Year One

First-Year Expectations

In the Freshman year, students should adjust to college, define their identity and begin to apply classroom learning to life situations.

Goals:
(1) To engage in a variety of self-assessment experiences
(2) To explore ways to extend learning beyond the classroom

School-Year Activities

Basics of Personal Growth:

• Adjust to life at Randolph-Macon with energy and good humor.
• Begin to take responsibility for all your learning and personal development during the next four years.
• Study hard and get good grades!
• Think about your personal goals in life and discuss those goals with peers, faculty, and/or counselors.
• Explore leadership opportunities relevant to your potential career field with faculty, staff and/or peers and get involved in an activity of interest.
• Master word processing - including mail merge, pagination, inserting graphs, searching and replacing, etc.
• Become familiar with basic Internet software applications, i.e. e-mail, World Wide Web browsing, search engines, etc.

• Meet with your academic advisor and develop a course of study which will satisfy your collegiate requirements plus give you some academic experience in potential majors.
• Meet with your advisor to plan a pre-professional program, if appropriate (Law, Medicine, Education).
• Discuss with faculty requirements for conducting student research in various academic disciplines.
• Explore the pre-requisites for academic internships to be taken in your 3^rd & 4^th year.
• Investigate the requirements and application process for study-abroad experiences.
• Review course offerings in computer-intensive classes which meet college requirements, and plan on when to enroll.
• Utilize computer technology in academic research, i.e. CD-ROMs, Internet, and on-line libraries.

Basics of Career Development:

To identify your personal strengths and weaknesses you may wish to engage in a number of self-assessment exercises:

• past accomplishments, skills and abilities (ASVAB, Career Portfolio, etc.)
• career related interests and hobbies (Strong Interest Inventory)
• personality style (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
• work and life values (Values Inventory)
• If you do not have a clear choice of major, you may participate in a workshop for undecideds and/or participate in the self-assessment activities listed above.
• Attend one or more Career Symposia
• Explore school-term work opportunities
• Begin in January to explore career opportunities and possible majors through summer jobs, paid or unpaid internships, and volunteer work. Or plan an adventure! Get a job in Yellowstone Park; participate in Outward Bound; work or volunteer in Europe, Central America or Australia. Lots more ideas in the Career Center Library!
  

Summer Activities

• Engage in summer experiences (paid or unpaid) which will help clarify or solidify your career objectives