Wellesley College tracks 2010 graduates for success

Professor of sociology Lee Cuba

Success, it is said, leaves footprints in the sand that you can follow. If you can’t follow the footprints you may be on the wrong beach. Wellesley College’s sociologist Lee Cuba seems to subscribe to this principle. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Lee Cuba received a B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from Southern Methodist University in 1976 and an M.A., M.Phil. and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1977, 1978 and 1981, respectively. Prior to joining the Wellesley College faculty, he was an instructor in sociology at Yale in 1981 and at the University of Alaska in 1979.

In a study led by Lee Cuba this Fall, a group of 36 college juniors from seven colleges will have the power to make life better for thousands of students following in their footsteps. The seven participating colleges are Wellesley, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, Smith and Trinity colleges. Now entering its third year (the halfway point in its trajectory), the New England Consortium on Assessment and Student Learning (NECASL) has been asking in-depth questions of these students since they stepped foot on their campuses. A group of successful people is much stronger than any individual.

In personal interviews, students at these colleges are being tracked each step along their college path: as they make the transition from high school to college, through their first year of college, to their choice of a major, to the decision to study abroad or not — and eventually to postgraduate study or employment after college.

The project aims to find out how:

• students make the transition from high school to college

• students make important academic decisions

• academic and social life varies over time

• college practices and policies affect student learning

“We have a window on students’ lives as they move through college,”

Cuba said. “The results can have an effect on the programs we have right now.”

In Cuba’s project, students act as both interviewer and interviewee. The subjects are queried by student interns — an aspect of the study that makes it both effective and unique.

“Having students interview other students shows that they are in a real partnership in this,” Cuba said. “The interviewers have an insightful perspective on the college experience, and the interviewees are more likely to express themselves truthfully to their peers.”

BREAKING IT DOWN: For the project, students have been selected using a “quota sample,” allowing results to be broken down by gender and race. Of the 36 students from each school, there are six each of Asian-American, African-American, Latino and international students as well as 12 white students from the United States. In the schools that are coeducational, the subjects are divided equally by gender.

“We overrepresented students of color, who have not been studied as much, to see how their experiences compare with other groups,” Cuba said.

Cuba and his colleagues are not waiting until the study ends to reveal findings and suggest changes in the college experience. Already three colleges, including Wellesley, have improved their advising system based on feedback from these students.

While first-year students are randomly assigned a faculty member to guide them until they choose a major, the study found that such guidance is more helpful when it is broad and deep in its approach.

“What was really helpful was someone who would open up a conversation with entering students rather than focus on what courses they should take,” Cuba said. “That’s a better approach because course selection advice isn’t that salient to students at this point in their college careers.”

The new system at Wellesley now emphasizes a more deliberate assignment of advisor to student, encouraging more mentoring and reflection than before. Similar improvements have been made at other NECASL schools.

This year, as the students enter their junior year, the questions will revolve around the study away experience, comparing the experiences of those who choose to study away with those who don’t, and the coursework in their major field. Next year, the emphasis will be on the success and value of senior projects and on post-graduation plans. The last and final year of the project will take place after the students have graduated, focusing on how well they feel college prepared them for their current roles as employees, volunteers or graduate students.

LOOKING FORWARD AND BACKWARD: As a bonus to the project, the interview process seems to help students focus on the future. The question “What would make this a successful year for you?” invites students to look ahead. At year’s end, they are asked to talk about how things went.

Both are valuable exercises, according to Cuba, “because it gets students to articulate their expectations and to reflect back. We are asking, ‘This is what you wanted; did it happen?’”

Such reflection stands to change their whole college experience, increasing students’ level of engagement in their education.

“They are not just going along but are strongly involved and caught up in the experience,” Cuba said.

Parallel responses from students at all seven colleges have also been key, Cuba said.

“There was a marked, overwhelming similarity among the group of schools, suggesting that a lot of what we have to say is applicable to many other colleges,” he said.

By talking to students as they make their way through their college years, Cuba and his colleagues hope to create a more successful educational experience. Like pioneers leaving markers on a trail, the class of 2010 will make it easier for others following behind to enjoy a successful journey.

Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all 50 states and 68 countries.