Beyond Admission: Empowering Your College Student to Thrive
As a former professor, current dean, and long-time college counselor, I’ve spent my entire career helping students achieve their academic and personal goals throughout their college life-cycle — not just by helping them get accepted.
The truth is, every student’s journey to—and through—college is unique. Students can find themselves feeling lost when they get to campus. Students who’ve historically lacked direction can suddenly uncover a passion that catapults them into an entirely new direction and career path. And, students who have been directed may find themselves rethinking their direction. I always tell my students that they will and should change during college. After all, that is one of the goals of education!
The role of college counselor isn’t just to help high school students get into college, but support them in their journey to thriving in college. I do this by helping students identify and gain acceptance to good-fit colleges where we have every reason to be confident that they will thrive. Given my deep experience of supporting students towards success as their dean, I am also equipped to support students who, once they get to college, find themselves facing challenges or navigating difficult decisions.
Does Lantern College Counseling offer targeted advising?
At Lantern, the cornerstone of our work is comprehensive college counseling of high school students applying to college. However, I often work with families otherwise through targeted advising in various ways, such as helping enrolled college students who need support finding their academic direction, are experiencing difficulty, or are considering transferring.
Oftentimes families of enrolled college students find themselves facing challenging situations or seeking clarity on their students’ journey. Below are a series of case studies of situations where families have hired me for targeted college counseling support for their college student. In all cases, these are not students I worked with to apply to college.
1. Student Preparing for a Career in Computer Science
What They Needed
I recently spoke with a student pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree at her state’s large flagship public institution. She had taken several CS courses and enjoyed them and wanted to move towards studying human–computer interaction (HCI) or user interface/user experience (UI/UX) design. She and her father had many questions about these fields and how she could best prepare for HCI or UI/UX design careers, including securing summer internships and admission to graduate programs.
How We Worked Together
We met for one targeted meeting where I answered many of their direct questions. More broadly, I shared my article Illuminating your Path to Thriving in College with them. It includes a roadmap for college success in five main areas: wellness, academic success, know and use your resources, build your community, and create your future. We focused on the third and fifth areas (know and use your resources and create your future), and I coached the student on how to leverage her institution’s vast resources and work towards her future goals through specific action items.
Student Outcome
After our meeting, her father emailed to thank me, writing, “I'm especially excited about the possibility of a mentor. If she can find one in her field, that would be the ideal solution to finding a path forward. We were aware of the mentor program, but speaking with you has encouraged us to really try to make it happen.”
2. Student Experiencing Indecision Over their Major Selection
What They Needed
I spoke with another student attending his state’s large flagship public institution, in this case, a sophomore. He is the older brother of one of my comprehensive high school students, although I didn’t work with him on his college search. His mother asked if I might talk with him as he contemplates his college major and future profession, writing that “he recently declared a biology major but is uncertain about whether he will enjoy the professional opportunities a biologist may have and is now wondering if architecture would be a more enjoyable profession for him.” His mother said that he has not had success with advising at his institution because it’s too big and has too many students.
How We Worked Together
We met for one session, and I helped him think about various academic paths that might be a good match, including environmental science, materials science, and design-related majors like human factors engineering (engineering psychology.) I also suggested some other steps he could take at his institution and otherwise to continue to try to get guidance, including those detailed in my article “‘Where Do I Even Begin?’: An Expert’s Approach to the College Search for Undecided Students.” In particular, I drew his attention to my Action Plan for Undecided College Students, which includes examples of concrete steps a student can take to clarify what to major in.
3. International Student Considering Transferring
What They Needed
I’m currently working with a first-year CS student at a highly prestigious international engineering school. As an American educated in the US, he’s having difficulty adjusting to the institution’s very different learning environment, and his well-being and grades are suffering. He’s considering transferring to an American college or university.
How We’re Working Together
In our private consultation sessions, I’m helping this student think through the various considerations about the college transfer process. Should he leave midyear after only one semester? Should he take a guaranteed spring transfer offer from an American university that accepted him last year? Or take courses as a visiting student in the US for the spring? What should he be aware of when selecting and taking courses in anticipation of a transfer? Should he stick it out at his current institution through the spring? What will leave him in the strongest position for transferring to a better-fit school where he can thrive? What choice is best for his health and welfare? Together and with his father, we are sorting through these critical and pressing questions.
4. Student Facing Health Interruptions during College
What They Needed
Another student I guided was a non-traditionally aged student whose complicated life and health circumstances had repeatedly interrupted his education. When he was referred to me by another Independent Educational Consultant, he had attended three different institutions and had just transferred to a fourth, where he was not having a positive experience.
How We Worked Together
I helped him navigate his current institution’s policies and make decisions in the face of renewed health challenges. Should he take a leave of absence from his current institution with the intention of returning to earn his degree there? Should he return to his third institution, where he was welcomed back? Should he consider changing his major to one that would enable him to graduate more expediently? What courses should he take to provide the most options? We sorted through complex questions about his academic choices and their impact on his academic success, wellness, and future.
Meet Dr. Jennifer Stephan
For the past eight years I’ve served as the Dean of Academic Advising and Undergraduate Studies for the School of Engineering at Tufts University, where I oversee undergraduate advising, student success and retention, and the sixteen undergraduate engineering degree programs offered by the School. Before joining Tufts, I spent over two decades serving as a dean and a professor of Computer Science (CS) at Wellesley College. At Wellesley, I served on the College’s Board of Admissions, reading and evaluating approximately one hundred transfer student applications each year, and collaborated with colleagues at MIT and Olin College of Engineering to support students pursuing engineering. As dean at both Wellesley and Tufts, one of my core responsibilities has been holistically mentoring students to envision their future, accomplish their goals, and thrive.
My leadership roles in higher education give me a unique appreciation for how students may have rich college experiences and how institutional priorities are reflected in admissions decisions. I regularly employ insights from these experiences to help students identify good-fit colleges, develop their college lists, and shape competitive, authentic applications. As founder, owner, and principal at Lantern College Counseling, I specialize in counseling CS and engineering students, students who are undecided about their major, and transfer students.
To get in touch about how we can support your student’s path in college, contact jennifer@lanterncollegecounseling.com.
