Evaluation of a ten year life planning assignment for an Academic Scholarship Success Class

In Fall 2010, 98 students in a one-credit Academic Scholarship Success Class were given an assignment to write a life plan for the ten years after their Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree. The students in this class were either NSF S-STEM Scholarship students (engineering or computer science majors), transfer students who would receive a $300 scholarship after successful completion of the class, or other upper division students who had heard that the course was very helpful. The programs supporting the class have an emphasis on women and underrepresented minority students. The students were to address a summary of goals and professional objectives, current status in education and personal life, education goals and planned coursework, research importance, industrial importance, community service importance, personal mentoring plan, graduate school, professional goals, lifelong learning, family planning, travel plans, contingency plans, and their philosophy of life. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the reaction of the students to this assignment. The students were asked at a later time for their evaluation: was the assignment helpful, what did they learn doing the assignment, was the assignment thorough enough, and what changes would they make in the assignment. A summary of these findings is presented. Some students were surprised at how much their goals and plans in some areas changed in just a semester. The conclusion of the study is that this is a very helpful, important, and interesting assignment that should be given in mentoring situations and academic success classes.