MSN New Student Orientation

1
Handout for Winning Strategies Advising Students
in Highly Competitive Majors Concurrent Session
342 2005 NACADA National Conference Presenters
Karen Gilbert, Debbie Hancock, and Deb Stanford
2
Fall 2004 Enrollment

• 1,094 Undergraduate Nursing Students
• 917 Pre-Licensure students
• 180 admitted to major
• 737 hopefuls (Freshmen-Senior classification)
  

3
Advising Format

• Freshmen are assigned to one of two faculty
  advisors and meet in groups for mandatory
  advising once per semester
• After the freshmen year, students are reassigned
  to an individual faculty advisor (some faculty
  pool their advisees to do group advising)
• Faculty have an advising load of 20-35 students

4
Admission Process

• Competitive admissions
• Students apply in the second semester of their
  Sophomore year
• Admission is based on GPA and grades in criterion
  courses
• Typically we have two to three times more
  qualified applicants than spaces available
  (80-100 admitted each fall)
• Students need 2.7 GPA to apply and take
  pre-nursing courses, but actual GPA for admitted
  students is much higher

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Top Five Challenges of advising in a competitive
major and our strategies for success.
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Challenge 1Setting the Tone
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Strategies

• Be honest without being discouraging
• Present a consistent message at all
  recruitment/orientation events to both students
  and parents
• Reinforce message at every opportunity
• Stress importance of parallel/alternate plan

8
Challenge 2Transition to College
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Strategies

• Special advising for freshmen
• Campus Resources
• Free tutoring for all 100 and 200 level courses
• Learning assistance programs
• University Studies courses acclimate students to
  campus and promote study skills

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Challenge 3Volume of Students
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Strategies

• New GPA requirements to remain in major and to
  declare a nursing major
• Students must maintain a 2.7 or higher GPA to
  remain in the major (Pre-Nursing) or to change
  their major to Pre-Nursing
• Small group advising
• Once per semester
• Groups of 5-6 students

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Small Group Advising
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Challenge 4Course Selection
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Strategies

• Plans of study (see handout)
• Use Predicted GPA to guide first semester course
  selection
• Balanced load between major requirements and
  general education courses
• Select one or more Freshmen Only courses
• Start students with 14-16 hours and let them
  decide if they want more or less the next
  semester

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Challenge 5Unsuccessful Students
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Strategies

• Reevaluate Goals/Reality Check
• Explore reasons for poor performance
• Refer to appropriate campus resource (Career
  Services, tutoring, Disability Services, etc)
• Separate advising sessions in groups or
  individual appointments
• Require advising by campus wide support office to
  identify strengths/weaknesses and possibly help
  guide students to another major

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Discussion/Questions
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Contact Us

• Karen Gilbert
• karen_gilbert_at_uncg.edu
• [phone]
• Debbie Hancock
• debbie_hancock_at_uncg.edu
• [phone]
• Deb Stanford
• debra_stanford_at_uncg.edu
• [phone]