Running head: ADVISING STUDENTS 1

Advising Students through Career Uncertainty: Utilizing Introductory Courses to Practice

Student Development Theory
Morgan Ruebusch
Loyola University Chicago
ADVISING STUDENTS 2

Advising Students through Career Uncertainty: Advising Professionals Role in Applying Student
Development Theory
College degree attainment is frequently seen as a pathway to higher earnings in the

United States. Statistics gathered over the past five years support this: the median earnings of

young people who hold a bachelor’s degree are 66% higher when compared to young people

who completed high school (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2016).

Additionally, those with a master’s degree or higher have an 18% higher median earning than

those with a bachelor’s degree (NCES, 2016). Seeing these statistics makes it easy to understand

that a lot of pressure exists for students attending college to complete their degree and in turn

increase their future income. This pressure occurs on top of other key developmental changes

that typically occur during late adolescence and young adulthood. The entirety of student

development theory exists to help educators understand the processes and challenges that young

people are facing while they transition to more independence and establish their own moral

values. Opportunities for career discernment can clearly be seen in theories authored by Baxter

Magolda, Chickering, Kohlberg, Perry, and more. In this paper I will address my own difficulty

in deciding a career path in college and the guidance, and lack thereof, which I received from my

participation in an introductory university course. Using this personal narrative, I will describe a

set of potential theoretical frameworks that can be utilized to guide all students through career

indecision in an academic setting.

Personal Narrative

Studies say between 50-75% of students change their major during college (NCES,

2017). I was one of those students. Between my senior year of high school in 2012 and the end

of my sophomore year of college in 2014 I declared five different majors and two minors. I was

the poster child of indecision when it came to my career aspirations. During my time at the
ADVISING STUDENTS 3

University of Kentucky I was enrolled in the College of Education, College of Nursing, College

of Social Work, and admitted to the Bluegrass Community and Technical College Associates

Degree Nursing Program. My experiences throughout this period of transition, mainly focused in

my first and second year of school, were difficult and tested my will to continue at times. I was

fortunate to find more support than discouragement from the staff I interacted with, but not

everyone was helpful when I sought their assistance.

Indecision

My personal struggles with deciding on my major, or more largely my future, mostly

stemmed from my desire to seek complete guidance from those around me. This period in my

development could be described by Chickering’s (1989) third vector of “moving through

autonomy toward interdependence” or by Baxter Magolda’s (2008) phase one of “following

formulas.” I grew up in a family where not going to college was never an option. Both of my

parents received three year diplomas from nursing schools, my father later received his master’s

degree in nurse anesthesia, when I started college my sister had just finished her bachelor’s

degree in nursing, and my brother was halfway through his degree in history. There was pressure

from my family and community to succeed. I felt as though success meant that I go into a field

with high earning potential and excel in whatever academic area I entered, as I had done in high

school. I relied on the limited professions I had been exposed to as my index for selecting my

entire future. I never imagined the world of professional paths that I did not know existed. The

only personal value I held above all possible majors and job prospects was my desire to help

others.

On countless occasions I sought advice from my mother, my siblings, and my job

supervisors—both at summer camp and within residence life. From my mother and siblings I
ADVISING STUDENTS 4

heard general support with a hint of hesitation when I said that I was considering social work and

education because of their relatively low earning potential. My family wanted me to be

successful, but by societal definitions that meant that earning potential and prestige took

precedence over a potentially thankless job. My supervisors were all extremely supportive, and

just a little biased, in encouraging me to explore different careers. I performed well in both of

these positions and my love for summer camp only slightly outshined my love for working with

students in the residence hall, so each of them were naturally excited to see me continue in their

areas. As it turns out, the helping fields I so loved had a knack for recruiting the next generation

of professionals during their college years.

Support

Despite the fact that my supervisors would both have loved for me to enter their

respective fields, they were also some of the most supportive in my career exploration as well.

My Resident Director, Amanda, was specifically supportive during this immensely stressful

point in my life. She encouraged me to reflect deeply on my values, in line with encouraging a

transition into Baxter Magolda’s phase 3 of “becoming the author of one’s life.” She also noticed

that I lacked confidence in my ability to trust my own judgment and instead sought it from

others. Unsurprisingly, this lack of confidence aligns with several theories of women’s identity

development, specifically within the “received knowledge” stage of Belenky, Clinchy,

Godberger, and Tarule’s Women’s Ways of Knowing (1986).

Amanda saw these hurdles I was struggling to overcome and used her knowledge of

development theory to decide how to best support me. To address my lack of confidence

Amanda suggested speaking to a counseling center staff member and focused our one-on-one

meetings on helping me delve deeper into my personal values through goal setting and critical
ADVISING STUDENTS 5

thinking. To encourage my transition into “becoming the author of my own life” Amanda

worked with me to set up career center appointments and more than anything refused to tell me

what I wanted her to, what she thought I should do. By not giving me any more prescriptions to

follow, Amanda forced me to begin to consider my own opinion above that of others.

