Advising Interactive Worksheet: The Second Year

Source: https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/advising-resource-toolkit/second-year Parent: https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/advising-resource-toolkit

The Next Few Quarters: 46 – 90 Units (or so)

The second year, commonly referred to as the Sophomore Year, is a time when you may be engaged in:

• Making important choices about your intellectual path
• Honing your interests
• Re-evaluating your goals

You may feel as though you are a lot more on your own when it comes to making decisions. “During the second year, students are actively seeking to clarify their sense of purpose; consequently, they become self-evaluative and self-critical...”1 For this reason, it is extremely important to know where to go and whom to reach out to as you gather more information. This is a time to:

• Engage with faculty through research and/or shared intellectual interests. Look for faculty mentorship, whether in the classroom, office hours, a lab, or shared research project.
• Understand the usefulness of the academic advising relationship. Meet with an academic advisor regularly.
• Begin to understand your post-undergraduate options – Specialized Advising in Sweet Hall.
• Meet with a Career Coach at Stanford Career Education.
• Broaden your perspective: BOSP.
• Understand how you learn best: OAE, VPTL.

It is also a time to begin to understand how the projects, groups, and events you engage in outside the classroom interact with the work you do while engaged in classroom learning. This is a great time for you to build a foundation and to really understand what you’re interested in. Being clear about your intellectual passions and interests will help you to determine your pathway through Stanford. Resources will give you information, expert guidance and advice, and will help you to move into a space of greater independence.

1 Sterling, Althea J., “Student Experiences in the Second Year: Advancing Strategies for Success Beyond the First Year of College,” in Strategic Enrollment Management Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 4, 2018.

Download our Interactive Worksheet

Academic Advising is a planning process that helps students to approach their education in an organized and meaningful way…

—National Academic Advising Association

See Also

• Connecting with faculty
• How do I get started in research?
• How do I pursue my own independent project?

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