Ronald M. Coleman: Advising

Preamble:

University is a wonderful adventure, but it is also very complex. The reason it is complex is because every incoming freshman is different: each student has different skills and weaknesses, background experiences and preconceptions. Students also have vastly different goals. Some want a degree. Some want a career. Many do not know what they want. The challenge of the modern university is to take in a large number of highly diverse individuals, get them all to a point where they have achieved or surpassed a certain level of competency in core skills (reading, writing, math, critical thinking, etc) then provide each student with the opportunities (course, research experience, etc) to allow them to pursue their own individual goal.

Understanding how a university works is not simple, particularly if you are the first in your family to attend univerisity. I am the first in my family to attend university so I know what it can be like.

The university has to operate within certain practical limits, i.e., we serve a large number (over 30,000) of students, have a limited budget, and have limited physical resources (lecture rooms, laboratory rooms, etc). Therefore it is unrealistic for the university to be able to provide every class at every conceivable time and configuration that every different student might want. To proceed through a university degree at a rapid rate, a student must make university their top priority. That means adjusting other aspects of their life (e.g., jobs, etc) around their university schedule as much as possible. Too often I hear a student say "I couldn't get into the class I wanted". Sometimes that means that the class was absolutely full, but in other cases, what the student really means is that they could not take the course at a time which worked with other aspects of their life, e.g., I have had many students say to me things like "I don't like to take classes on Friday" or "I only want classes on Tues and Thurs". This is a recipe for frustration. Keep in mind that for every student that wishes a course would be offered on Monday and Wednesday afternoon, there is another student who cannot take it if it were offered on Monday and Wednesday afternoon. Courses are offered when and where they are as a solution to many complex tradeoffs, including available space, faculty resources, conflicts with other courses that students are likely to be taking in the same semester, etc.

The typical Sac State faculty member (i.e., professor) is dedicated to providing the best eduational experience they can to a large number of students. It is not always possible to answer your question right away but we do our best. To give you an idea of the workload of a typical faculty member: in Biological Sciences, we typically work 50+ hours a week, often quite a lot more, and in addition to our teaching, we have many other responsibilities (advising, research, supervising student research, committee work on campus and off, community outreach, etc). It is not unusual for a faculty member to get 100+ emails every day so it may not be surprising if a faculty member is unable to answer your question the second you ask it. If you do not get an answer in a few days, it is reasonable to ask the question again. Please be patient, but persistent.

Areas of Advising:

I advise students in various areas related to the Biological Sciences, including Animal Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, Conservation, Fisheries, Wildlife, Marine Biology

I advise many students about research opportunities as an undergraduate and going on to graduate school either in a Masters or PhD program, or for such fields as becoming a veterinarian.

I am open to talking to parents who have questions about Sac State and how our programs might be a good fit for your child.

I am probably NOT the best person to talk to about medical school or other health-related programs: there are other faculty with more knowledge in those areas.

How to Contact Me:

The best way to contact me is via email (rcoleman@csus.edu). That is far better than a telephone message, because I am almost never actually sitting at my desk.

You can also just show up to my office hours, but you run the risk that there may already be a bunch of people waiting to see me.

In general, I am often around my lab (Humboldt 119) later in the day as opposed to early in the morning.

My Personal Advice:

What follows is my personal opinions about various topics related to advising; you are free to take this advice or leave it.

1. Degrees, Concentrations and Courses

While the particular degree that you get (e.g., BA, BS) is very important in some circumstances, it is necessary to put that statement in perspective. For example, students will sometimes ask me "I want to be a marine biologist... Why do you not offer a BS in Marine Biology?" This shows that the student does not understand what university is for and how it operates. The degree itself is not the goal. What the degree signifies is that you have achieved a certain level of competence in an area of study: it is the competence that is important. In fact, in many cases, it is not even the particular content that you learn in a degree that is of great importance, rather it is the skills that you learn that will be your calling card to your next adventure. A person successfully completing a degree in the biological sciences learns to think like a scientist, and a biological scientist in particular. Hallmarks of that kind of thinking include some of the following skills:

the ability to gather information from useful sources and to understand the credibility of those sources;

the ability to sort through a large amount of information rapidly and efficiently, to identify what is relevant and what is irrelevant;

the ability to understand the difference between causation and correlation;

the ability to understand complexity, e.g., ecological systems are incredibly complex;

the ability to understand tools for gathering data, whether those tools be information based (e.g., bioinformatics, phylogenetics) or physical tools such as microscopes, gene sequencers, calipers, spectrophotometers, etc.;

the ability to solve problems; and

the ability to manage time efficiently and effectively.

If you think about this deeply, you will realize that the particular words on the degree, e.g., "BS in Marine Biology" are not nearly as important as what is behind those words, i.e. the particular courses and experiences that you have accumulated through your time at university.