I found similar support in others at UK. Catherine worked as the Student Engagement

Coordinator at the Violence Intervention and Prevention Center and acted as a mentor who

taught me about resilience and passion. My peers in Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity,

led me along a path of serving others and deepened my passion to be a helper. My student leader

roles as a Resident Advisor, a College of Education Ambassador, and a student representative on

several conduct administrator searches let me explore different functional areas before I even

realized that they were called that. All of these people and experiences advised me to pursue a

career in student affairs. They provided me with the support I needed to explore who I wanted to

be, which was necessary after the rough start to career exploration I received during my first

semester.

Challenge

Several of my advisors were not truly academic advisors in the traditional sense, but there

academic guidance was much more welcome than that of some of the actual professionals

assigned to provide me with assistance. Some of the most challenging moments of my

undergraduate career were when I found resistance from those who were in positions to support

me. During my first year at UK I had an advisor within the College of Nursing who also taught

my Nursing 101 course. It seemed that she had an immense collection of wisdom about how to

navigate ones way into the highly competitive nursing program. During class she spoke with us

about our passion for nursing and instilled in her pupils the idea that with our passion anything
ADVISING STUDENTS 6

could be possible. I bought into her impassioned ideas about making it through nursing school

until she told me that I would not make it that far.

During my mid-semester advising appointment my advisor told me that I should look into

other majors or think about switching to another school if I wanted to continue pursuing nursing.

She told me that my grade in Anatomy and Physiology, one of the core courses for admittance to

the nursing program, was too low at an 81% and that with that grade I likely would not be

accepted into the program for my sophomore year. I left her office with some advice to look at a

degree in Social Work because “a lot of nursing majors who do not make it really like that

program.” I was not given any resources at UK’s counseling or career centers. I was not given

the name of any other advisors to speak to. I was not confident in my ability to continue on in

college at this time. The NUR 101 course was supposed to be an introduction for students into

the university and teach us how to develop healthy study habits. I took this course instead of UK

101, our general education introductory course, because I wanted to learn how to be a nurse. In

retrospect it could have been more beneficial if I had taken the general course taught by a wider

array of student affairs professionals and peer instructors who I imagine would have been more

helpful when I was told to change majors.

Supporting Theory and Implementation Plan

Because of my personal experience with career indecision and the lack of guidance I

received early on in my career, I am going to propose a theoretical framework for

implementation in an introductory university course that pays specific attention to students who

are undecided or exploratory majors. The plan will cover several activities and assignments that

a professional can integrate into their syllabus to best provide support to students deciding their

majors. These activities could also be used in part or in full for students participating in other
ADVISING STUDENTS 7

educational settings who have or have not declared a major. In order to support this plan I will

back up each aspect with developmental theory. I will utilize several developmental theories

covered within the student development course and a supporting theory that I discovered

elsewhere. All of the theories will allow me to frame activities, discussions, and realizations that

the students participating in this course will ideally experience. I will be using Baxter Magolda’s

self-authorship, Marcia’s identity status, and Perry’s intellectual and ethical development

theories. To begin I will provide a basic understanding of these theories and follow up with

practical applications. The applications will include reflective papers, one-on-one meetings, and

an interview/shadowing experience.

Self-authorship

Theory. Baxter Magolda’s theory of self-authorship focuses on the holistic development

of students by an individual “becoming the coordinator of defining his/her beliefs, identity and

social relations while critically considering the perspectives of external others” (Baxter Magolda,

2008, p. 270). Self-authorship is not achieved quickly and many scholars say that it is not ever

fully achieved while a student is enrolled in college, but the beginning stages of forming one’s

own deeply held values is frequently seen during this time period. Individuals move through four

phases during their journey to self-authorship: following formulas, crossroads, becoming the

author of one’s life, and internal foundation (Baxter Magolda, 2007). Students experiencing

career uncertainty are likely in the crossroads phase of their professional discernment journey

when they begin to question the prescriptive influences of others superseding their own values.

To assist students in creating a strong internal foundation, allowing them to move closer to self-

authorship, Baxter Magolda and many others discuss techniques used to increase critical

thinking.
ADVISING STUDENTS 8

In a 2008 publication Baxter Magolda worked to integrate self-authorship into the

practice of learning outcomes for current educators. Specifically focusing on how academic

advisors work to help students improve their self-authorship goals Baxter Magolda (2008)

suggested using conversation where “advisors raise questions about students’ interests, strengths,

goals, motivation level, obstacles to reaching goals, and opinions on how these relate” (p.75).

