You are going to hear a lot about graduation rates and retention over the next several years, and you may wonder why. Graduating significantly increases your earning potential, improves the status of the university and the value of your degree, and saves the university and state lots of money. In short, it is good for you and for OU too.
National surveys show that college graduates earn an average of one million dollars more across their careers than people who just finish high school. In addition, increased graduation rates benefit the university . This is because national rankings depend in part on graduation and retention rates. When our rates improve, our ranking improves, and that increases the prestige of OU and your degree.
Graduation is also important to the university community because of the considerable cost of educating our students. Think about all resources that it takes to run a university and provide student services: everything from providing academic advisers to posting and processing student grades and records, running the student health center, providing recreational activities and career services, and much, much more. Students who use these resources without graduating preclude others from using them.
Graduation extends far beyond campus too. New college graduates provide “brain power” for developing new businesses, for improving environmental awareness and protection, for researching the lessons of history, for developing new medicines, and for communicating new social trends.
How can you make sure you graduate?
There are lots of people and resources available to help you on your way.
OU has an outstanding cadre of Academic Advisers. These professional, caring counselors are available throughout the year to help you choose a major, select appropriate courses, and become acquainted with university policies and resources.
The Assessment and Learning Center on the second floor of the Carnegie Building has tools to help you hone your academic skills.
Student Success Seminars are non-credit seminars designed to help students learn college survival skills. The center offers a variety of seminars (about 50 each semester) with topics that range from test-taking skills, to overcoming fear of public speaking, to money management. The seminars are available to all students at no charge and without any pre-registration. Most of the seminars occur in the Carnegie Building, Room 200; the only requirement is that you arrive on time. You can find the full semester's listing of seminars within the University College web pages at: http://www.ou.edu/univcoll/alc_sss.htm.
A variety of computer-based tutorials help students improve their math, reading, writing, and/or study skills. Ten software tutorials are available, ranging from "Taking Lecture Notes" to "Improving Memory.” The Center also has Writing Skills tutorials on basic grammar and punctuation to assist with study for the Journalism Department's Writing Skills Test (WST). Math tutorials review pre-algebra, Algebra I and Algebra II, as well as advanced areas such as calculus, statistics, and trigonometry. There are additional tutorials for developmental math classes. Finally, tutorials are also available for GRE, LSAT, and GMAT examinations; these are on a limited number of computers, so please call 325-4336 to reserve a computer. You can find information on all of these resources at http://www.ou.edu/univcoll/alc_tutorials.htm.
The office of Financial Aid Services can help you find the money you need to complete your education. Many scholarships and other financial aid packages are available, and you can find information on these at http://financialaid.ou.edu/.
Just as it is easier to follow a map if you know your destination, it is easier to motivate yourself to graduate if you know what you want to do afterwards. The OU Career Services office, on the third floor of the Oklahoma Memorial Union, sponsors career fairs and on-campus interviews, posts job listings, and helps students find internships or co-op employment. They also help students and alumni complete graduate/professional school applications and find jobs upon graduation. Special walk-in counseling hours are available; their website is www.ou.edu/career/. The Assessment and Learning Center also has two online programs to help you explore potential careers and majors that match your talents, interests, and values. Information on these programs is at http://sigi.ou.edu and http://www.ou.edu/univcoll/alc_discover.htm.
All of your instructors schedule office hours for students in their classes. You may be surprised that office hours are often underused. If you are having difficulty understanding the course material, do not hesitate to visit your instructor. Help is available beyond the faculty member’s office too. For example, experienced consultants are on hand at the ConocoPhillips Writing Center (www.ou.edu/writing/index.htm) to help you with all of your writing projects. In addition, a slew of tutoring services, both generic and course-specific, are available across campus. A listing of these is at http://www.ou.edu/retention/Tutoring.shtml.
All of these resources are here to help you, but in the end, it is your responsibility to make it happen. Once you have chosen a major, get a degree check sheet that lists all the requirements for the degree. Then sketch out a rough four-year plan, keeping in mind that you will need to complete an average of 15.5 credits per semester to finish the minimum number of 124 credit hours (many majors require more) in 8 semesters. Taking summer and intersession classes can help compensate for semesters in which you need to take fewer hours.
Now get to it! Become an expert in degree sheets, know how to use the OU General Catalog, and impress your adviser with your knowledge of the online enrollment system (https://enroll.ou.edu/). Chart your academic future and bring your ideas and plans with you to your advising sessions.
