Bryn Mawr College

Accessing Academic Support

Some of the best academic supports that Bryn Mawr offers are built into the fabric of day-to-day life. Small class size, professors that genuinely care about teaching, and a close-knit intellectually focused residential community: all these make it easy for students to talk about ideas, to ask questions, to seek the help of those who have more experience in a field. In addition, the deans work with faculty and students to provide various formal academic support services as necessary supplements to more informal networks of support.

 

Because academic anxieties may sometimes be a sign of other non-academic problems, a professor, your dean, or your HA may recommend that you talk to a counselor from the health center. You and the counselor may talk about factors that can contribute to academic stress and about techniques for handling stress.

 

It is important to realize that some academic anxiety necessarily accompanies college life, as students struggle to master increasingly sophisticated material and methods of inquiry and to meet increasingly demanding expectations. First-year students entering college, sophomores delving into their majors, and upperclasswomen embarking on upper-level seminars often report that their previous approaches to reading, note-taking, studying or taking exams now seem inefficient or ineffective. If you are having trouble coping with the academic demands placed on you, you might want to re-evaluate your study strategies. Bryn Mawr offers a variety of services to support your study strategies, ranging from your dean to study-skills specialists, peer-mentoring, and tutors.