Importance of LRC to Seniors

The Importance of Advising LRC for Seniors

Senior experiences differ markedly from those of first-year students. Having completed general education and most other requirements outside the major, seniors are typically more narrowly focused on their major field. They are completing upper-level coursework in their field, completing senior projects or capstone courses, and thinking about their post-graduation plans. Thus, advising has a distinctive focus and purpose for seniors.

Screen shot of NSSE advising module results in Tableau.

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Most seniors rely on faculty or departmental advisors for academic guidance. Given this, it is important to examine seniors’ advising experiences within the major. Students with majors in Arts & Humanities, Education, and Social Service experienced the highest LRC with a mean Advising LRC (scored 0 to 60) of close to 40 (Figure 1). Engineering students however, experienced the lowest mean LRC at 37, which was significantly lower than Physical Sciences (p < .05) and all other categories of majors (p < .001).

**Figure 1. Advising LRC by Major Category, with Highest and Lowest Majors within Each Category**Go to an accessible version of figure 1.

Advising LRC Contributes to Positive Views of the Educational Experience

Most seniors evaluate their institution as either "good" or "excellent." However, there are differences in Advising LRC scores between those who rate their institution as either good/excellent and "poor" or "fair." Students who rate their institution as good/excellent experience significantly higher Advising LRC compared to their peers who experience poor/fair (all differences p < .001) (Figure 2). The within-racial/ethnic identity differences in LRC between good/excellent and poor/fair range from about 14 (Asian) to 20 (Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander). These differences in LRC point to the need for institutions to examine how student experiences vary across racial/ethnic identities.