Offices, support programs, peer outreach, office hours, tutors, help centers, wellness events, the list goes on and on! Ohio State provides a vast amount of resources to support student success. Sorting through these resources to find ones which fit with your goals can take time but is well worth it in the end!
The next step is to work on a strategy to achieve your goals. We will call this your action plan. Your action plan should include changes you can make on your own: adjusting your approach to classes, getting more sleep, creating an organizational system. Your action plan should also include outside resources you can utilize: tutors, help sessions, academic skills coaches, wellness events, and more.
As a college student, you have a lot of responsibilities to juggle. Time is your most precious resource because it’s finite. You can’t buy more time. You only have 24 hours each day. This means you need to be efficient with how you use your time.
Using resources on campus can help you master content or resolve an issue more quickly than you could on your own. By taking advantage of these resources, you can achieve the same results in a shorter amount of time, allowing you to spend time on other things and create more balance in your life.
Ohio State has a huge amount of resources on campus available to students. Earlier in this workshop, you completed an online assessment that gave you recommendations of resources to use, based on your academic obstacles.
Think about the goals you set for yourself this semester. How can these resources help you work toward these goals? Take some time to explore information about these resources, either in your personalized email results or in the links below. Pick out a few you want to use this semester.
Remember, you can’t approach this semester like last semester. In order to achieve different results, you need to use different approaches. These resources are all free for you to use and are available to all students. If your classmates can use these resources to do well in their classes, you should too!
In addition to your personalized results, here is a compilation of the most popular resources on campus. If you don’t think your resource recommendation match your needs, check out the full range of resources below. You can also ask an advisor if you have identified a need you have but aren’t sure which offices can support that need.
You have your goals and you have your resources. Now let’s put them together and Create your Action Plan.
Overall Health and Wellness
These resources help you address issues and create balance in areas outside of the classroom. This foundational well-being is critical to your success in any aspect of your life, including your academic performance.
Student Wellness Center
The mission of the Student Wellness Center (SWC) is simple: to promote the wellness of OSU students and their communities. The Center serves the OSU community with a variety of ongoing programming, events, appointments, and information sessions. Topics covered by the SWC include: drug abuse education and prevention, financial counseling, healthy eating and active living, healthy relationships and sexual wellness, sexual violence education and support, stress and sleep counseling, and abuse education and prevention.
More information can be found at swc.osu.edu.
Counseling & Consultation Service
Ohio State provides free mental health counseling to all students (up to 10 sessions per academic year). CCS has a diverse staff of licensed professional mental health counselors who are able to help students understand and respond to a wide range of issues. In addition to English, CCS offers therapy in Mandarin, Hindi, Korean, Cantonese, and Spanish. Counselors are available for individual sessions, as well as group sessions on specific topics, workshops, and online resources.
Learn more about the variety of resources available by visiting ccs.osu.edu or meet their staff virtually through the CCS video channel!
Wilce Student Health Center
The Wilce Student Health Center offers a variety of student health services, including: allergy injections, dental, health information services, immunizations, laboratory, nutrition therapy, optometry, pharmacy, primary care, sports medicine, radiology, and women’s and men’s services.
All students enrolled at OSU are eligible to use the health service, regardless of health insurance coverage. The Wilce Center provides most services on an appointment basis. Students with injuries or illness requiring immediate attention may be evaluated and scheduled to see a physician on a same-day basis.
More information can be found at shs.osu.edu.
Career Counseling and Support Services
Career Counseling and Support Services provides opportunities for students across the university to explore majors and careers through workshops, individual appointments and walk-ins as well as through their Career Resource Library. Additionally, Career Counseling and Support Services can assist students interested in pursuing graduate and professional degrees, and those who need assistance with career correspondence and interviewing skills for jobs and internships.
More information can be found at ccss.osu.edu.
Academic Skills and Time Management
These resources help you strengthen the general skills you need to succeed in any class, such as study strategies, learning styles, ways to get (and stay!) organized, approach test-taking, and fight procrastination.
