Welcome to Sophomore Year!
As a sophomore at Gettysburg College you are expected to participate in the Sophomore Success Program (SSP), a program developed to assist sophomore students through specific activities and programs to help them succeed in their second year of college. The SSP credits are also used as a method of determining housing lottery numbers. See below more information on housing lottery numbers.
Four Programs to Help You Thrive in Your Second Year
- Second Year Kick-Off - Monday, September 11, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. (Ask your Community Advisor (CA) or House Leader (HL) for locations)
- Academic Planning (Faculty Advisor card due to ResEd Office by Friday, December 15, 2023 at 5:00 p.m.)
- Sophomore Career Check-In (Due: Monday, January 22, 2024 - Friday, April 5, 2024)
- G-Chats (#1 due: Friday, September 22, 2023 - Sunday, November 19, 2023; #2 due: Monday, February 5, 2024 - Friday, April 5, 2024)
Tell Me More About The...
Second Year Kick Off (1 credit)
The second year kick off is meant to welcome the second year students back to campus, but to also be able to discuss the importance of the second year experience program and the requirements of the program. This session will be completed by your HL or CA based on where you live. Please continue to check your email for updates about this brief meeting.
Academic Planning
There are a few campus experiences that are as powerful to thriving than students having positive interactions with their faculty. Research continues to confirm that rewarding relationships with faculty outside of the classroom are associated with higher learning gains, higher levels of academic performance, better communication skills, and greater personal and social development. All sophomore students will be given an advising card by their CA or HL at the Second Year Kick-Off. This card should be taken to their meeting with their advisor to reflect on their first year academic experience, conversations about declaring their major, academic planning, and any other questions the student may have. The cards must be signed by the advisor and returned to the ResEd office in CUB 250 to receive credit.
Sophomore Career Check-In (1 credit)
As second year students set into a new year of college, they are invited to begin to start making decisions that will begin to impact their future self. They are starting to think more narrowly about how selecting their major, leadership activities, internships and additional choices on campus will have impact on their life after college. In this context, the college will need to be able to develop opportunities for students to explore their possibilities for the future so that they can begin to engage with the decision making process around their skills, interests, and values that match an academic major and future careers. Students should set a meeting on Hand Shake to complete a Sophomore Check-In with the Center for Career Engagement. The conversation will focus on students discussing their career goals, resume and college experiences. All students must bring a resume with them to this Sophomore Career Check-In.
G-Chat (1 credit each)
Students who are succeeding in their second year on campus are those that are supported by others in healthy and meaningful ways. In finding this community on campus, the students have a higher likelihood of experiencing positive outcomes towards their sense of connection to the campus. In addition; through the residential curriculum the students are encouraged to explore new activities and to be able to reflect on work that they have done in the past, and what is left to do in the future. The one to one conversation between peers provides an additional outlet and resource for second year students who may still be struggling to find their place on the campus, but to also have an opportunity to seek out additional resources that they feel they are lacking. The G-Chat is a conversation that occurs once in the fall semester and once in the spring semester that is scheduled between the CA or HL and their residents. The conversation is meant to be used as a resource for students who have questions or concerns about all things Gettysburg.
Sophomore Student Lottery Numbers
Lottery numbers for sophomore students who are rising juniors are created through only credits gained through the Sophomore Success Program (SSP) . The lowest (best) lottery numbers will begin with bracket 1 which are all students who completed five credits and the random generation of lottery numbers will occur with all who have five credits. The second bracket will include all students who have completed four credits, and those students will have their lottery numbers randomly generated with all who have four credits. This pattern will continue for students who have three, two, one, and 0 credits. As of August 2019, GPA is not a factor in lottery number generation for rising juniors.