Examining the Effects of a First-Year Seminar for Exploratory Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Sesion 4
  In Roundtable Session: Pathways to and Through College (Table 7)

Abstract

While first-year seminar (FYS) courses are a high-impact practice for college students, they tend not to be designed to meet the needs of students who have not yet identified their best-fit major. These exploratory students would benefit from such a support to help them towards an academic major pathway. Using propensity score methodology, this study assesses the effect of an intervention, whereby an FYS designed for exploratory students was organized to offer guided support by focusing on their values, interests, and skills. Preliminary findings show that students who take the FYS have higher GPA’s and retention rates than their exploratory peers who did not take the course. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

Authors

• Cassandra R. Kepple, Florida State University

• Dawn Y Matthews, North Carolina Central University

• Lara Perez-Felkner, Florida State University