Below is a sample plan for a student beginning in their first year, organized by credit hour. This is just a suggestion. You should adapt the timeline to reflect your personal goals and experiences.
As you start planning, make sure to visit the Office of Student Involvement website to find events and organizations that interest you.
0–29 Credit Hours:
Start participating by selecting experiences that interest you.
- Consider your interests and start exploring possible opportunities through UCF’s resources including Career Services, the Office of Experiential Learning, the LEAD Scholars Academy, and the Office of Undergraduate Research.
- Schedule/attend a meeting with your advisor.
- Meet with people who can help you set goals and develop your plan: academic advisors, peer mentors, faculty, and coaches.
- Consider taking a career aptitude assessment to determine your values, interests, and skills.
- Visit the Office of Student Involvement to find student organizations or events that appeal to you. Choose an organization(s) and attend a meeting, or participate in an event.
- Get involved in a UCF Service Day or another service participation event through Knights Give Back.
- Browse through the UCF Study Abroad.
- Explore peer mentoring.
- Familiarize yourself with Knight Connect.
- Save your coursework to a file-sharing site (Dropbox, Google Drive, and/or iCloud) to help you preserve and organize your work.
30–59 Credit Hours:
Engage more comprehensively and learn to document your work.
- Participate in a few carefully selected co-curricular experiences so that you can engage on a deeper, more meaningful level. Think about how these experiences relate to your coursework. What knowledge or skills are you acquiring that you can apply in different contexts?
- If your chosen experiences (study abroad, leadership, research, internships, etc.) have related expenses, you can attend workshops and meetings to learn about funding opportunities.
- Continue documenting what you are doing inside and outside of the classroom by uploading your papers, research, videos, pictures, and/or presentations to a file-sharing site (Dropbox, Google Drive, and/or iCloud).
- Visit Career Services for assistance and feedback on building your resume.
- Attend a research forum, symposium, or undergraduate research day to see what others are doing.
60–89 Credit Hours:
Make a concrete to-do list to meet your goals post-graduation:
- Research graduate schools.
- Seek professional references.
- Explore opportunities to network professionally.
- Draft launching materials (personal statements, cover letters) and seek feedback from faculty.
Reflect on your learning experiences and share what you learn. Adapt your plan to support your goals post-graduation.
- Continue to engage in and document your work as you think about what you have been doing and why it is important to you.
- What experiences and skills do you consider to be most valuable?
- How do you apply your skills to your everyday experiences?
- How do your selected experiences relate to your goals?
- Look for opportunities to publish your work, such as the Undergraduate Research Journal.
- Take opportunities to lead in your student organization.
- Meet with a counselor from Career Services.
- Participate in a research forum or symposium in your college, or apply to participate in UCF’s Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE).
90 or More Credit Hours:
Reflect on how all of your undergraduate experiences relate to each other and what they mean in relation to your future goals.
- Participate in a mock interview through Career Services.
- Participate in a research forum or symposium in your college, apply to present at UCF’s Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE).
- Explore potential job opportunities via knight link, and attend career fairs.