Student Success Center

First-Year Services
Test Prep Services
Academic Support
SafetyNet
Alumni Speaker Series
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Whether you are a first-year student or a graduate student, whether you are struggling with classes or on the Dean’s List, we have something for you.

The staff at the Student Success Center are interested in your future and your success.

The staff provide a number of programs and services designed to help students reach their academic and professional goals. We are focused on creating a one-stop shopping experience for the tools students need and the academic experience that prepares students to excel at Clarkson and in the increasingly diverse working environment of the 21st century.

Contact the Student Success Center

Let's Get Tech! Summer Program

Clarkson University is rallying behind its entering first-year undergraduates with a special “Let’s Get Tech!” summer 2021 program to set them up to succeed when they head off to college. As incoming students transition from high school to Clarkson, they will have access to a variety of non-credit bearing workshops and learning modules designed to help students thrive in their first year of college.

“Let’s Get Tech” sessions cover everything from how to study, online math refresher courses, writing skills classes, and STEM-building skills at no additional charge for students matriculating into Clarkson this fall. The early summer sessions will be online and include class scheduled in real time with instructors and some that are self-paced with prerecorded, guided instruction. The University is also offering a ten-day, in-person boot camp “Springboard into Calculus” to give all students confidence in their first semester math courses. All sessions include mentorship from current students and faculty as well as first-year program advisors. Incoming students can also get an early start on their academic career by joining summer classes for undergraduates at a special 2021 tuition price.

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First-Year Services

Select a dropdown menu below for more information:

CU Connect

Through CU Connect, every first-year student has the opportunity to connect in a meaningful way with a Clarkson University administrative and/or staff member. Our goal is to provide students with guidance and support early on in the semester to help them with their transition to college.

Students and staff meet several times throughout the first semester and some continue contact into the second semester. Our semi-structured and flexible outline of contacts helped students feel comfortable seeking necessary information about academic and non-academic aspects of college.

First-Year Seminar - FY100

Discussion, team activities, leadership opportunities, and fall-semester interaction with upper-class peer educators form the foundation of this course that all first-year students take.

This course is beneficial to first-year students in that it:

Introduces the mission and expectations of the learning process at Clarkson
Builds communication and teamwork skills
Provides some fundamental content relating to wellness and relationships during the college experience.

Professional Development, Wellness & Academic Advising Seminar - UNIV 102

This seminar-style course is an intentional and integrated effort to provide Clarkson University students with best-in-class career guidance, academic support, wellness monitoring, and curricular advisement where students can make meaningful decisions regarding curricular and co-curricular experiences in a health manner. This is a collaborative effort across multiple Clarkson University departments designed to help students become well-rounded and better prepared for their professional job search, make confident academic major choices, have a better understanding of post-graduate career options, and learn about managing a work-life balance as their academic career becomes more rigorous. The course aims to provide a supportive mechanism in addition to academic advising for further soft-skill development, resilient behaviors, and exploration (major, career, personal, etc.).

Throughout the course students will engage in activities designed to develop professional competencies, to prepare practical career-related documents, develop appropriate course schedules, and learn how to maximize academic advisor appointments. Students will also participate in multiple engagement opportunities with Alumni to encourage job shadowing, career research, and professional connections. All students will leave the course with customized job-search documents including a cover letter, sample networking notes, and a professional LinkedIn profile.

Test Preparation Services

MCAT Test Prep

Clarkson offers an MCAT Prep Course designed to help Clarkson Pre-Med students prepare for the exam. This course (non-credit course) is offered both in the Fall and Spring semesters. The course outcomes are:

Students will understand the fundamentals of the four major areas of MCAT content including (a) biological and biochemical foundations of living systems (b) chemical and physical foundations of biological systems and (c) psychological, social and biological foundations of behavior and (d) critical analysis and reasoning skills
Students will improve their ability to perform on the MCAT

GRE, GMAT, PSAT and SAT Test Prep

We offer test preparation courses for the GRE (Graduate Record Exam), GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test), PSAT (Preliminary SAT) and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test).

Each prep course is four to six weeks in length and they are offered during both the fall and spring semesters. Classes meet twice per week. Some courses are divided into two sections: verbal (which includes analytical writing) and Math. Class size is limited to ensure individual needs can be addressed.

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Academic Support

We understand that the academics at Clarkson are rigorous, so we create an environment where our students feel comfortable seeking assistance early in their time here and at the beginning of each semester. Previous experience has shown us that our students have better performance and outcomes in courses for which tutoring was sought before midterm and continued to the end of the semester. We are here to help our students reach all of their academic goals.

Select a dropdown menu below for more information:

Tutoring Services

The Clarkson University Tutoring Program, for which there is no fee, is for on-going, long-term assistance, and is offered in small group, as well as “drop-in” formats. The tutoring staff consists of qualified undergraduates within the University who are overseen by staff members.

Clarkson has two drop-in tutoring centers which are open up to five days a week in the evenings, helping primarily with courses from math, physics, chemistry and engineering.

We also offer small group tutoring throughout the semester. These groups meet weekly for 1.25 hours, scheduled around individual schedules and students join them by registering online.

These services are very popular with our students, with many seeking out one or both methods of tutoring assistance.

Writing Center

Regardless of your area of study, written communication skills are important in career settings, and therefore, important at Clarkson. Our Writing Center is here to help you improve your written communication skills, providing one-on-one consultations in a collaborative environment.

Staff at the Writing Center assist with academic papers such as lab reports, essays, research papers, Honors theses, presentations and conference posters, as well as post-grad and professional projects like graduate school essays, resumes, cover letters, professional websites and even LinkedIn content.

They also offer custom workshops, opportunities for student employment and writing resources.

Clarkson students can schedule an appointment or drop in during open hours.

Learn more about The Writing Center

Study Skills

Sometimes the study skills brought from high school differ from the skills required at the college level, or sometimes our students are simply looking for unique and personalized ways of improving their study habits. The Student Success Center staff provides academic support on various topics including:

Time Management
Effective Study Skills
Test Preparation and Taking Strategies
Textbook Reading
Note Taking

SafetyNet

At Clarkson, we want to ensure that all of our students feel mentally, emotionally and physically safe. We have a program called SafetyNet, which is an online reporting form that any campus member can fill out to report or initiate notification of the right people to explore or address a concern. Concerns to report can range anywhere from a student who may be sick to routinely missing class, from an individual acting out of character to a complaint of abuse.

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