This strategy helps students to focus on the process of career decision making rather than just the

end result. In another piece Baxter Magolda spoke about how important it was to help students

become learning partners with their faculty and staff mentors to increase their emotional learning

(Baxter Magolda, 2008). Emotional learning plays a vital role in career discernment as it

increases a student’s capacity to use their internal voice and to construct meaning of their

experiences.

Another study completed by Pizzolato (2006) found that when academic advisors help

students navigate the path to career attainment, including how to cope with obstacles and make

autonomous decisions, the students are not only more likely to find a fulfilling career, but are

also more ready to face other obstacles in their personal lives after college. Pizzolato looks at a

student’s path to self-authorship as a narrative written for each individual taking into account

their lived experiences and recognizing the unique skills and values that each person brings to

their future profession. The last practical use of self-authorship theory included focuses on

reflective conversations where students are engaged in talking about their most significant

experiences to help students frame their academic and career decisions (Baxter Magolda, 2008).

All of these applications can assist in creating activities for introductory university courses.

Application. The activities associated with this theory will involve three reflection

papers assigned throughout the semester. The first prompt will ask students to list their personal
ADVISING STUDENTS 9

and community values and give explanation for where they believe these values came from. The

next prompt will ask students to explain their most impactful past experience(s) and how they

feel this time in their life affected their present and future. The last prompt will ask students to

examine who the most influential person(s) are in their life, list that persons values, and evaluate

how this persons values either support or challenge their future. These reflection papers follow

Baxter Magolda’s practice of building an internal foundation and encourage self-authoring

behaviors (Baxter Magolda, 2007). They also allow for individualization accounting for lived

experiences like Pizzolato, Nguyen, Jonhston, and Wang (2012) found would be helpful for

students from marginalized identities.

Identity Status

Theory. Marcia’s (1980) approach to career discernment focuses largely on the

relationship of exploration and commitment. There are four identity stages that students may fall

in: diffusion representing low exploration and low commitment, foreclosure representing low

exploration and high commitment, moratorium representing high exploration and low

commitment, and achievement representing high exploration and low commitment (Marcia,

1980). Each stage appears differently to professionals working with students and development

typically begins at diffusion and moves laterally towards achievement. Each stage should also be

met with different challenge and support coming from the professional advising the student.

In an article by Kyle Ross (2013) a clear application to academic advising is drawn for

each of the stages. Ross (2013) states that for students in the diffusion stage it could be helpful to

guide students based on a timeline for major and career decision making while introducing them

to their options based on their motivation. Student in foreclosure, however, may be highly

motivated to complete their degree, but be unaware or overwhelmed by their options. These
ADVISING STUDENTS 10

students will likely benefit from the reflective conversations suggested by Baxter Magolda

(2008). For students in moratorium who have a wealth of knowledge about their career options,

encouraging autonomous decision making and helping build self-confidence is necessary (Ross,

2013). These students will all ideally make it to the achievement stage of their career decision

and confidently know that they chose a profession they are interested in. Marcia’s stages can be

applied to other facets of identity development as well, but their fit with career discernment

makes identifying curriculum structure much easier for introductory courses.

Application. To apply Marcia’s theory to practice students will be required to take part

in one-on-one meetings with their course instructor. These meetings will occur after an initial

intake assessment has been collected determining what each student is interested in for their

major and how much they have researched about potential majors/professions. This information

will provide the instructor with the proper amount of information to establish what stage the

student is in and allow for a more directed conversation. The topics will range from a discussion

on what majors are offered at the school to how long a specific degree program will last. These

conversations will closely follow the recommendations made by Ross (2013). The one-on-one

interaction will also increase mattering for students who may otherwise be feeling unimportant

or marginalized within their new university setting (Schlossberg, 1989). Schlossberg (1989)

posits that this interaction can be especially important for minoritized students who need to feel

as if they matter early on in the college process.

Intellectual and Ethical Development

Theory. Perry’s (1968) theory includes nine positions with four main types of knowledge

wherein development occurs in the transition between them. The first position of knowledge is

dualism. Representing a world filled with right and wrong, dualistic thinkers experience
ADVISING STUDENTS 11

knowledge as absolute and provided by authorities (Perry, 1968). Career decisions made by

dualistic thinkers are likely based on factual evidence provided by others and devoid of much

personal value. The transition to the next knowledge stage of multiplicity occurs when cognitive

dissonance begins. Perry (1968) states that multiplistic thinkers see all opinions as valid as begin

to expand their sources of knowledge. These individuals are often indecisive about what they

hold as truth and during the discernment process may find it difficult to distinguish whether their

own knowledge about themselves is more important than the opinions of others. Next is a move

to relativistic knowing where analytic thinking is incorporated into the facts they are presented,

leading to an understanding that reasonable people can disagree on matters and still hold some

kind of truth in their own context (Perry, 1968). The last knowledge phase is commitment which

uses the critical thinking skills gained in relativism to come to concrete conclusions about

aspects of your life, like career and major (Perry, 1968).

