Advising

Academic Advisory System

Several venues of academic counseling/advising are available to students including using the services of the newly established School of Medicine Mentoring Program, Career Goal Advisors, the Class Advocate Program, Chief Mentors, Educational Resources Coordinator of the Office of Student Affairs, various administrators, and professional therapists at the Counseling and Wellness Services (CWS).

Advisors

The Advisory Colleges Program is an advising and career and professional development program which was established in 2008 at the UNC School of Medicine.  The program was developed in order to create an organized and structured system of advising whereby students benefit from the ongoing support and wisdom of experienced faculty, educators and role models of professionalism at our institution.  The goal of this program is to foster a relationship between each student and a faculty member where students  receive guidance and counseling in order to be successful in their endeavor to create their own physician identity.

Mentoring Program is designed to establish a mentoring relationship between each first and second year student and his/her ICM tutor as a means to provide support and guidance during the preclinical years from the perspective of a faculty member/medical school alum. Once each semester during the first and second year, each student schedules a mentoring appointment with his/her ICM tutor. Students complete a planning form prior to each mentoring appointment, and ICM tutors record their assessment, referrals and/or students’ plans for action. The Mentoring Program is designed to help to ensure that students can locate appropriate support, when necessary. Students with concerns that require intensive, long-term, or specialized support, are referred to appropriate experts for additional support.

Career Goal Advisors help students prepare residency applications, recommend courses or research opportunities, and assist students who are conflicted about specialty selection and/or residency program choices. Some departments assign the Career Goal Advisor to student assignments based on specialty interest, but more often third and fourth year students choose Career Goal Advisors from a panel of faculty who are active in the department of their specialty selection. Career Goal Advisors stay in close contact with fourth year students during the residency program application process to help with choosing references for letters, provide tips on interviews, and suggest strategies for ranking programs. (Second year students are invited to attend the Spring Residency Workshop to learn about residency choices prior to third year.) http://www.med.unc.edu/wrkunits/1dean/curriculum/Description/MS4year/MS4Advisors.htm.

The Class Advocate Program is composed of fifteen students per class, who are selected during their first year by their classmates to be advocates and serve as peer counselors based on their records of service, diversity, and good academic standing. Advocates serve for all four years, and in the first two years, assign themselves to students’ laboratories (32 students per lab), where they hold informal support sessions and invite confidential inquiries. They help their peers find appropriate educational and mental health resources, and guide them in resolving common academic, administrative and personal problems such as financial aid, leaves of absence, scheduling, sexual and racial harassment, appropriate treatment of medical students, health and safety requirements, Student Health Services, academic assistance, maternity leave, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, family planning, Whitehead Council, Student Honor Court and the Wellness Committee, etc. Advocates receive guidance from veteran advocates, the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, the Assistant Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, and the Office of Student Affairs staff. Many Advocates participate in the planning and implementation of the one week Orientation Program for incoming first year students. Advocates provide practical assistance to students in accessing medical school and university services throughout the four years of medical school. Under the tutelage of the Associate Director of Counseling and Wellness Services, Advocates receive education on identifying impairment in their peers and making confidential referrals to treatment. Additional workshop topics include Student Health Services, Administrative Issues (Student Promotions Committee, academic assistance, exam procession, financial aid, scheduling, health and safety, Whitehead Council, Student Honor Court, Wellness Committee, harassment, appropriate treatment of medical students, family planning. http://www.med.unc.edu/wrkunits/orgs/advocates/

Chief Mentors are Whitehead Medical Society Officers who are elected from among students who have completed two years of medical school. There are three chief mentors in both the third and fourth year classes. Chief mentors organize the annual “MS3 Workshop: Intro to the Wards” for rising third year students, and, as a panel, present the student perspective of preparing for USMLE Step I to first and second year students. Other mentoring activities have included lunchtime panels on preparing for summer projects and coordinating ICM Physical Exam Practice Sessions.

Educational Resources Coordinator (ERC) is a doctoral level educator with experience in support services in higher education for students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders. The ERC provides academic counseling and assistance to students who refer themselves or are referred by faculty, staff, advisors, Student Promotions Committee, Medical Education Development program, Office of Educational Development, class advocates or peers. In addition, the ERC contacts students during the preclinical years whose performance is substandard on examinations, courses, and USMLE Step I and II. The ERC typically meets with students individually in a private office in the Office of Student Affairs, to discuss demands of courses; identify student expectations, goals, and values; recognize strengths, weaknesses, and approaches to learning; and consider students’ learning style preferences, time management and organizational skills. Study plans may be designed based on approaches to learning and studying, test taking strategies, error analysis, and stress management techniques in order to avoid, address, or remediate academic problems. Additional issues that may impact academic progress include: deceleration, diagnosed or suspected learning disabilities, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or other disabilities; waning self-confidence/self-esteem issues, anxiety, depression, grief, concerns with relationships or other psychosocial conditions or psychiatric diagnoses; transition to medical school, harassment/abuse; and health concerns. For issues that are beyond the scope of services of the ERC, referrals are readily made to appropriate school, campus, and community resources.

The ERC tracks student performance on all exams to identify as early as possible students who have academic difficulty. In addition, the ERC tracks students who faculty or administrators identify as at risk, and students who identify themselves as potentially at risk. In the process of tracking, the ERC may contact students via email to invite them to make an appointment and/or suggest resources (tutoring, meeting with course directors and/or faculty, referrals to student advocates). deborah_ingersoll@med.unc.edu

Administrators

Students may request personal appointments with administrators, or refer questions to the administrators directly by email or to the Student Affairs email “Question line.”

Personal Counseling

Professional confidential psychological counseling is offered at Counseling and Wellness Services (CWS), http://caps.unc.edu/

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