Help Students Choose and Enter a Pathway
Practices in this area include strategies to help students explore options, choose a program and develop a full academic plan within the first or second semester of enrollment. Students are connected with appropriate supports to ensure that they are able to enroll in and complete college-level courses, especially in mathematics, as within the first year of enrollment. These strategies are also extended to students entering directly from high schools or through other feeders such as adult education.
Grand Rapids Community College
GRCC has designed Pathway Degree Programs intended to help students who are deciding on their academic and career goals to identify an area of interest, or to allow students to pursue coursework in an area where GRCC does not offer a full program, fulfill general education and graduation requirements and transfer to a 4-year institution to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Jennifer Batten, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Academic Pathways Co-Chair
Macomb Community College
New students who indicate that they are undecided about a program of study meet with one of Macomb's career counselors who have access to an array of tools to guide students. To get started, students can click on a "Who Are You?" assessment to begin to narrow down interests based on preferred work tasks.
Northwestern Michigan College
NMC Adviser have created a process map including a "decidedness statement" on their application. Communications to students are customized based on their statement, and advisers prioritize intervening with students who are most undecided.
Lindsey Dickinson
Director,
Academic & Career Advising Center