The College of Liberal Arts was the first to stage an information session on majors. It invited graduates from various professions to speak to the freshmen about their school life. However, only 40 students showed up that night. " Ithink students didn? participate because most of them have already made up their minds about their majors," says Chung Duk-ae, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. "But for those who participated, I believe that the briefing was a big help. Many went home with clear thoughts about each major and not a single student left the briefing early," she added.
The briefings held by the College of Human Ecology also showed low participation. Each major in the College of Human Ecology scheduled its briefing separately, and the Consumer Science and Human Development majors gathered a total of only 30 to 40 students.
Choi Hum-nam, a graduate school student who participated in the briefing, believes that the problem may be larger than already made-up major decisions: "Students basically do not show enthusiasm for school events, and since the briefing was scheduled in the evening, I think many students couldn"t wait until the briefing, and went home," says Choi.
The College of Natural Science did not even schedule a briefing about majors this year, since the participation rate of the previous year was so disappointing.
However, the decreasing participation rate for freshmen is not without exceptions. The College of Social Sciences showed an improvement in their briefing session this year by adopting a dual approach; in the lobby of the Ewha-POSCO Hall, the graduate students of each major briefly explained about their respective majors, and those who wanted more counseling or advice could make an appointment with a professor.
"The fact that I could receive counseling from a professor was nice. Not many students have the chance to talk with a professor," says Lee Ha-na (Division of Social Science, 1). Within the College of Social Sciences, 145 out of 450 students made reservations and had interviews with professors. The professors see this as a success. "So many students came and took pamphlets. I think the dual method stimulated the interest of the freshmen," says Choi Sun-yeul, Dean of the College of Social Science.
The seemingly decreased interest of the freshmen in briefing sessions for their respective majors may just all boil down to finding a more personalized approach. And as it turns out, that is an approach that works best for both parties involved.
winstraight@ewha.ac.kr