2. It is not all about GPA, but GPA is very important

Certainly, it is important to get as high a GPA as you can. A higher GPA does not guarantee you anything, not even admission to medical school or veterinary school, but it does usually mean that you have more options. A lower GPA closes doors on you. For example, I have yet to hear of a student getting into medical school with a GPA below 3.0.

That said, I have heard of lots of students with much higher GPAs who did not get into professional programs or graduate programs. Why? Let's think about it.

The United States has a population of just over 300 million people. Of those, according to the last census, about 19 million are between 20 and 24, and 40 million between 25 and 34 years of age. So that is roughly 60 million people in the age group that might be considering applying to medical school, veterinary programs, graduate school, etc. That means that whatever your GPA is, someone else, in fact, thousands of other people, have a higher GPA. So a high GPA alone does not make you stand out among the 60 million.

What does make you stand out? The other parts of college (being involved in clubs, volunteering, and independent research) make you stand out. One of the most important things you can do at college is to be involved in some form of independent research. Independent research means that you work closely with a professor to try to solve some problem. It does not even really matter what that problem is. The important thing is that you tackle the problem head on, apply your best knowledge, skills and talents to it, and see where that takes you. Just so you know ahead of time, you probably will not cure cancer single-handedly or solve one of the vexing questions of evolutionary biology, but, you will learn to contribute as a scientist. You will learn what it is like to wrestle with the real world of challenge, uncertainty, things not working, trying harder, things still not working, trying harder still and eventually achieving some sort of success. Along the way, you will hopefully present your work in front of your peers or even at a local or national conference. This is what people are looking for.

CRITICAL: You cannot fake a research experience. If you are putting in a few hours in a lab just to tick off the "done research" box, do not bother. Everyone can tell that you were faking it. If you are going to do it, put your heart and soul into it, otherwise you are wasting your time and the time of the professor.

With all that said, the reality is that many programs (e.g., Vet school) look first at your GPA. If you GPA is below 3.5, you are going to have a very difficult time getting into vet school, medical school, pharmacy, etc. I am not saying that it is impossible, but I am saying that it is improbable, in the current climate.

3. How to Mess Up

Students mess up their university experience in a variety of ways. Here are the ones I see the most often.

Listening to advice from a friend or parent about what the rules are, rather than getting the facts from a faculty advisor. I hear this all the time: "my friend told me that I didn't have to take math...." A large university such as Sac State is very complex. Rules change all the time. The ultimate source and reference for the rules is the "Catalog". That is the rule book. You need to read the Catalog VERY CAREFULLY. You may often need a faculty advisor to help you understand the subtleties of those rules.

Not attending class. Just because no one takes attendance does not mean that you do not have to show up to class. Missing class is just plain stupid. If you miss a class, you miss out on what was said, i.e., the content, but more importantly, you miss out on how it was said, i.e., the context, the emphasis, caveats, etc. In my many years of teaching I have found a strong relationship between how often a student misses a class and their eventual success in that course (or lack of it). If you miss more than ONE class in a semester, you need to take a good long look in the mirror and ask yourself "What am I doing?" "Do I really want to be in university or should I be doing something else?"

If you regularly miss class, then get out of university and stop wasting your time and the taxpayers' money.

Missing one class to study for another class. This is the ultimate in stupidity and not understanding what class is about. If you do this, you will now start a cascade of trying to catch up, missing a second class to catch up for the first, then missing a third to catch up for the second. You will never overcome this problem so do not let it start. Futhermore it shows that you have not mastered managing your time.

4. Jobs/Employment while being a student

It is a reality of the modern student, moreso than in the past, that students have to work while going to university. Many of our students do not have the financial resources to simply attend university and not work. They need money to eat, pay rent, pay tuition, etc. BUT, and this is very important, it is absolutely critical that a student think long and hard about how much they are working, why they are working, and the impact of that on their studies.

I have found that a number of students work more than they have to. To put it very bluntly, if a new cell phone costs $800 and a student is working at $10 an hour, that cell phone costs at least 80 hours. Do you REALLY need a new cell phone, or would you rather have the 80 hours to put into studying to get better grades, to get a better job when you graduate?

University requires sacrifices. Think hard about the difference between what you NEED versus what you WANT, and the difference between short-term gratification versus achieving long-term goals.

5. It is not just about you.

Too many students do not understand the way that a public university (such as Sacramento State) works or why. While students might feel that they pay a lot in tuition, they need to understand that an equally large chunk of their education is being paid by others, notably the taxpayers of the state and the rest of the country.

So when a student fails a course, and in my opinion this happens far more often due to lack of effort or time management than due to lack of ability, that student is letting down not only themselves, but also their parents, other siblings, and other personal supporters, but also the guy who is working 45 hours a week at a job that he does not necessarily like, but never had a chance to go to college. He is paying your bill. You are accountable to that guy.

Being a college student at a public university is not only a privilege, it is a tremendous responsibility to society. Society is investing in you. Think about that, then give your best effort.

[Feel free to send me comments or suggestions about this "advice". rcoleman@csus.edu]

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