What is PACE?
(Formerly COMPASS Advising Program)
PACE is your personalized Plan for Academic and Career Exploration. It is the Explore Center's premier advising program that gets you moving towards your academic and career goals. PACE is required each semester until you have declared a major or completed the coursework for the following pre-health areas: pre-nursing, pre-dental hygiene, pre-medical lab science, pre-mortuary science, and pre-radiation science.
How it works:
- Registration Hold: Each semester you are in the Explore Center, a registration hold is placed on your student account. No worries, you haven't done anything wrong.
- Schedule Appointment: Log into your Student Success Hub (SSH) or call the Explore Center at 402-472-3605 to schedule an appointment with your Academic Advisor.
- Meet Advisor: Plan on a half an hour meeting with your Academic Advisor. During your in-person or virtual meeting, you and your advisor will set goals, identify road blocks, and determine next steps. Time permitting, you and your advisor may also discuss courses for the upcoming semester or schedule a follow up PACE meeting.
Hold Removed: Once you have completed your PACE meeting(s) and any crucial action items, your Academic Advisor will remove the PACE hold from your student account.
PACE Elements
During your PACE meeting, we will focus on the following areas:
Reflect and Self-Assess
- Gather an awareness of your personal skills, interests, and personality and what they might tell you about the major or career that is right for you.
- Discuss your experience on campus.
- Reflection and self-assessment enable you to establish a starting point from which to build your overall plan.
Set Goals
- Think about what you want to have accomplished by the end of the semester.
- Give your next steps a purpose and direction.
- Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
Address Roadblocks
- Sometimes there are obstacles and barriers between you and your goals. Identifying them is the first step.
- Once you identify them, then you can determine your strategy to overcome them.
- Resilience is in you. With each obstacle you overcome, you'll develop the confidence to achieve your goals, in college and in life.
Plan Courses
- Spend time charting out your course pathway towards declaring a major and/or being ready for the journey into professional school.
- Plan for courses that have a purpose.
- When priority registration opens, you'll be ready to enroll, with your PACE set and the hold removed.
What to Expect:
- Plan to meet with your Academic Advisor for half an hour
- You'll be able to choose in-person or online
- If attending in person, check in with our front desk located in Love Library South, Room 127
- Have your NUID ready for check in
- Your Academic Advisor will send you a follow up email summary outlining your PACE
- The registration hold will be removed after you complete your PACE meeting. Occasionally, the advisor may determine to set a follow up meeting before removing the hold.
Maximize the value of PACE
- Plan your PACE meeting to occur after a few weeks of classes but before enrollment time. This will help you establish a base from which to set meaningful and relevant goals for yourself.
- Take time to consider how your classes are going by reviewing your progress in Canvas.
- Share your questions, concerns, or fears about the process with your advisor. They are excited to help and won't judge you for struggling.
- Commit to the goals you set for yourself and follow through on the next steps outline in your PACE.
- Refer to your PACE meeting summary which your advisor will email to you.