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Advising Resources

Yearly Guide to Making the Most of Your DePaul Experience

  1. Participate in the fall quarter Welcome Week. Your tuition provides you with access to amazing resources at DePaul. Learn about them and meet other DePaul students, faculty and staff through Welcome Week events.
  2. Attend the Student Involvement Fair and actively participate in a student organization.  Participate in student organizations and work your way up to leadership positions.  Setting up and running meetings, managing a student organization's administrative needs, managing a student organization budget and working with others to accomplish tasks are all aspects of student involvement that will help you in your future career.  Many student organizations are also affliated with nation-wide, professional organizations that offer you professional development and networking opportunities. These experiences are as valuable as internship experiences!
  3. Take UIP 240 Career Exploration winter quarter and UIP 241 Uncovering Your Skills spring quarter. These are 2 credit-hour classes you would take as a 5th class (if your other 4 classes are only 4 credits each) and fits within your 18 credit-hour tuition package.  Even if you already know what you want to do after college, or have no idea, what you learn in these classes will be useful to you in finding satisfaction and happiness in your future career.
  4. Review study abroad programs and decide which ones most interest you. Review the courses you might complete through the study abroad program and save those courses for the study abroad program. If possible, try to study abroad your sophomore year. The earlier you go, the MORE course OPTIONS you have to complete through study abroad.
  5. Participate in one of the retreats offered through University Ministry.
  6. Participate in a service immersion trip (domestic or international) over December intersession or spring break. Students must apply several months in advance.

  1. Review 2 career videos a month, every month, to help familiarize yourself with things you need to know about life after college. This enables you to make better choices while you're in college, in preparation for life after college.
  2. Update your resume to reflect the skills and experiences you've gained through your classes and college experiences.  Check in with a Peer Career Advisor to regularly update your resume. You are able to gain new experiences to add to your resume every quarter. If you don't update your resume every quarter, remember to write down your experiences in a career journal or you may forget to include it in your resume when you need to apply for jobs.
  3. Try to find an on-campus job in an office setting.  Any work in an office setting will be desirable and helpful to you if you plan to go into a career where you will be working in an office setting.
  4. Participate in one of the many DePaul Community Service Association events/meetings. Obtain valuable work experience while also developing life-long friendships.
  5. Engage in one of the many leadership opportunities at DePaul and develop the necessary skills for life after DePaul.
  6. Apply to become a Chicago Quarter Mentor or Resident Advisor.

  1. Seek out informational interviews with ASK mentors. You can find many online examples of informational interview questions to ask, such as this list from Live Career.
  2. Write down your responses to sample interview questions (answer 2 questions a week). You can find many online examples of interview questions based on industry and interview question type. For starters, you could try this list of behavioral interview questions.  Answering interview questions early on can help you to see the gaps in your skills and experiences before you graduate, so that you can start to work on improving in those areas before you graduate.
  3. Prepare for the employment selection process through practice interviews with ASK mentors and InterviewStream.
  4. Make sure you've completed steps 1 and 2 of the Career Roadmap, so that you're able to work on step 3, third year.
  5. Seek part-time administrative jobs where you can work in an area related to where you may want to be after you graduate. e.g., interested in medical field - work as receptionist in medical office; interested in marketing - work in any office and ask to help with marketing projects
  1. Create a career portfolio.
  2. Prepare for job interviews. This includes reviewing the responses to sample interview questions that you previously completed.
  3. Start asking for letters of recommendation. Read more about this on our Academic Success webpage and through the student behavior checklist.
  4. Review online information about how to handle a job offer.
  5. Review ASK mentor Career Stories.
  6. If you're planning to work outside of the U.S., be sure to review the country guides and employment tips listed through GoingGlobal  (Campus Connect login required.)
  1. Meet with your staff advisor and/or faculty advisor to discuss degree progress, making the most of your DePaul experience, your academic performance and college in general. Review the Advising Guidelines to learn more about how to make the most of your relationships with faculty and staff advisors.
  2. Meet with a Career Center advisor.
  3. Learn how to navigate college and manage your degree progress.
  4. Think about your behavior with professors, peers and staff at the university and how well you are meeting all of your obligations. Everything YOU choose to do (or not do) in college can help (or hinder) YOUR future success in a career. Be mindful of your actions and work to develop the skills employers seek through your interactions with others and through the work you do in and out of classes.
  5. Meet with your professors during office hours. You need to develop rapport with them if you hope to receive letters of recommendation.
  6. Attend Financial Fitness Workshops and meet with a FF advisor to learn more about your finances, how to live on a budget, and plan for your future financial success.
  7. Use the discounts available to you as a DePaul student.
  8. Connect with ASK (Alumni Sharing Knowledge) mentors through the DePaul ASK Network and learn more about what people are doing in areas that interest you.
  9. Review DePaul scholarship opportunities through DePaul Academic Works. New scholarships are posted weekly!
  10. Take a two-credit class as a 5th class whenever you're only taking 4, four-credit classes.
  11. Attend a job & internship fair to familiarize yourself with the experience and hopefully land a summer internship.

Graduate Student Yearly Guide Recommendations

  1. Connect with faculty and staff advisor to discuss career goals and academic plan.
  2. Review MOL Graduate Handbook.
  3. Apply for Graduate Research Funding.
  4. Familiarize yourself with Adult Student Affairs programs/services.
  5. Attend the Graduate Thesis and Dissertation Conference and LAS Graduate Student Conference.
  6. Students interested in a career in education (administration, curriculum or instruction) are recommended to pursue these free DePaul certificates.
  1. Practice interviewing!
  2. Finish polishing up your career portfolio.
  3. Attend a professional conference in your field/industry.

Student Requirements and Expectations

Professional Development

Learn more about developing the soft skills you need to experience less stress and more happiness in life after DePaul. Your DePaul tuition covers the subscription cost of Lynda, which provides thousands of online learning videos. Please review one video course per month to help you continue to develop important skills for life as an independent adult. Course playlists were created for you based on your year in college, but feel free to view these at any point in your college career.

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