How Academic Coaching Helps Seton Hall Students Find Their Path to Success

For many college students, the transition to college is sometimes difficult. Even students who did well in high school can sometimes find that the strategies they once used no longer work for them. Balancing academics and college life requires students to use executive functioning skills.

Through the Academic Resource Center at Seton Hall, academic coaching provides students with an opportunity to take a step back, look at their studying habits and reconfigure strategies that can help them become more confident and, most importantly, independent learners.

Unlike tutoring, which focuses on understanding course content from specific courses, academic coaching zeroes in on how students approach learning. Our coaches work one-on-one with students on areas such as time management, exam preparation, note-taking strategies, motivation and goal setting. Instead of giving students a single solution, our coaches help them identify specific strategies that work best for them.

As one of our peer academic coaches, Zayna Kutty, describes it, “I think academic coaching is a platform for people to enhance their student success. I always tell people that it’s like tutoring but for life skills.”

The academic coaching process is intentionally student-centered. Students are encouraged to focus on what is working and what areas can be improved. Our peer academic coaches can then create realistic plans for improvement and help the students implement them.

For example, a student who feels overwhelmed by upcoming exams or assignments might begin a session with our coaches by reviewing their schedule. Together, the coach and student can identify specific times to study or work on their assignments. At the next meeting, the coach and student revisit that plan and discuss what worked and what did not to make adjustments. The goal is always: What will best support this student's individual needs? Academic coaching is not about seeking perfection but about helping our students become more intentional about their choices.

“I think it’s especially hard when people are just coming to college because the things that worked for them in high school aren’t working for them in college and they need to figure out how to adjust,” said Zayna.

That approach is what makes academic coaching different from other forms of academic support. Peer coaches are not there to tell students exactly what they should do, instead they ask questions, help guide students through challenges and encourage them to take ownership of the decisions they make.

This can mean that academic success is less about finding one perfect solution and more about developing a toolkit full of strategies that can be deployed in different situations.

For Joshil Sangtani, academic coaching provided an opportunity to develop better studying habits. After taking some time off from school, Joshil was admittedly out of practice when it came to developing those habits that help students become successful. “The main academic challenge I wanted to address," Joshil shared, "was developing not just a study system, but more the habit of studying.”

Peer academic coaches play a vital role in that process. Because our coaches are students themselves, they understand many of the realities their peers face. Preparing for difficult exams, balancing classes, working a job, hanging out with friends are elements of college life that peer coaches have navigated before and that shared experience is a powerful bond.

Their job is not to create an exact copy of their own academic and study schedule, but rather peer coaches help a student develop one that works for them. Because academic coaching is only one part of the broader academic support the Academic Resource Center offers, students can fold in peer tutoring, supplemental instruction, Tutors-in-Residence and workshops.

These resources can work together.

For example, a student enrolled in a difficult biology course may meet with a tutor to understand the course material while working with an academic coach to develop a weekly study plan and prepare for exams more effectively. An even more targeted approach is for this student to work with an academic coach who is a STEM major whose experience taking these difficult courses are beneficial in developing specific study methods.

Students do not need to fail — or even struggle — to benefit from academic coaching. A student earning strong grades may want help becoming more organized. Another may want to stop procrastinating. Someone else may be doing well academically but struggling to balance school with work, athletics or campus involvement. Academic coaching provides students with a dedicated space to think about those challenges before they become larger problems.
Peer academic coaching goes beyond one course or one semester. Students learn to set realistic expectations and goals, manage their time effectively, create balance between school responsibilities and their personal lives and develop a set of skills that will help them after graduation and develop a set of skills that will help them after graduation.

The goal of peer academic coaching is not only academic success. It is to help students become more intentional, confident and independent learners.
Students can make academic coaching appointments through Compass.

Categories: Campus Life, Education