Academic Success Coaching
Enhance your studying and learning through academic coaching
Whether you are experiencing challenges with your learning and studying or just want to perform better in college, academic success coaching can help. Through one-on-one coaching, you will develop your academic practices and confidence in using a range of strategies and techniques to reach your full potential.
Academic Coaching FAQ
Academic success coaching is a one-on-one partnership between a student and a coach. Through a structured dialogue tailored to the student’s unique needs, strengths, and aspirations, coaching provides a supportive space to reflect, develop strategies, and take meaningful action toward academic and personal goals.
All students can benefit from academic coaching—whether you’re navigating challenges or looking to build on what’s already working. Academic success coaching promotes growth and development, regardless of where you are in your academic journey.
Coaching supports students in developing skills that contribute to academic success, including organization, time management, planning, and self-management. These skills can be especially beneficial for students with executive functioning challenges, as well as any student seeking to strengthen their learning strategies, academic habits, and confidence as a learner.
Academic coaches recognize that every student is unique. A coach can support you across many areas of college learning, including:
Learning Strategies and Habits
- Executive functioning (task initiation, attention, self-monitoring)
- Reading and note-taking
- Study strategies
- Test preparation and test-taking
Planning and Organization
- Time management and organization
- Balancing your commitments
- Managing long-term projects
- Goal setting
Mindset and Motivation
- Adjustment to college
- Making the most of classes
- Building motivation
- Managing procrastination
- We don’t do your work for you.
- We don’t offer tutoring or subject-specific advice. Please schedule a tutoring session via the peer tutoring community on Penji.
- We don’t do all the talking but encourage students to be active participants in the coaching session.
- We don’t advise on what grades you will receive.
- We don’t take responsibility for the grades you receive.
- We don’t advise on your current or future class schedule. Your Academic Advisor will be happy to assist you.
Peer tutors support students with course content by clarifying key concepts, problems, and ideas. Academic success coaches take a broader approach by helping students develop effective study and learning strategies across courses and subjects. While academic success coaches are not subject experts, they are trained to provide evidence-based strategies that support studying and learning in college. If you would like support with course content, please schedule a session with a peer tutor.
Dr. Adam Scales, Associate Director of Academic Success, offers one-on-one professional coaching for academic and personal success.
Dr. Scales is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and brings more than a decade of experience in supporting students with their learning and studying in college.
Please access the Penji platform or download the Penji app. Once you have accessed Penji, you will see the academic success coaching community.
From here, you will be able to select the topic with which you would like support, followed by a date, time, and meeting location for your session. Once your session is confirmed, you will receive an email confirmation from Penji with the details. Please save the meeting invite so you are reminded of your coaching session.
Before your coaching session, consider specific areas of your studying and/or learning you would like support with. You are also encouraged to prepare a list of questions and topics you’d like to address with your academic coach to bring to the session.
You will see a chatroom feature on Penji, and you are encouraged to use this to chat with your academic coach before the session if you have questions.
During the session, we encourage you to be open about your experiences and ask specific questions to maximize your time with an academic coach. We also encourage students to take notes during the session, as these will be helpful when applying strategies to your studying and learning in the future.
Some students benefit from a one-off coaching session and feel empowered to move forward independently. Other students attend coaching throughout a semester, year, or longer. You will have an opportunity to plan a coaching schedule with your academic coach during the first session.
- Develop evidence-based strategies to enhance your studying and learning
- Increase your motivation to achieve academic goals
- Gain clarity on how you learn and thrive in college
- Build accountability through an academic coaching relationship
- Feel empowered to reach your full potential in college
Student Impact
Students who participate in academic success coaching report increased motivation, accountability, and improved academic performance. Below are reflections from students who have worked with academic coaches.
"Dr. Scales is super kind and helpful in his recommendations. He is also a great listener and asks questions that challenge me to think about how I approach my work."
Sophomore Student
"My session was great! Dr. Scales was super helpful and provided numerous options to help me get organized. Already, I feel more prepared for the semester, and I am excited to continue working with him."
First-Year Student
"The session was very useful. Having someone to talk over the academic week and discuss ways to improve and things that are working has proven to be very useful."
Junior Student
"My academic coaching experience was very, very good. Dr. Scales allowed me to come in and work on work that I needed to do, helped with scheduling, and, most importantly, walked me through how to approach learning in higher education."
Sophomore Student
Please note: Faculty members making a referral to Dr. Scales on behalf of a student are encouraged to notify the appropriate class dean. For first-year students, Dean Graves; for second and third-year students, Dean McCoil; for seniors, Dean Bryant.
Please refer to our Learning Resources page for additional support with your academic skills.