Christina Luccio '07 and Severina Ostrovsky '07 took it upon themselves to simplify and streamline Dartmouth's Peer Academic Link program after students complained it was unwieldy.
The modified system, which was officially launched last week, sports many new features including a website where students of all years can contact a major-specific, upperclassman PAL.
The major differences between the new program and the one formerly employed are related to both the scale of the endeavor and the manner in which students can contact PALs.
Luccio and Ostrovsky were peer advisors when Julia Hildreth '05 started the program. Both said the former system -- while a good idea -- was unmanageable and a financial burden.
"That program was just too much," Luccio said. "It was too much work and a bad fit for Dartmouth."
Ostrovsky added that peer advisers formerly had to come to campus early to do days worth of training for their roles as PALs.
Last year, with the incoming Class of 2009, Luccio and Ostrovsky attempted to make the program less formal. They decided that students would still talk to their peer advisors at an initial meeting, but after that, they could contact their PALs at will.
Ostrovsky said feedback was mixed, with students saying this was not really what they needed and administrators balking at the program.
"We were imposing on the administrators," Ostrovsky said. "We took a chunk of time within the orientation block and it was overkill. It's also a very overwhelming time for everyone and we needed something else."
After doing research on campuses with similar programs around the country, the two came up with the idea of a website-based program where both incoming and current students could contact a PAL at will in order to ask questions about academics.
They saw this as a way to tailor the program to Dartmouth and to make it unnecessary for students who already knew upperclassmen through sports, activities or siblings to participate in what seemed to many a superfluous advising system.
Luccio added that the new program has been well-received by the administrators in a way the old system never was, with class deans even referring students to the website.
Though the new program is just starting out, the revamped PAL program has already received positive feedback.
"I think it is much better [than last year's version]," Emily Koepsell '09 said. "Last year I was paired with two people, but they weren't majoring in what I am, so they couldn't help me."
Koepsell, who is planning on becoming an earth science major modified with anthropology, said she had since found a PAL with the same major and with whom she had many things in common.
"My PAL and I had the same [Women in Science Project] internship, and she now does research with a professor in the earth sciences department who I know pretty well," Koepsell said. "She helped me a lot in deciding which courses to take."
Koepsell also noted the user-friendly format of the website that includes a scrolling list of majors which link to various PALs.
Andrew Fletcher '07, a philosophy major who plans on attending law school, said the changes to the program have made being a PAL simple and fun.
"It's been so streamlined, and I was really pleased with the fact that we got to spend time making a personal statement about how we feel about our particular major," Fletcher said. "Since we're volunteers and because we're excited about what we're involved in, it's really effortless."
Fletcher added that the new program offers opportunities for a wide range of students, from the incoming freshmen unsure of what classes to take to the sophomore or junior struggling with their major.
"The most important thing we do in the PAL program is that no matter what major you decide on ... it's more about taking students and teaching them skill sets for learning, and any major can provide you with that," Fletcher said.
