Academic Success Coaching
Our confidential academic coaching offers you individual discussions with a coach who will help you improve your academic performance and efficiency. Your coach will meet with you, discuss your concerns, and help you discover learning techniques that will enable you to enhance your overall academic performance.
There are four main ways to get academic or study skills support through the Academic Success Coaching program at the Learning Center:
- One-On-One Academic Coaching
- Note that academic coaching is in-person by default; if you prefer meeting virtually over Zoom, please contact your coach via email after you make your appointment.
- Academic Success Course
- Academic Success Workshops
- Printable Resources
Visting the Learning Center after hours for the first time?
Directions to our side entrance (pdf)
One-On-One Academic Coaching
Our confidential academic coaching offers you individual discussions with a coach who will help you improve your academic performance and efficiency. Your coach will meet with you, discuss your concerns, and help you discover learning techniques that will enable you to enhance your overall academic performance.
All appointments with academic coaches are free, and you may meet with them for a one-time troubleshooting session or on a regular basis during the fall and spring semesters.
Setting up an Appointment
Appointments can be scheduled by using WC Online. However, students can also make an appointment by emailing learning@rochester.edu, calling us at (585) 275-9049, or by talking to the front desk in our office.
Meet our Coaches
All of our academic coaches have experience working with a diverse group of students who seek to meet the demands of time management, organization, exam preparation and more.
Current Academic Coaches
Robin Frye: Robin has a PhD in developmental psychology. She directs the Learning Center’s coaching and tutoring programs and teaches Arts, Sciences & Engineering courses in the College Workshop Program. She has been coaching graduate and undergraduate students on study-related topics since 2011. Currently, she largely supports SMD students.
Aditya Dey: Aditya Dey is a PhD student at Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. He joined the Learning Center as an academic coach in August 2022. He is extremely passionate about working in academia and loves to tutor students. He has good experience in teaching and mentoring students at graduate and undergraduate level for the last couple of years. Prior to joining the Learning Center, he has carried out roles as a lead instructor, assistant mentor and teaching assistant at the University of Rochester. He loves spending time with students and is always open to discussions.
Ghassan Matbouly: Ghassan joined Warner school for a master's degree in health professions education and certificate in program evaluation. He completed a bachelor of medicine. Then has five years of experience teaching and mentoring undergraduate students in study-related topics.
Debamitra Chakraborty: Debamitra is a graduate student in the Materials Science Program. She has 3+ years of experience as a teaching assistant and instructor in both online and in-person courses at the University of Rochester. Debamitra is enthusiastic about teaching and learning! She is especially interested in creating supportive and accessible learning experiences for students from diverse backgrounds.
Academic Success Course CASC 142: Methods of Inquiry
The Learning Center offers two 1-credit academic success courses. One happens during the summer and is offered to ECO (Early Connections Opportunity) scholars. We call this summer academic success course 'Academic Strategies and Tactics' or 'AS&T'. A modified version of AS&T is offered to all undergraduate scholars during the fall and spring semesters. We call this course Methods of Inquiry. See descriptions below of these two courses.
CASC 142: Methods of Inquiry: This workshop-style course will help you establish good study habits and hone your study skills. It is designed to help you sharpen your time management, note-taking, exam-preparation, and other skills and strategies, as well as work on increasing motivation and dealing with stress, so that you get the most out of your college career.
Academic Strategies and Tactics: This course is designed to help you make a smooth transition from high school to college. This course will help you assess your current academic skills, learn more about processes underlying learning and study habits, and develop various study techniques applicable to your coursework during ECO as well as the upcoming academic year.
Spring 2023 CASC 142: Methods of Inquiry
- CASC 142-1 (Mondays, January 23 through April 3, 4:50-6:05 p.m.)
- CASC 142-2 (Thursdays, January 26 through April 6, 4:50-6:05 p.m.)
- CASC 143-3 (Fridays, January 20 through March 31, 2-3:15 p.m.)
For more information about the course, please email us at learning@rochester.edu, or you can call us at (585) 275-9049.
Request an Academic Success Workshop
Our academic success coach team works with groups on campus to run workshops for students regarding exam preparation, reading strategies, note taking strategies, and time management. To submit your workshop request please submit the Academic Success Workshop Request Form.
Someone from the Learning Center will reach out to you to set up a pre-workshop meeting with you (as the workshop requester) to discuss the format of your workshop and solidify a day and time with regard to your request.
Academic Coaching Printable Resources
These worksheets are a small sample of the many different resources we can provide you during an appointment. Please make an appointment to review these worksheets and learn how to use them most effectively.
Making an appointment:
- WC Online tutorial (PDF)
Study resources:
- Study tips for biology (PDF)
- Study tips for chemistry (PDF)
- Study tips for introduction to physics (PDF)
- Abstract vs. exemplary learning (PDF)
- Concept based study strategies (PDF)
- Memory based study strategies (PDF)
- Different types of test formats and questions (PDF)
Time management worksheets:
- Spring 2023 semester grid calendar (Word Doc) (PDF)
- Weekly planner - 24 hour (Word Doc) (fillable PDF)
- Daily planner (Word Doc)(fillable PDF)
- Task and subtask planner (fillable PDF)
- Learning plan for online learning (fillable PDF)
- Five Principles of Time Management (PDF)
Academic Success Coaching FAQs
Academic Success Coaching is a confidential service provided by the Learning Center. It involves individual discussion with a coach about ways to improve your academic performance and efficiency.
Lots! Your Academic Success Coach would be happy to talk to you about issues like:
- Finding and maintaining motivation
- Time management
- Stress management
- Taking better notes
- Increasing reading comprehension
- Handling multiple choice questions more successfully
Absolutely. Our policy is to maintain the confidentiality of all our coaching consultations with students.
Each individual appointment lasts about an hour. Occasionally, students meet with us for a single coaching appointment; more commonly, our work together takes place across a number of conversations.
We usually begin by just getting to know you! You may have a particular study problem that you would like help solving, or you may just wish to find out if there are more optimal ways to go about learning. Either way, we would be happy to talk with you.
All coaching appointments are free of charge.
You may meet with an Academic Success Coach for a one-time trouble-shooting session or on a continuing basis. You will decide this together with your coach.
No. We see students who are on the dean's list, as well as students who are on academic probation. The determining factor isn't whether or not you're doing well academically; it's whether you feel you could be getting more from your studies or using your time more effectively.
If you have a concern and wonder whether we can help, just give us a call at (585) 275-9049.
Academic Success Coaching is open to all undergraduate students at AS&E. This service is also available to all graduate students at Simon, Warner, SMD, and AS&E. The only schools we do not serve are Eastman and SON as they have their own programs.