Ever since I was a little girl, I told myself that I wanted to not just make a difference, but to be a change in this world. Personally, this assignment made me think a lot about what I truly wanted to do. Here at UCR, I chose a path where I pursue the psychology major because I’ve always wanted to help others. I figured that if I can understand the individual at a more personal level, by understanding how they feel internally at a psychic level, I can better understand how I can help them individually. To help me figure out what career I wanted to pursue within the major, I firstly set up an appointment at the Career Center where they showed me a process about how to figure out what career we would like to choose. More importantly, they showed me how to properly research what I would like to do. As a result of lots of research, I took an interest in academic advising. Although it is not yet a definitive route, it is something that has sparked my interest; it is something I am willing to learn about and explore more.
As an academic adviser, I hope to help students to achieve their dreams of going to college or finding the path that best suits their talents and wishes. If I was able to guide more students into achieving their lifelong career, I would feel as if I actually made a difference in the lives of the younger generation. I want to be able to help them choose something that will make them happy, successful, and financially stable. As a result, I’m primarily interested in becoming an academic advisor at a high school because it is where most students seek help in the pursuit of their college and future careers.
I think I would work well with students in high school because many of these students do not seek academic help until their senior year. Unfortunately for them, some students are unaware of many things necessary to get into their dream schools, and by the time they seek help, it is too late. According to some statistics done by YouthTruth, “an organization created by the Center for Effective Philanthropy and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the goal of better measuring school reforms from the perspective students,” has concluded that less than half of high school students feel prepared for college and their future careers (Leal). Not only that, but among their junior and senior years (the years where students seek more help), only 36% used counseling for help on future career possibilities, 34% used counseling for help on college admissions requirements, 32% used counseling for help on applying for college, and 23% used counseling for help on paying for college. Clearly, it is only among the same few students that are seeking help for their academic future. This completely devastates me since at least 87% of high school students want to eventually earn a college degree and land a career but only very few of these students are actually able to get the help they need. Nevertheless, I believe that I can help change this to provide success among many young students.
Due to my affable nature and ability to get along well with others, I believe that I can reach out effectively to students and create a bond with them. By establishing a bond, one can actually be more effective with the students because if they trust you, it “facilitates an open discussion” and they will be more likely to confide in you and find an inclination to seek the help they need (Al-Ansari). When one must go to someone they feel uncomfortable with, they are very unlikely to approach them for help. Since I tend to adapt very easily to situations, I am able to personify myself in the best possible manner so that the student feels comfortable around me. I am also a very patient person, so I will not appear to be frustrated with a student that feels lost and indecisive. When someone expresses feelings of frustration and annoyance, the student can feel discouraged to keep reaching out for help. “The more the students feel empowered to manage their education, the more improved their educational experience will be” (Al-Ansari). As a result, my patience can definitely be a way for students to become more encouraged to seek help for the better of their futures. I also tend to be a very motivational person. I have seen many different types of speeches and TED talks that have given me a lot of motivational messages that I have applied to my own life and hope to apply to others as well. From these inspirational people, I have learned many things and I hope to apply these lessons to others so that their knowledge and wisdom can only grow. I want to make my students feel prepared, not only for college and their future career, but for life and its difficult journey. Like mentioned, I want to change and impact this world, not just academically, but hopefully, I can be able to change the future among humanity as well.
Although I feel my skills are adequate enough for the job, I feel that I still lack time management. This is something I definitely need to work on because it is very important to make the time necessary to speak with and meet each of the students to help them get the help they need. To practice this skill and make it much better, I will make sure to begin practicing my time management now. I will start by becoming more organized and creating a planner for myself so that I can keep up with everything I need to do. Having an organized schedule and scheduling everything, (including the time I must eat or watch TV or browse through social media), will hopefully make me follow through all the things I need to accomplish.
If I decided upon becoming an academic advisor, I would need to first complete a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. According to the website the Career Center referred me to, O Net Online, a Master’s degree is preferred in most jobs. Some places can hire you with a bachelor’s degree, but a graduate degree is much preferred in this field of study. According to Study.com, before I pursue a Master’s degree, I should develop work experience. I plan on doing this by contacting USC’s partnership program, Advising Corp, to see if I can get hired and attain the experience working as a college advisor at a high school near me. Through this program, I would get two years of paid experience that could definitely benefit me for graduate school. I would then have to pursue a Master’s degree in programs like “guidance and counseling, higher education or related fields” (Study.com). Personally, I am interested in getting a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration if I pursue the route towards education. After this, I am eligible to apply for any career within the related field. If the Advising Corp did hire me during the time I was getting work experience, I could apply to the same school that I had been working at during my time there. This would increase my chances of employment significantly; however, if that school was not hiring any new academic advisers, I could still get great references from that school’s current academic advisors since I will have already met them and established a bond while working alongside them.
According to Eileen Marie Snyder, there is no typical day as an academic advisor. What they typically do is “book appointments and advise students”. They work off a calendar to manage their daily tasks and do all they can to help each student meet their goals because they believe that there is a “transformative power of education” (Snyder). I particularly enjoy this very much because when something becomes a routine, I get bored and unmotivated. Not only that, but I highly believe that as an academic advisor, one can impact the lives of many students to help them learn and find the way towards their own goals and successes.
Fortunately for me, the future of this career has a projected growth faster than average with a 10 to 14% increase (O*Net Online). As a result, there should be approximately 35, 300 new job openings by the year 2026. If this career became the route I decide to take, I would be very satisfied and genuinely happy with my decision. I want to impact the world, and through academic advising, in my own way, I can. I will no longer be the little girl with a dream to change the world; I will be the woman making it all come true.