From this research, Knefelkamp and Widick created an instrument labeled the Measure

of Intellectual Development (MID) which can measure the effectiveness of interventions at

increasing intellectual development (as cited in Patton, Renn, Guido & Quaye, 2016). This tool

could be, and has been, applied to a program looking to increase major declaration in students

who are undecided or questioning their current interests. Further implementation of Perry’s

model in career discernment can assist professionals in understanding how to best introduce new

knowledge and facts based on a student’s position within the model.

Application. Perry’s theory will be utilized in this course by assigning students a career

exploration project. Each student will be responsible for deciding on a particular career that they

are considering and conduct an interview or shadowing experience with an active member of that

profession. This assignment will assist students to connect their own ideas with a tactile
ADVISING STUDENTS 12

experience that connects with the transition to Perry’s relativism phase of knowledge (Rapaport,

2013). This activity will also support students through exploration as outlined in Marcia’s (1980)

theory. For students who are from racial, ethnic, or gender minorities it may help to find a

professional who shares one or more of their own identities as Crisp and Cruz’s (2009) study on

mentoring found.

Conclusion

These activities, when arranged in a sequence throughout an academic course, will

ideally help students to establish their own internal foundations, commit to a major or career

after plenty of exploration, and encourage engaging activities with their ideal field to ensure that

the knowledge base the students are relying on is based on their own context. Thus, touching on

the three main theories as outlined in this paper. I would also like to pay special attention to the

fact that this plan, while backed with theory, is not fool proof and may not be wholly applicable

to each student. I made an effort to include the way in which students from diverse backgrounds

may interact with career discernment differently than their peers in the majority identities, but

there are a multitude of situations which I did not include. Ideally this system will allow a certain

amount of personalization and the course will take place with a small student-to-staff ratio so

that relationships of trust and understanding can be built.

The purpose of this program is to assist students through a time in their life where

pressure from society and community can easily overshadow one’s own wishes for their future. I

know that this work is important in part because of my own negative experience during my

introductory course in undergrad. I want to be able to help students succeed in what they love to

do. I also want students who begin college to finish and find employment that they enjoy because

the financial implications of attaining a bachelor’s degree cannot be ignored. Finally, I want to
ADVISING STUDENTS 13

help students learn how to handle challenges and adversity through their career discernment

process so that once they leave college they are more able to preserve through the inevitable ups

and downs of life. It is clear that I am still strong in my own conviction of helping others, so it is

time that I help some students figure out what their deeply held values are.
ADVISING STUDENTS 14

References

Baxter Magolda, M. (2007). Self-authorship: The foundation for twenty-first century education.

New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 109, 69-83. doi: 10.1002/tl.

Baxter Magolda, M. (2008). Three elements of self-authorship. Journal of College Student

Development, 49(4), 269-284. doi: 10.1353/csd.0.0016.

Belenky, M.F., Clinchy, B.M., Goldberger, N.R., & Tarule, J.M. (1986). Women’s ways of

knowing: The development of self, voice, and mind. New York: Basic Books.

Chickering, A.W. (1969). Education and identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Crisp, G. & Cruz, I. (2009). Mentoring college students: A critical review of the literature

between 1900 and 2007. Research in Higher Education, 50(6), 525-545. doi:

10.1007/s121162-009-9130-2.

Marcia, J. E., (1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent

psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.\

National Center for Education Statistics. (2016) Back to school statistics. Retrieved from

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2017). The condition of education: Undergraduate

degree fields. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cta.asp.

Patton, L.D., Renn, K.A., Guido, F.M., & Quaye, S.J. (2016). Student development in college:

Theory, research, and practice. (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Perry, W.G., Jr. (1968). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A

scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

ADVISING STUDENTS 15

Pizzolato, J.E. (2006). Complex partnerships: Self-authorship and provocative academic-

advising practices. NACADA Journal, 26(1).

Pizzolato, J.E., Nguyen, T., Johnston, M., &Wang, S. (2012). Understanding context: Cultural,

relational, & psychological interaction in self-authorship development. Journal of

College Student Development, 53, 656-679.

Rapaport, W.J. (2013). William Perry’s scheme of intellectual and ethical development: A

journey along the 9 “Perry” positions. Retrieved from

https://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/perry.positions.html.

Ross, K.W. (2013). Applying career and identity development theories in advising. Retrieved

from http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-

Articles/Applying-Career-and-Identity-Development-Theories-in-Advising.aspx.

Schlossberg, N.K. (1989). Marginality and mattering: Key issues in building community. In D.C.

Roberts (Ed.), Designing campus activities to foster a sense of community. New

Directions for Student Services, no. 48, pp. 5-15. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.