Advising High-Ability Business Students

Abstract

Students who excelled in high school enter college with the expectation that, despite the increase in competition, they will continue to achieve academically at the college level. Some high-ability students never lose momentum. They view college as the next stop on the road to ongoing success and continue to achieve at superior levels. Other high-ability students find the pressure to succeed at the college level to be overwhelming. In this article I describe some of the characteristics of high ability students and give particular attention to high ability students who are pursing business degrees. Advising strategies for working with this population are also discussed.

Cumulative Subject Index to Volumes 16–30 of the NACADA Journal

“…Fiscal accountability (accountability) Glennen, Farren, & Vowell, 1996 Focus groups (*) Barrows & Murray, 1997;Dillon & Fisher, 2000;Smith, 2002;Donnelly, 2004;Ryser & Alden, 2005;Simmons, 2005;Kem & Navan, 2006;Baruch-Runyon, Van Zandt, & Elliott, 2009 Follower behavior (student behavior) Lerstrom, 2008 Freshmen Danis & Wall, 1987, 1988Arbuckle & Gale, 1996;Tinto, 1999;Glennen, Martin, & Walden, 2000;McBeth, Richardson, Cregler, & Meyer, 2000;Paul, Manetas, Grady, & Vivona, 2001;DesJardins & Jie, 2002;Maddi, Khoshaba, Jensen, Carter, Lu, & Harvey, 2002;Smith, 2002;Szafran, 2002;Layton & Lock, 2003;McDonald, 2003;Sams, Brown, Hussey, & Leonard, 2003;Yarbrough & Brown, 2003;Gordon, 2004;Abelman & Molina, 2006;Graunke, Woosley, & Helms, 2006;Smith, Dai, & Szelest, 2006;Schwebel, Walburn, Jacobsen, Jerrolds, & Klyce, 2008;Baruch-Runyon, Van Zandt, & Elliott, 2009;Bitz, 2010;Oliver, Ricard, Witt, Alvarado, & Hill, 2010 course/seminar (freshman seminar) Danis & Wall, 1987, 1988…”

“…Pressures felt by students (group pressures or social pressure or peer pressure) Keeling, 2003;McDonald, 2003 Presuppositional question (see Advising approaches, strengths based ) Priority, institutional Lynch, 1997b Privacy (students' rights of) (privacy) (see Professionalization, process of Danis & Wall, 1987, 1988Schulenberg & Lindhorst, 2008;Cook, 2009;Padak & Kuhn 2009;Shaffer, Zalewski, & Leveille, 2010 Profession of advising (see Advising profession)…”

Potential Applications of Social Norms Theory to Academic Advising

“…High ability students are particularly susceptible to suffer under the acute pressure caused by misperceptions of their peers' abilities, behaviors, and decisions. Competition is evident both in and out of the classroom for these students (McDonald, 2003) who may make rash decisions based on their misperceptions. Other highability students may make choices based upon what they believe others think is right for them (Gordon, 1992).…”

Longitudinal Contact With Individual Students As A Way Of Encouraging Self Determination In Chemical Engineers

“…The term "self-determination" is typically encountered in the context of countries and their right to determine internally, without outside influence, how to act. In this case, it means fostering self confidence [12] of students and exposing them to possibility. Discussions lead to an ability to self-direct that is the foundation of all other lifelong learning activities.…”