to get some ideas, because I still have no idea what I want to do.”

Ackerman said time management was the hardest to learn after she graduated from high school, but she’s handling everything fine now.

“Last semester I didn’t realize how easy it is to get behind,” said Ackerman, who also plays field hockey for MSU.

“The transition was a little difficult because in high school I never had to study. The majority of students here probably didn’t have to study in high school either.”

MSU admissions counselors visit senior high school students year-round. Counselor Drew Yamanishi does extensive high school recruiting, especially in the fall.

“We ask questions of the students to see where their interests and abilities are and then we talk about what resources MSU could offer them,” he said.

Students have the option to attend MSU and delay their declaration of a specific major.

No-preference is the largest declared major for MSU freshmen. University officials find no-preference students change their major less frequently than students who enter MSU with a declared major.

Yamanishi said college is set up for students to explore options and find themselves.

“Career and major are not necessarily the same thing these days,” Yamanishi said. “A lot of majors are very marketable. Really, the pressure that students should feel is more on being comfortable with their college experience and a lot of that experience is based on exploration.”

Although students must declare a major after completing 56 credits, several undergraduate students may not yet know what courses they want to focus on.

“Several times students will start in one area and find out they don’t like it at all,” Metcalfe said. “We all have myths or stereotypes about what a job is and a lot of times it’s not a very realistic portrayal. There’s still a lot of options that might be worth exploring if that interests them.”

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