Students coming to Marshall University without an idea for their future career or slightly below the standards for admittance have resources and advisors available to them through the University College.

The University College at Marshall is divided into two different populations of students, said academic counselor Chris Atkins: conditional students and undecided students.

Conditional students at Marshall are students who do not quite meet the markers that Marshall sets for getting accepted into a college, Atkins said. He said this is sometimes due to low test scores or low high school grades.

“Conditional students come into the college at risk, and that is something that is not real great, but we see a lot of success out of these students,” Atkins said.

Undecided students are students who come to the university who meet all of the standards, but they are unsure of what to do with their future, Atkins said.

“There is a lot of pressure on students to figure out, when your 16, 17 and 18, still in high school, you have to figure out what cluster you belong to and what classes you need to take to go towards your major, and that’s just not true,” Atkins said.

Many students put themselves in a mindset that they must do a certain major to get a certain job, but that’s not true, Atkins said. Sometimes, there are many paths a student can take to get to their goal, he said.

“A lot of times, students come in on a mission: ‘This is what I have to do,’” Atkins said. “Don’t be afraid to shy away from your mission a little bit and get the help through the tons of support systems on campus.”

The University College works closely with the Office of Career Education, as well as other colleges, to help students who have not decided their career path quite yet.

One resource available to students is the FOCUS 2 program, provided by the Office of Career Education. Atkins said it is a personality assignment test, located on every students MyMU, that helps students determine their likes and dislikes. After taking the FOCUS 2 assessment, students can meet with individuals in the Office of Career Education to analyze their results.

“We kind of get a mixed review with it,” Atkins said. “Some students say ‘I never thought about this. This is perfect.’ And some students don’t see it as real helpful.”

Students cannot graduate from the University College, Atkins said. Conditional students are eligible to stay in the University College for three semesters, but normally, students stay about two semesters, he said. Undecided students are eligible for 45 credit hours, which about a student’s general education classes requirements at Marshall, Atkins said.

“To come into Marshall as undecided, there is not much harm, because of the general education requirement, but to stay past that, then there could be harm to the student graduating in the timely manner they want,” Atkins said.

Caitlynn Adkins, a junior health science major at Marshall, said starting her college career in the University College saved her a lot of time and money, because she started Marshall without a plan for the future.

“If I had started off at college with my first intended major, which was English, I would now be so behind in my career path, instead of right on track with my health science major,” Adkins said.

Adkins said, while in the University College, she utilized all the tools accessible to her and discovered her passion for a career in health science.

Madalyn McCoy can be contacted at [email protected].