September 1, 2003

Newsday

For Freshmen, Some Advice on Advice
By: Patricia Kitchen

So, what's a college freshman to do?

On the one hand there's all that freedom - ah, the bliss of sleeping past noon. On the other hand, there's all that freedom and the stress of having to work out life's little choices, and some big ones, too, on your own.

That's where school advisers come in, both formal and informal. They can guide you in everything from choosing student activities to choosing majors. But, sad to say, not all are equally on target. Which is why it's important to seek advice from many sources, as well as learn to evaluate it.

Gina Galatro, 22, who just graduated from Hofstra University, says one freshman adviser guided her into a complex computer-programming class, although she was interested in communications. With her mother's encouragement, she visited the communications department midway through her sophomore year, where she met a professor who was just launching a public relations major. "She got me involved, and the next thing I knew, it was senior year," says Galatro, who, with help from this adviser, was just hired as an account executive with the Manhattan-based public relations firm of Quinn & Co.

The moral, she says, You have to do a gut check. Don't follow advice blindly.

And, if you and an assigned adviser are not a good match, "keep on pushing the system," says Jim Malone, director of career counseling for the Web site ReadyMinds.com. Ask fellow students who the good advisers are, visit the career center to speak with a counselor. "You can't just knock on one door."

Meaghan K. Maul, a spring graduate of the University at Buffalo, says she wishes she had visited her academic adviser in the school of management before her last year. Up until then, she had relied on her soccer team's adviser, who didn't have the same information about internship opportunities. "In senior year, I went in and barely knew me." (Maul, 22, of Dix Hills, is now working in human resources for a Melville- based pharmaceuticals firm.)

She also gave advice herself, as part of her school's mentoring program. From sophomore year on she guided freshmen on the ins and outs of college life, which stands her in good stead, as she's now advising her sister, Katie, 17, who's just starting at Fordham University in the Bronx.

Some of Maul's suggestions? Get involved in clubs or activities as soon as possible - that's where you make friends. Sit in the front in big lecture classes, even if you're at risk of being called on by the professor. There's a real value to having the profs know you, which Maul found out this year when she had to take two months off due to her mother's fatal illness. Without their understanding, she says, "I never would have graduated on time."

One more source of guidance is school alumni. Contact them through the alumni office or career center, as many schools have lists of those willing to coach students. From them you can learn more about what professors to take, which classes are most helpful in the work world, and how to get internships and jobs.

Sure, says Galatro, "I hated going to those seminars where alumni would come to talk. It took away from my sleeping time." But were they worth it? You bet. And, her entree to her present employer was a woman five years ahead of her.

New To The Workplace

Q. I went on a job interview and didn't research the company because I wasn't that interested in it. But at the interview I learned it's part of a big, major company and now I'm excited. I wasn't that well prepared, but I was still asked that day to come for a second interview.

A. Whew, that was a close call. Some would wag a finger at you and say, "See - if you had done even a little research you would have learned that connection ahead of time and been better prepared." I wouldn't, though, because I suspect that's one oversight you'll never make again, even for what you perceive as a lukewarm job opportunity.

Still, if you hadn't been invited back, you could have tried to make up for your probable lack of targeted questions by composing an insightful letter and sending it the next day to those you met. Besides saying, "Thanks for the meeting," you could demonstrate some savvy about the business and specific issues it's facing, based on what you gleaned from the interviewer and your follow-up research. Equally important: Tell them how your skills and enthusiasm can help address their needs.