The Sophomore Review is a mandatory, non-graded activity designed primarily to enhance our advising. You cannot "fail" the review or be dropped from the major for a poor performance on the review, in part because as your advisor, I won't have the review until I think your materials are ready for it.

The review will take place after you've completed 45 credits, but not later than the semester in which you complete 60 credits (so before you have completed 75 credits). It is your responsibility to contact me to schedule the Sophomore Review after you've completed 45 credits. If you fail to complete the Sophomore Review by the end of your probationary period (in other words, by the time you've completed 90 credits), you will be dismissed from the Sociology or Sociology/Criminology major. If you are a transfer student, you should try to complete it as soon as possible, but you should also wait until you have a couple of our Sociology courses under your belt (so you know what we have to offer here).

The review will be a 30 minute interview with your advisor (me) and possibly one other faculty member. This interview is meant to do four things:

1) Ensure that you are "on track" for a timely graduation, that you have completed required general education and major courses, and that you aren't in danger of not graduating;

2) To talk about your career goals, how your Sociology or Sociology/Criminology major has prepared you to meet these career goals, and how future Sociology courses will further enable you to prepare for your chosen career path;

3) To explore the possibility of other career options, graduate school, internships/co-ops, or education abroad programs that might further enhance your educational experience here at MU;

4) To get you to think about what it is you're putting into and getting out of your time here at MU, and how your educational experience might be improved.

At least one week prior to the time you'd like to have your sophomore review, you need to submit to me two things:

A) An essay describing your career goals, how your courses have helped prepare you for them, and what you envision doing for the rest of your time at MU;

B) A resumé written up as if you were applying for the kind of position you would like to have upon graduating from MU.

You should follow the links above to find out more about the essay and resumé, as well as my expectations on these. You should also allow for the probability of having to revise the essay and/or resumé; don't expect that they will automatically be accepted or that the sophomore review will just "happen" when you want it to. As it says above, you cannot fail the review; but I want you to be sure that the work you submit for it represents your most professional work. In other words, you should start working on these materials early in the semester, bring them in no later than mid-semester, and then expect the sophomore review to happen some time after that. In other words, do not wait until the last week of your probationary semester to do this. Start thinking about it in your second-semester sophomore year.

If you have any questions about the Sophomore Review, please do not hesitate to come by my office in Susquehanna House or to email me.