Being a Temple student means a lot of things: weekends adventuring in Center City, studying on Beury Beach, and going to football games at the Linc. It also means having a wealth of resources at your disposal—some you may not even know about. One of the most comprehensive and useful of these resources is the Student Success Center, a free academic support system available to all students, regardless of year, academic standing or status.
Whether you’ve been to the Student Success Center or never heard of it before, fear not! We’ve crafted this handy guide to everything they offer as well as how to access it—whatever your needs are.
What is the Student Success Center?
Temple’s Student Success Center is a place to seek out peer-led academic support, completely free of charge. This means they offer one-on-one tutoring and support as well as group sessions, all led by fellow Temple students (both undergraduates and grad students) who have taken the classes you’re in before. Plus, it’s completely covered by your tuition.
"Students often feel more comfortable asking certain questions and getting help from fellow students as opposed to a professor,” said Kate White, assistant director of language learning services at the Student Success Center. “And of course, you should go to your professor's office hours, too, but it's sometimes easier to ask certain types of questions or get help in different situations from a fellow student.”
Who can access it, and how?
The Student Success Center is available free of charge to all students: undergraduates and graduate students, any year, any academic standing. So, whether you’re looking for a passing grade on your next test or aiming for an A on your next paper, this is the place for you. Plus, if you’re struggling with a class (or a few classes), you can tell your tutor that you’re not sure where to begin; it’s ok to not know what you don’t know!
“We want students to know that it’s okay to not know what they need, to feel confused, to not know things and to get help,” White said. “We want to make it as easy for them to do that as possible.”
What do they offer?
The center offers a variety of peer support options, depending on your needs. Their resources fall under five main categories:
academic coaching, which helps with skills like study strategies, time management and organization;
language tutoring and conversation partners, which provides one-on-one sessions for language study and conversation practice;
peer-assisted study sessions (PASS), which are group study sessions for specific, widely-taken courses;
the STEM Learning Lab, which offers tutoring and exam reviews specific to students taking classes in the College of Science and Technology and the College of Engineering—but anyone can use;
and the writing center, which is there to help you with any writing project you can think of: research papers, homework assignments, research papers, cover letters, resumes, scholarship essays, creative writing and more.
Read on for more details about how these offerings can help you make the most of your education, and how to access them.
Put me in coach: academic coaching
First things first. Sometimes it’s not so much the course material that you need help with, but rather the tools you use to absorb it. If you’ve ever had difficulty studying, managing time or getting organized, you may want to look into the Student Success Center’s academic coaching.
When you fill out the interest form and get paired with a peer coach, you can schedule weekly 25-30 minute appointments to discuss your academic concerns. This service is useful for students at any point of their academic career who are looking to further develop their academic success skills, whether you’re new to college coursework, prepping for upper-level courses or could simply use an adjustment to your habits.
Buon giorno: language tutoring and conversation partners
Whether you’re learning English, Spanish, Mandarin, ASL or any number of other languages, the language tutoring and conversation partner service has someone for you to talk to. Not only are you able to access formal language tutoring, but the tutors also double as conversation partners, which are just that: peers who you can speak informally with in your language of choice.
Don’t just PASS it, ace it with peer-assisted study sessions
The Student Success Center also holds weekly group study sessions for certain courses with high enrollment: General Chemistry I, Precalculus, Anatomy & Physiology, General Physics, Introduction to Psychology and other popular courses. The 50-minute sessions are held twice a week for each course: once in person in Charles Library, and once virtually on Zoom.
The PASS sessions are led by students who have excelled in the course before and are actively attending it every week as well to keep the material fresh. You don’t have to RSVP to attend, and all sections of a course attend the same PASS session.
STEM without the thorns: the STEM Learning Lab
For more focused study time on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math), you’ll want to check out the STEM Learning Lab. From STEM-specific tutoring to pre-exam study sessions, the lab has everything you need to stay on track.
Get it write: the writing center
Whether you’re an English major or you avoid essays like the plague, everyone could use some writing help every now and then. The Writing Center offers help with every step of the writing process on an individualized basis, because we know everyone is different. This means help with essays, outlines, creative writing, cover letters, thesis statements, and even reading skills. Writing and language peer tutors also offer presentation support, so you can practice any presentation in front of a tutor and receive feedback.
So, can I work there?
You absolutely can, and it’s a great opportunity! Because the Student Success Center’s support is entirely peer-based, student employees are what makes the center so helpful. For undergraduates, positions are available as academic coaches, language tutors, conversation partners, office assistants, PASS leaders, STEM tutors, writing tutors and social media and event coordinators. There are also plenty of opportunities for graduate students!