Decision making: Advice for Doubts about Studying

Are you feeling overwhelmed with your studies? Stuck or lost? Unsure of how to continue or if your choice of studies was the right decision? No one in your family has studied before and navigating university life seems endlessly difficult? Despite your great efforts, you feel like you’re not progressing and all your hard work seems to be in vain?

The counselling provides assistance and new perspectives when situations in your studies are causing difficulties and you’re unclear about which steps come next.
The counselling supports you in coping with these difficulties and the decision-making process, whether it’s changing your course of studies or leaving university with an eye towards a career alternative. None of these options is favoured, since there is not only one right path to a successful career. The focus is individual, solution-oriented advice, which aims at empowering students to overcome difficulties and gain a new perspective on their own resources and opportunities.

Counselling

Problems

Our counselling service offers assistance when your studies aren’t going as planned, maybe because of motivational or performance problems, learning or examination difficulties or family or health issues. The counselling aims at reflecting on the situation together with all its factors and at taking a look at options. Personal and external resources should be taken into account to explore decision-making and action options and help to develop new skills to tackle the situation.

Doubts about your chosen subject or course of study/study programme?

If you are unsure whether you have chosen the right subject or study programme or if you are living with a great amount of uncertainty you can benefit from counselling. We will discuss the factors that influence your doubts in order to look ahead in a solution-oriented way. Finding information sources that can help with decision-making is just as important for your individual advice as localizing resources and developing strategies to initiate a positive development.

Thinking about leaving university?

There are many factors which influence someone’s difficulties in their studies, such as family burdens, performance issues, or simply the feeling of not “fitting into” the university setting. Examining the factors that trigger thoughts of dropping out can lead to progress because clarity is gained in the counselling session. If leaving university is truly the right decision or if doubts arise through other circumstances – the counselling accompanies students in finding answers. This may mean dropping out of university or finding an individual path to stay at university and rethinking and restructuring the situation. Here, instead of striving for performance or fulfilling high expectations, we focus on personal development.

Procedure

In our first meeting, I’d like to know the situation that led you to our counselling. What led to the situation continuously intensifying and ultimately led you to seek contact? Based on this information, we will decide individually on how to proceed with counselling. There is no standardized procedure; every problem, doubt, and concern is different. The most important thing for me is to take each student seriously as a person and to not see them as a “problematic case” but to engage with them as an individual. This way, we can work together to ensure that doubts soon belong to the past.
Personal meetings take place at Emil-Schüller-Straße 8. We have a specially designed coaching room where there is peace and the conversation is not disturbed. Of course, there is also the possibility of meeting online – I will adapt to what makes you feel more comfortable.

Information

Further Resources

Counselling at Studierendenwerk Koblenz	The Studierendenwerk offers counselling on all questions and problems in your student life, for example psychosocial counselling.
Office of Student Affairs at Uni Koblenz	As the first point of contact for all questions concerning studies, the Office of Student Affairs answers questions about courses of study, application procedures, enrollment, re-registration, exmatriculation, change of subject and degree program, etc.
Studienzweifler.com	With the Student Self-Reflection Tool (SRT) students can illuminate their own study situation and receive individual feedback. (Currently only available in German)
Help Lines	If you are in acute need of help and don't know what to do, you will find a contact person at the telephone counselling service. You will find links for help in different languages.
BAföG and Social Counselling	A service offered by the University of Koblenz where you can receive advice on BAfög and other financing options (e.g. loans, jobbing, social benefits) as well as on important topics such as insurance or debt counseling. (Website currently only available in German)

Bist du noch richtig?	A co-operation between IKarus and representatives of the university Koblenz, the employment agency, the HWK and the IHK with the aim to offer support to students with study doubts in order to find their own individual way.
Studienabbruch – und dann?	A platform for students with study doubts to discover their options, gather information and find support.