On Tuesday, Nov. 30, four Wesleyan seniors and one alumnus shared their personal experiences on choosing a major and tapping into the vast network of help the University offers. Vincent Benevento ’05, Emily Kaditz ’05, Obhi Hazarika ’05, and Ray Rowland ’05 emphasized personal motivation and making use of student resources in their Wesleyan careers.
Although attendance was low, students found the meeting helpful.
“It would have been more helpful if the panelists had discussed why they thought the majors they chose were useful to them as opposed to just having chosen them based on how many courses in a department they were interested in taking,” said Stephanie Wege ’08. “There are obviously other factors.”
Benevento, a peer advisor for the psychology department and event organizer, said that the biggest problem he found while peer advising was that students were unaware of Wesleyan’s extensive resources.
“Four years ago I would have never imagined organizing something like this,” he said.
Benevento said that an enormous part of his growth at Wesleyan has been due to his positive relationship with his advisor, Visiting Professor of Psychology Rachel Russell, who attended the event. They both stressed working with an advisor in planning one’s course of study.
Student Academic Resources, a newly formed division of the Dean’s Office, sponsored the meeting, which was called “Finding Your Way at Wes: A Few Senior’s Perspectives.”
The goal of the discussion was to open up new lines of communication between older and younger Wesleyan students as well as with administrators to make Wesleyan feel a lot smaller.
Renee Johnson-Thornton, Assistant Dean of Academic Resources, who helped lead the meeting, described Student Academic Resources as a cooperative effort on the part of different student resources on campus trying to educate one another.
“There will always be someone there to advise you if you seek them out,” Johnson-Thornton said.
All the panelists stressed finding balance in one’s lifestyle and not stretching oneself too thin.
Rowland, who as a transfer student looked back on two years at Wesleyan, said that at the first university she attended, she tried to be involved in all the activities she found interesting, although she did not have the time for it. She said that she was unhappy in the best of environments because she had no time for herself.
“It helps to hear a bunch of different Wesleyan experiences to find what works for you,” Kaditz said.
Other topics discussed at the meeting included the advantages and disadvantages of double majoring, going abroad, planning ahead, what an honors designation on your diploma actually means, and consulting the deans more often as valuable sources of advice.
Johnson-Thornton said that she hopes there will be more programs of this sort in the future and that they will receive better publicity in the future.
“It was unfortunate that few really knew about the program because it was helpful,” Wege said.
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