Before you know it, you will be graduating (a) Sooner!
-Dr. Doug Gaffin, Dean of University College
National surveys show that college graduates earn an average of one million dollars more across their careers than people who just finish high school. In addition, increased graduation rates benefit the university . This is because national rankings depend in part on graduation and retention rates. When our rates improve, our ranking improves, and that increases the prestige of OU and your degree.
Graduation is also important to the university community because of the considerable cost of educating our students. Think about all resources that it takes to run a university and provide student services: everything from providing academic advisers to posting and processing student grades and records, running the student health center, providing recreational activities and career services, and much, much more. Students who use these resources without graduating preclude others from using them.
Graduation extends far beyond campus too. New college graduates provide “brain power” for developing new businesses, for improving environmental awareness and protection, for researching the lessons of history, for developing new medicines, and for communicating new social trends.
How can you make sure you graduate?
There are lots of people and resources available to help you on your way.
OU has an outstanding cadre of Academic Advisers. These professional, caring counselors are available throughout the year to help you choose a major, select appropriate courses, and become acquainted with university policies and resources.
The Assessment and Learning Center on the second floor of the Carnegie Building has tools to help you hone your academic skills.
Student Success Seminars are non-credit seminars designed to help students learn college survival skills. The center offers a variety of seminars (about 50 each semester) with topics that range from test-taking skills, to overcoming fear of public speaking, to money management. The seminars are available to all students at no charge and without any pre-registration. Most of the seminars occur in the Carnegie Building, Room 200; the only requirement is that you arrive on time. You can find the full semester's listing of seminars within the University College web pages at: http://www.ou.edu/univcoll/alc_sss.htm.
A variety of computer-based tutorials help students improve their math, reading, writing, and/or study skills. Ten software tutorials are available, ranging from "Taking Lecture Notes" to "Improving Memory.” The Center also has Writing Skills tutorials on basic grammar and punctuation to assist with study for the Journalism Department's Writing Skills Test (WST). Math tutorials review pre-algebra, Algebra I and Algebra II, as well as advanced areas such as calculus, statistics, and trigonometry. There are additional tutorials for developmental math classes. Finally, tutorials are also available for GRE, LSAT, and GMAT examinations; these are on a limited number of computers, so please call 325-4336 to reserve a computer. You can find information on all of these resources at http://www.ou.edu/univcoll/alc_tutorials.htm.
The office of Financial Aid Services can help you find the money you need to complete your education. Many scholarships and other financial aid packages are available, and you can find information on these at http://financialaid.ou.edu/.
Just as it is easier to follow a map if you know your destination, it is easier to motivate yourself to graduate if you know what you want to do afterwards. The OU Career Services office, on the third floor of the Oklahoma Memorial Union, sponsors career fairs and on-campus interviews, posts job listings, and helps students find internships or co-op employment. They also help students and alumni complete graduate/professional school applications and find jobs upon graduation. Special walk-in counseling hours are available; their website is www.ou.edu/career/. The Assessment and Learning Center also has two online programs to help you explore potential careers and majors that match your talents, interests, and values. Information on these programs is at http://sigi.ou.edu and http://www.ou.edu/univcoll/alc_discover.htm.
All of your instructors schedule office hours for students in their classes. You may be surprised that office hours are often underused. If you are having difficulty understanding the course material, do not hesitate to visit your instructor. Help is available beyond the faculty member’s office too. For example, experienced consultants are on hand at the ConocoPhillips Writing Center (www.ou.edu/writing/index.htm) to help you with all of your writing projects. In addition, a slew of tutoring services, both generic and course-specific, are available across campus. A listing of these is at http://www.ou.edu/retention/Tutoring.shtml.
All of these resources are here to help you, but in the end, it is your responsibility to make it happen. Once you have chosen a major, get a degree check sheet that lists all the requirements for the degree. Then sketch out a rough four-year plan, keeping in mind that you will need to complete an average of 15.5 credits per semester to finish the minimum number of 124 credit hours (many majors require more) in 8 semesters. Taking summer and intersession classes can help compensate for semesters in which you need to take fewer hours.
Now get to it! Become an expert in degree sheets, know how to use the OU General Catalog, and impress your adviser with your knowledge of the online enrollment system (https://enroll.ou.edu/). Chart your academic future and bring your ideas and plans with you to your advising sessions.
Before you know it, you will be graduating (a) Sooner!
-Dr. Doug Gaffin, Dean of University College