Younkin Success Center
The Younkin Success Center functions as a hub for services related to student success. Many offices and resources are connected with the Younkin Success Center, so it’s a great place to start if you are beginning to sort through academic support programs around Ohio State. The Younkin Success Center is located on Neil Avenue on south campus, above CVS and close to the Marketplace.
More information can be found at younkinsuccess.osu.edu.
Dennis Learning Center
Housed in the Younkin Success Center, the Dennis Learning Center (DLC) is the one-stop shop for strengthening your student skills. Think of this center as personal trainers for your academic fitness. They offer workshops, one-on-one coaching sessions, courses, and study space to help students tackle everything from study strategies, time management, organization, testing strategies, test anxiety and stress management, procrastination and tutoring. For example, the DLC offers ESEPSY 1259, a full semester course on learning and motivation strategies for success in college. This course is designed to help you build a successful action plan for your courses throughout the entire semester.
Hear from fellow students about the best things they’ve found when visiting the Dennis Learning Center!
More information can be found at dennislearningcenter.osu.edu.
Academic Advisors
Academic advisors are student affairs professionals who can guide you through decision-making, problem-solving, and making the most of your academic experience at Ohio State. Advisors are available in each area of study at Ohio State. You can meet with an advisor to discuss your academic progress, set goals, explore majors, and sort through decisions like adding/dropping classes and finding resources on campus to try.
You can find information for advisors in the College of Engineering at advising.engineering.osu.edu.
If you want to look at majors outside of engineering, the advisors in the University Exploration program are a great resource to connect with. They can give you general information about each major at Ohio State, help guide you through your exploration process, and pick classes to try out a new major. You can find information about the University Exploration program, including online resources for exploring programs and connecting majors with careers, at exploration.osu.edu.
You can find advising contact information for every academic program at Ohio State at advising.osu.edu.
ODI Tutoring and Study Skills
The Tutoring and Study Skills Program provides free academic support services for ODI Scholars at The Ohio State University as part of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The office focuses on advanced study skills development, tutorial services, and supplemental instruction through one-on-one and small group tutoring, individual counseling on goal planning and study strategies, and study skill resources and workshops.
More information can be found at odi.osu.edu.
TA/Instructor Office Hours
Spending time with the instructional team (professors, teaching assistants) of your courses can help you engage with the course content more thoroughly. It can also help you and your instructional team better understand each other and the most effective way to present/learn new concepts. It’s best to start visiting office hours early in the semester and go regularly and often. Office hours are always the busiest right before exams or due dates for projects and papers occur, so plan accordingly and start visiting your instructors early! Your instructional team can provide you with information about office hours for your specific class.
Study Groups
Forming study groups is a very effective strategy to enhance your understanding of your coursework. Group members can share unique insights and help fill in gaps in understanding. Also, you are able to measure your depth of understanding by your ability to explain a concept or topic to another group member. Finally, study groups can help you fight procrastination and stay motivated because members hold each other accountable for engaging in studying. Think about it: if you are planning to study at the library on your own, another distraction could easily convince you to not go. By comparison, if you are planning to study at the library with a group, you’re more likely to prepare and show up.
If you live on campus, many residence halls provide study space throughout their facilities. In addition, academic buildings have areas reserved for study space for students. For example, Thompson Library has group study rooms available for reservation online here.
Course-Specific Support Programs
These resources are tailored to support students with specific course content, such as math, physics, chemistry, and writing.
Math Stats Learning Center
The MSLC offers open tutoring sessions, exam reviews, online workshops, and other study resources for calculus and upper-level math and statistics courses. These are opportunities to supplement your individual study and can provide feedback to ensure you are learning concepts accurately and to the depth required for the course.
More information can be found at mslc.osu.edu.
