Second Year Experience - Office of Student Success

Step 1

Step 1: Fall Academic Advising

Schedule an appointment during the Fall semester, ideally in September or October. Don’t know who your Academic Adviser is? Use the find my Academic Adviser webpage.

At this appointment, you and your Academic Adviser will discuss several topics:

Your major: How do you know you’re in a major that is the right fit for you?
Your classes: Are you taking the correct classes for your major?
Academic performance: Are you living up to your own expectations in the classroom?
Engagement opportunities: Are you aware of all the things you can do on campus related to your major? Are you aware of all of the opportunities to get involved on campus?
Investment: Are you enjoying your college experience? What other things can you do to have a better college experience?

As a bonus, you’ll also get an OU t-shirt for coming in to see your Academic Adviser (while supplies last of course, so don’t put off seeing your Academic Adviser)!

Step 2

Step 2: Engagement

As part of the Second Year Experience, you will be expected to participate in at least two engagement opportunities throughout the year. Your Academic Adviser will talk with you about these areas of engagement:

Major/Minor Exploration

This is to help make sure that you are in a major that is the right fit for you. You can also start considering what minors may complement your degree. Sample major/minor exploration opportunities include:

Major info sessions
Major expos
Group advising
Job shadowing

Research Engagement

If you are truly confident in your major, we want you to become engaged in it. You should learn all you can about the field and try to meet other students who are following the same path. Sample research engagement opportunities include:

Department hosted event or lecture
Academic student organization
Meeting with faculty/program adviser
Attending an academic workshop

Career Engagement

It is never too early to start building your resume and thinking about your career after graduation. Oakland offers a lot of great opportunities for you start enhancing your career experiences. Sample career engagement opportunities include:

Major specific research
Internship or co-op
Career fair/internship mixer
Visiting an on-campus recruiter

Campus/Community Engagement

Focusing on academics is important in college, but gaining meaningful experiences outside of the classroom is too! College is also about making memories, meeting new people, and having great stories to tell. Campus engagement is the fun part of the college experience. Sample campus engagement opportunities include:

Social student organization
Leadership & volunteer work
Sporting events
Performance events

Wellness Engagement

Taking care of yourself is important. Oakland University offers a wide variety of wellness for you to take advantage of as a registered student. Sample wellness engagement opportunities include:

Going to the Recreation Center
Attending cooking demonstrations
Intramural Sports
Wellness student organizations

Step 3

Step 3: Winter Academic Advising

In your Winter semester academic advising appointment, you’ll review those engagement opportunities from Step 2. Your Academic Adviser will talk with you about how the year is progressing, and will re-visit key questions from the appointment in Step 1.

Your Academic Adviser’s primary goals are to ensure you are on the right path for your major and feel excited about, and also to help you learn how you can become involved and engaged on campus.

In addition to these things, your Academic Adviser will help you plan out next year’s course schedule. To be prepared for full-year registration, meet with your Academic Adviser before mid-March.

Step 4

Step 4: Register for Classes

Full year registration happens every year in late March and/or early April. Ideally, you should meet with your Academic Adviser and create a plan before that time.

You do not want to wait to register for courses; register the first day registration opens for you so that you have the best selection of courses. Upper level classes tend to be smaller and fill up quicker, so you may risk not getting into a class you really need if you don’t register on time.

Step 5

Step 5: Third Year Fall Academic Advising

Your final stop in the Second Year Experience actually comes at the start of your third year. This is when you check back in with your Academic Adviser.

The main focus of this academic advising appointment will be to give you the tools to investigate opportunities you can be doing in your final years of your degree.

We want to ensure you are seizing every opportunity to be prepared to get that great job after college or be accepted into your graduate school of choice.