Michelle Chan
“Setting goals
January was a great sounding board for conversations around academic goals or longer-term career aspirations. She encouraged me to strike a balance between setting realistic, yet ambitious goals and helped break them down into smaller manageable steps that I could track over time.
Managing expectations
At a competitive and academically rigorous university like Penn, it was easy at times to feel like grades were the most important aspect of my life. During our advising sessions, January never made me feel like academic success was everything. She helped ground me and other students by providing a voice of balanced perspective, reminding us that a bad grade is not the end of the world, and keeping us focused on our well-being and long-term goals.
Best study practices
January was instrumental in connecting me with resources if I was having trouble in a class. Whenever I stopped by her office to ask for guidance to how to get through a challenging course, she would—on the spot--look up on a list of current M&Ts in the class whom I could contact to form study groups. She would also introduce me to former students who had taken the class so that I could pick their brains for advice.
Majors
I switched my engineering major 4 times in my first two years of college, and January was always available to meet with me each time and help plan my schedule accordingly. She also helped connect me with upperclassmen in that major whom I could talk to and ask questions regarding specific classes or professors in that major’s department.
Focusing on your strengths
Whether it was finding internships, choosing clubs to join, or deciding on my majors, January had a knack for directing the discussion around my strengths, interests, and long-term goals. She made me feel comfortable making decisions that were the right fit for me and showcased my strengths, even if they were the path less traveled.
Time management
I met with January every semester before I registered for courses for help in ensuring that I had a balanced schedule. It was important to me that I was being academically challenged while having time outside of class to pursue extracurricular activities and have a social life. January helped distribute my courses and gave me tips on studying, committing to club leadership positions, and planning around graduation requirements so that I was able to manage my time effectively and have a balanced college experience.
Semester planning
January was hands-down the most helpful resource when it came to planning my course schedule—especially since I switched majors 4 times. She sat patiently with me each time and wrote a detailed 4-year plan for all the classes I would have to take each semester. She also provided input on how to
distribute my requirements between semesters so that I would have a balanced and manageable course load. It was incredibly helpful and I referred back to her semester plans every year when it came to course registration.
Well-being/stress management
January was widely viewed as the “mom” of the M&T Program and made a point to regularly check-in with her students on their mental and emotional well-being—whether that was in formal advising appointments, walk-ins (her door was always open), or just brief encounters on campus. After a friend of mine passed away, I stopped by to talk with January about what I was feeling and mental health reform on campus. She was compassionate and understanding, and checked in with me in the following weeks to see how I was doing.
Resilience
I took a challenging math course in my first semester of college. After receiving a poor grade on our first midterm—the worst grade I had ever gotten—I was terrified that I was going to fail the course and rushed to her office nearly in tears. January patiently listened with a sympathetic ear; she helped me evaluate the overall grade breakdown of the course to get a more realistic assessment of how I was doing, put me in contact with an upperclassman who had taken the course, and connected me with the professor and the tutoring center so that I could get extra help outside of class. Her support helped me come to view failure as a learning experience and develop the strength to overcome setbacks.
Networking
January was always a great resource for introductions to upperclassmen and alumni. When I was seeking my first internship and had not yet built a network of my own, she helped put me in contact with several alumni who had formed their own startups and I interned with one of them for part of the school year.”