Academic probation rate falls 

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

Since the implementation of mandatory freshmen advising sessions five years ago, academic probation rates for first-time freshmen dropped 50 percent, said Marilee Samuelson, director of the academic advising center.

The session is given by the academic advising center, and is something every freshman must attend before registering for sophomore classes.
 
"A few years ago, I was looking at the figures and saw that the probation rates for freshmen were always around 30 percent, and I thought there must be something we could do to improve that," Samuelson said.

The solution was the mandatory advising session. One of the tools used in the sessions to help students is called "The Game." During that portion, advisers ask students to imagine where they will be in 10 years. Based on their desired future, they are advised on the best classes to take in order to reach their goals.

Though it is designed to prepare students for academic success, the mandatory advising session covers some of the same material covered during the SOAR orientation.

"We talked about which would be good classes to take and went through the general education requirements," said Lindsay Larson, a freshman majoring in Spanish. "It was supposed to be different than SOAR but it was a lot of the same stuff. This time I did learn that my [advanced placement] credit only counts toward my electives and not my major."

"We learned mostly about general education requirements and how to plan our schedule for our major," said Noe Diaz, a freshman majoring in music. "It was the same as the first session we had to take but more detailed this time."

The other part of the new program implemented by academic advising is the freshman survey. This is a survey given to all new students in an attempt to assess their first year at Cal State Long Beach. Students are asked questions about their study habits and their experiences on campus.

During the last three years of the survey, only 3 percent of freshmen listed their first semester at CSULB as terrible, according to Samuelson. 74 percent said their initial year was pretty good or great, Samuelson said.

"We only want good things to happen to students here and advising during the first year of school is critical to a student's success," said CSULB President Robert Maxson.