Flyer found in the MCC

A few weeks ago, I attended a counseling session through OSU’s Counseling and Consultation Service. I went to the office that is located in Lincoln Tower, and I talked to a counselor about transitioning to college.
When I found out that I was required to find a non-academic campus resource, I was a little nervous. It is very rare that I ever seek help at – academic or non-academic. When I went to look for a resource, I was shocked to see how many different ones were offered by the university. I knew that Ohio State has many resources for students, but I did not know that so many were available. There were so many that I was interested in utilizing, but I knew that I would not have the time to go to everything that I wanted.
I found out about this resource when I was in the Multicultural Center. They had flyers on the desk for resources offered around campus, and this is one that caught my eye. I did not make an appointment to speak with someone, but I did walk in and was able to speak to a counselor within a reasonable amount of time. I hoped to get some tips about transitioning to such a big school from my small private school in Cleveland, but they gave me a lot more information than I had anticipated. They coached me to be successful socially and academically through my transition to college. I have been using the advice that they gave me, and it has been very helpful.

One way that I think this service could be improved is by having upperclassmen available to talk with students. This would be especially helpful for Life Transitions counseling that I went to because they recently went through everything I am, so their advice could be very helpful. Unless these students were volunteers, it may be difficult to get the university to pay for them to work there. Also, they would not be certified counselors, so they may not get approved to work with other students. Many people also can need to see a counselor, so there need to be more people available to students when they are in high demand. I honestly believe that I was able to see someone so soon because there was a cancellation.
One resource I think would be helpful for many students that I am not sure OSU offers is a way to connect students that come from the same region. I know many people that attend the university are from Ohio, but there are many students that come from all around the world, so I believe that this resource would be especially helpful for them. It is very easy to excluded you come from a different background than your peers.

The day before my chemistry midterm, I went to chemistry peer tutoring in Morrill Tower. I was able to learn a few things that were not taught to me in lecture, recitation, or by doing the homework. I did not stay the entire time because I had other homework to do, but I did stay long enough to cover everything that I was not comfortable with. My tutor was very clear, concise, and helpful. For students that normally do not ask for help, I do believe that there is a stigma when they do ask for help. It is expected of us to never ask for help and to also be the ones to help those who may not understand. This puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on students because they may feel embarrassed to ask for help.

Morrill Tower Study Rooms

There were students that have taken my class before that wait in the study area in Morrill Tower for students to come and ask any questions they may have. Getting help from them was very simple. All I had to do was ask them specific questions about the things that I was confused about. I did a practice midterm before and brought them the questions I got wrong, and they helped those and other confusing concepts. I like this method of tutoring because I believe that it is not beneficial to go over things that I already am comfortable with like I would in recitation.

The last time that I have sought help outside of class was sophomore year of high school for my Honors Chemistry class. I went to an after school review session before one of our big tests. There, they went over everything that will be on it, and I was also given the opportunity to ask about anything that I still needed help on. That was the only time during high school that I felt overwhelmed enough to get help. It has been so long since I went to that tutoring, that this experience did feel new to me. I did feel uncomfortable seeking help because I have not done it for so long. I did not expect that I would need it, but I had to put my pride to the side. 

I am glad that tutoring is available to those who need it, and I would be interested in becoming a tutor in the future. To do that, I would have to be extremely confident in the subject that would tutor people in. I feel like it is very rewarding to help people that need it. I love to see people succeed in anything that they worked for and knowing that I helped them achieve their goal would mean a lot to me.

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