Need help choosing a major or planning your post-graduation life? Check out the LAAC!
A huge portion of humanities majors have faced this question at some point in their education: “So, what will you do with that degree?” While an education in the humanities opens many professional opportunities, not everyone knows what they are—often times, the students themselves don’t even know. Thankfully, the Liberal Arts Advisement Center (LAAC) in the College of Humanities offers a wide variety of resources to help students prepare for their career after college. In an attempt to help as many students as possible, Cielle Davis, an advisor in the LAAC, has developed new methods for promoting the LAAC’s resources to staff and students on campus.
As part of her efforts, Davis has created and begun sharing a presentation on the LAAC in classes all around the College. In this presentation, she informs students of different career paths available to their major. She tells students that they have an advisor, explains their advisor’s role, and directs students to where the advisement center can be found. She also identifies different issues and important decisions that they may run into while working through their undergrad, such as failing or withdrawing from classes, deciding on or changing their major, struggling to find internship opportunities, and creating a graduation plan. She encourages students to head to the LAAC when they encounter these difficult situations or need to make hard decisions.
She says, “For a lot of students, it’s the first time they’ve heard about advising. For a lot of students, it’s the first time they’ve realized there’s more to their major than going into academia. And for a lot of students, it’s the first time that they really realized how much value their major has. I love helping students realize the value of their humanities major.”
Davis also presents in University 101: BYU Foundations for Student Success, the new required class for all first-semester freshmen. She gives an overview of what an advisor does to make students more aware of the resources available to them. She hopes that when these students need to choose a major, create a graduation plan, or find an internship, they know who to talk to.
When meeting with an advisor, Davis says a student can expect to spend 20–30 minutes talking through their questions. They’ll likely leave with some homework: either thinking about the meeting or doing some research on potential career or major options. Davis says, “About 60% of our traffic is repeat, and we love that. If students think their question is complex and no one can help, we can help, but it might take more than one appointment.”
For more information about the LAAC and the services it provides, visit the Liberal Arts website.