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• Virginia Tech Home
• Division of Student Affairs
• Cook Counseling Center

It is your responsibility to make college a growth experience for you. The following suggestions and resources may be helpful.

1. Attack the problem of goal setting directly.

A. Gather information about your interests, abilities, values, and needs. The following may be useful in this process;

• Tests
• Counseling
• Self-evaluation

B. Gather information about occupations.

• Career Services at Virginia Tech has files of this type of information.
• Use the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
• Talk to personnel in Career Services.
• Get first-hand information from people working in this field.

C. Gather information about training requirements and training programs.

• Using Career Services occupational files.
• Using college and other catalogs.
• Get first-hand information from professors or those in the field.

D. On the basis of the information, start making decisions which lead you in directions you want to go.

2. Attack personal problems directly. The following may be helpful:

A. Using the services of the Counseling Center.

• Individual counseling or therapy.
• Self-help materials.
• Group counseling or therapy.

B. Attack the problem yourself.

• Self-evaluation.
• Direct confrontation of others involved in the problem.
• Accept responsibilities for initiating changes you want to make.

MOTIVATION CHECKLIST

The following checklist may prove helpful in getting at the sources of poor motivation. If you want to improve your motivation you may want to choose a self-directed improvement program or use the information as a focus for counseling.

1. Really preferring something other than attending this university:

____Would prefer not to go to college.

____Would rather attend another college.

____Would prefer a different kind of training.

2. College as means to ends other than learning:

____To avoid getting a job

____To find a mate

____To have a good time

____To get away from home

____To prove self-worth

3. Distracting personal problems:

____Conflict with same sex

____Conflict with opposite sex

____Conflict with parents

____Lack of confidence

____Undefined resistance to college

____Angry at the world

____Overuse of drugs or alcohol

____Fear of evaluation

____Difficulty in making decisions

____Lack of financial resources

____Marriage problems

____Phobias and other anxieties

____Insecurity

____Loneliness

4. Lack of interest

____Undefined vocational goals

____Undefined educational goals

____Course material is not what I think is important

____Interest in school is not the "in" thing among my friends.

5. Continuing self-defeating behavior patterns:

____Excessive dependence on parents or others

____Fear as a motivator

____Parents as motivators

____Grades or academic achievement as motivator

____High school habits