Mindset

UGA students are very well-prepared. The Class of 2026 posted an average high school GPA of 4.12, an average ACT score of 32, and an average SAT score of 1384. Often such high-achieving students have never experienced any kind of failure. But the demanding pace of a research institution like UGA often poses significant and unexpected challenges for our students. Our Academic Coaching program provides direct, differentiated assistance for students as they navigate college, overcome whatever challenges they encounter, achieve academic success, and ultimately graduate.

1. Continue and Expand Scaled Mindset Boost Workshops
2. Continue and refocus Mindset FLC

Concierge Coaching is a model to help at-risk students in their journey while at SGSC. It provides an additional layer of support and connection for these students by assigning them to a “coach” which may be a faculty or staff member

Promoting and Creating Awareness of Growth Mindset in students, faculty, and staff  

Designing and integrating academic success content into all sections of Area B courses, regardless of session length or modality

Improve Learning Support (LS) student success outcomes  

Support student success through- 

To combat lower graduation rates, KSU will focus on four initiatives aimed at supporting new students:

1. The President’s Focused Learner Program

The President’s Focused Learner Program (PFL) is a KSU initiative seeking to assist incoming students at risk of “Murky Middle” GPAs with their ability to navigate the academic and personal well-being factors often necessary for a student’s academic success. The PFL Program spans all majors at KSU.

New Student Orientation (NSO) is designed to help students settle into campus life and fully prepare for the start of their classes and college journey. Students will learn more about campus resources, bond with classmates at social events, and familiarize themselves with campus before classes begin. As part of the Student Success Redesign at Gordon State College, via the USG Study Group, we determined that we needed to revamp our pre-orientation platform to allow for NSO registration and the deployment of a scheduling survey for students.

FIRE 1000 (Freshmen Introduction to Reasoning Essentials) is a first-year course intended to stimulate students’ academic self-efficacy, depth of intellectual inquiry, and problem-solving skills. This is done through research and reflection to achieve a deeper understanding of themselves, their purpose, and the campus community. FIRE 1000 was launched in 2017 and is required at GSC for all new students and transfer students under 13 credit hours.