General Chemistry Learning Resource Center
The Celeste 170 Learning Resource Center is available for assistance in general chemistry courses. This resource provides weekly tutoring on a walk-in basis to help students master course concepts and gain feedback on their approach to homework problems, lab reports, and exam preparation.
More information can be found at chemistry.osu.edu/undergraduate/lrc.
Physics Tutoring
Free physics tutoring is available for currently enrolled students at Ohio State in many locations across campus:
Department of Physics
The Department of Physics hires junior and senior physics majors to staff the physics tutor rooms which are located in Smith Labs room 1011A and 1011B. Room 1101 is the physics student lounge and rooms A and B are rooms located in the northeast corner of the lounge. The tutoring schedule is posted outside the tutor rooms.
Younkin Success Center
The Younkin Success Center offers free evening tutoring in physics, math and chemistry. Additional information can be found on the Younkin Sucess Center website.
Residence Halls
Several of the residence halls on campus provide free tutoring in physics, math, and chemistry. Additional information (including location information) can be found on the University Housing website. Students with questions about this service can contact University Housing at 614-292-8266.
Private, Paid Tutoring
Several graduate students in the Department of Physics are available for physics tutoring. The list of available tutors can be found on the Physics Graduate Student Council website. Questions about this service can be directed to the Physics Graduate Student Council at PGSC@physics.osu.edu.
More information can be found at physics.osu.edu/tutoring.
TA/Instructor Office Hours
Spending time with the instructional team (professors, teaching assistants) of your courses can help you engage with the course content more thoroughly. It can also help you and your instructional team better understand each other and the most effective way to present/learn new concepts. It’s best to start visiting office hours early in the semester and go regularly and often. Office hours are always the busiest right before exams or due dates for projects and papers occur, so plan accordingly and start visiting your instructors early! Your instructional team can provide you with information about office hours for your specific class.
Specific Student Groups
In addition to the resources listed above, Ohio State offers specialized programs which support student groups with unique considerations which integrate into their college experience.
Office of Military and Veterans Services
The Office of Military and Veterans Services provides assistance to veterans and their families. Information is available for current and future students and students can use the office and website to make connections at the university and receive assistance in a variety of areas.
More information can be found at veterans.osu.edu.
Student Life Disability Services
Student Life Disability Services (SLDS) works with students who have temporary and permanent disabilities to provide academic support services and programs that enable equal access. Students must register with the office to be eligible for services. These accommodations and support allow students to have equal access to education and university life. If you are interested in learning if you should utilize their services, contact an SLDS counselor at 614-292-3307 or slds@osu.edu.
Take a virtual tour of the SLDS through the video below!
More information can be found at slds.osu.edu.
College of Engineering Outreach Programs
In addition to the resources available across campus, the College of Engineering offers additional support to students through the Women in Engineering Program and the Minority Engineering Program
Women in Engineering
The Women in Engineering (WiE) Program at The Ohio State University was established in 1979 in order to increase the participation of women within the engineering profession. The WiE program fosters a supportive learning environment and culture within the College of Engineering and beyond. Students can find peer mentors, tutoring and study support, and professional connections to explore and engage in the engineering profession.
More information can be found at wie.osu.edu.
Minority Engineering Program
The mission of Minority Engineering Program is to ensure that the talents of previously underrepresented ethnic minorities are included in the engineering profession so that an adequate supply of engineers is available to meet the manpower needs of our community, state and Nation; and to assure that all engineering students understand and appreciate diversity as prerequisites for optimum achievement in an increasingly diverse and global society. MEP offers peer mentoring and partnering with current engineering students, as well as professional staff outreach, to help students engage with resources around campus and reach their academic potential.
MEP offers supplemental instruction, peer mentoring, and even ENGR 1259, a study skills course geared toward engineering students. Interesting in enrolling in the course next semester? Contact Dr. Edwin Lee for more information!
More information can be found at mep.engineering.osu.edu.
Next Steps
You have your goals and you have your resources. Now let’s put them together to Create Your Action Plan.