Academic Success Coaching

When you first meet with a coach, they might:

• Ask you about your degree path and/or what classes you’re currently taking.
• Where you are in your educational journey
  • Ex. Just graduated high school, returning to school after a long break, preparing to transfer, etc.
• Ask about your schedule and offer to meet with you regularly (e.g., weekly or biweekly).

During a typical session, you and your coach might:

• Create a system to organize your materials for each of your classes so that you can find key materials and notes.
• Make a study calendar to balance school, work, and life.
• Learn ways to break down readings, assignment instructions, and other complex material into more approachable steps/chunks.
• Routinely check-in about your goals, how new strategies/tools are working, and/or make a to-do list for the week, etc.
• Identify new study methods that work best for you and create a study plan.
• Find new ways to engage with your course material to prepare for a test.
• Learn alternative reading strategies for different kinds of course material.
• Develop an effective note-taking method to utilize as part of your study process.
• Create a schedule that includes class, work, and study times, as well as breaks and downtime.
• Guide you in how to communicate with your instructors, set goals, develop new habits, etc.

At the end of your appointment, you and your coach might:

• Recap what you discussed.
• Go over the goals you set or what strategy you’ll try.
• Schedule another appointment.

What Academic Success Coaching Is (Not):

Is:

• A resource to help you develop effective study skills, note-taking methods, test preparation strategies, time management habits, and more.
• A supportive, encouraging environment.
  Where you can have someone demonstrate a new technique or strategy and then practice it yourself. 

Not:

• Tutoring–coaches cannot show you how to “solve for x”.
  • But, we can help you find strategies to remember how to solve for x or how to take breaks while you practive solving for x.
• Your Advisor–coaches cannot tell you what classes you can register for or how it will impact your financial aid.
  • But, we can help you find where to look for classes, who your advisor is, and/or how to contact them.

Your Responsibilities:

• Keeping track of your appointment(s).
• Communicating with your coach if you have to reschedule.

Your Coach’s Expectations:

• You come to the appointment with a purpose or intention.
  • Ex. “The purpose of this session is to work on my note-taking skills” or “My intention with our appointment is to learn how to better manage my time.”
• Bring anything that might be useful for you in talking with your coach or relevant to your purpose/intention.
  • Ex. Bring your textbook if you want help with how to take notes while you read or bring your laptop if you want to talk about online study tools.
• Be patient with your coach and with yourself. Some problems are not quickly or easily solved.

• Appointments are primarily scheduled through our online appointment system, Watermark; if you are having trouble scheduling through Watermark, please feel free to reach out to us. 
• You may schedule up to two sessions per week.
  • Please contact us if you want additional sessions.
• Please keep track of your appointments; you are responsible for keeping the appointments you make.
• If you need to cancel your appointment, please do so at least two hours (preferably, twenty-four hours) before your appointment time.
  • Ways to cancel your appointment:
    • Online, using Watermark
    • Contact us (see box at the top of the page)
• Please make every effort to limit your cancellations; late cancellations and “no-shows” restrict other students’ ability to schedule an appointment.
• After two late cancellations or “no-shows” (i.e., not showing up to your appointment) in a given term, you will not be able to schedule with us for two weeks from the date of your missed appointment.