College sophomores want more work experiences related to their majors

The above graph shows the area of greatest change between the first year and the second year of college in student receptivity to institutional assistance, as reported in the Noel-Levitz national report, The Attitudes of Second-Year College Students.

As shown here, approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of second-year college students across institution types would like help with identifying work experience or internships that relate to their major, while about one-quarter of these students reported receiving help in this area during their first year of college.

The report further shows that students in their second year of college are dissatisfied with the availability of work experiences that relate to their major.  Second-year college students gave low marks to “the availability of service learning, internships, or work experiences associated with (my) intended major, ” scoring this item just 4.83 (national mean) on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 =  very dissatisfied and 7 = very satisfied.

This study also found significant changes in students’ attitudes toward advising between the first and second year of college. Fully 53 percent of second-year college students indicated “I would like to receive assistance this year [to] prepare a written academic plan for graduation,” a proportion that was 26 percentage points higher than in the first year of college. In addition, 59 percent of second-year students indicated they wanted to receive assistance to “Figure out the impact of grades on my desired major,” up 23 percentage points from the first year of college.

For a copy of the report, please e-mail Jo Hillman.