As sophomores settle into their second year at Georgetown, they face decisions that will affect the rest of their time on the Hilltop, sometimes without as much support as freshmen, juniors and seniors are receiving.
While freshmen receive ample guidance from New Student Orientation and meetings with their deans, and juniors and seniors get support as they go abroad and prepare for life after graduation, some sophomores feel – and the university agrees – they are getting lost in the shuffle.
“I do think sophomores need help managing stress,” Maya Chaudhuri (SFS ’13) said.
The student affairs office, deans’ offices and other resources around campus are collaborating to better address the needs of second-year Georgetown students, who are sometimes overlooked as attention is often focused on freshmen and upperclassmen.
The idea for Sophomore Year Experience came in January 2009 when administrators, mostly within the department of student affairs, began talking about the need for additional sophomore year support.
Many colleges and universities have similar programs, including Colgate, Haverford, Brandeis and St. Louis University.
“The sophomore year is a time of important decisions for our students – in regard to majors, study abroad plans, internship decisions, choosing long-term friendships, and possible career directions. During this year, it’s important to provide resources for students in ways that meet their needs,” said Todd Olson, vice president for student affairs.
“The student response has been mixed as we have tried different events throughout our two years,” said Bill Huff, area coordinator of the Southwest Quad and Village C East. Huff has been involved in the process since its inception.
Some students expressed a real need for this continued support on campus.
“I feel like teachers are less understanding with sophomores. They expect you to be on top of your game and there is a lot of pressure to get better grades now that you are `adjusted,'” Chaudhuri said.
Others were more skeptical of the program.
“I don’t think that this is really needed. I feel like sophomore year is a time to help `cut the cord’ and start to go out and contact university offices by yourself – so you can learn how to actually interact in the world where the answers to problems are not put right in front of you, but where you have to seek it out yourself,” Sean Guilday (COL ’13) said.
Looking back on her four years, one senior said that she received a lot of support during her first two years of school, but by the time she was an upperclassman, she has been able to seek out resources on her own.
“Junior and senior year, I’ve been getting support but not in the sense that every little thing I had trouble with, I would go to [various support networks on campus]. I mostly have gone to my dean with academic questions about my major requirements, graduation requirements, et cetera,” senior Elizabeth Meerson (COL ’11) said.
While the program is in its early stages, some students felt that it has been inadequately advertised.
“We have tried several ways to spread the word about Sophomore Year Experience on campus,” Huff said. “We typically use traditional promotional methods – fliers, blurbs on listservs – with moderate success. We have assessed our success with the sophomore focus groups we facilitated last spring and will be doing again this coming November,” Huff said.
The collaboration will continue to develop and hopes to bring in more resources from around campus, as well as seek more input from sophomores themselves, according to Huff.
“This year we are continuing to conduct focus groups . with current sophomores to learn what they want/expect in their sophomore year and will do some again at the end of the year to see what their experience was like overall,” Huff said. “I would love to see SYE become a permanent entity on campus perhaps with a part-time staff member working to promote support for second-year students and a space on campus sophomores could go to look for that support. But that is long term, five to 10 years.”
