Academic Supports

Personal Supports

ACADEMIC SUPPORTS

“Many students arrive at college without the academic foundation necessary to excel. This sets students up for failure and often causes them to waste time and money on remedial education.”

Though many OMD Scholars enter college unprepared for college level course work and are required to enroll in remedial courses, with OMD’s intensive academic supports, they are excelling in their classes and on track to earn their degrees in three years or less.

TUTORING

OMD requires any scholar entering the program directly from high school to participate in weekly, individual  tutoring  with an OMD tutor for their first semester in either math, science, or English. We also require any scholar in a remedial class or who is struggling in a class to enroll in one hour of tutoring per week with an OMD tutor. 

Over 90% of Scholars entering the program directly from high school require remediation, and for the ones that test into college level coursework, they still benefit from the study skills and critical thinking skills they can develop in their tutoring sessions.

With these intensive, personalized academic supports, scholars who enter college in remedial courses can accelerate into credit-bearing courses and have the help they need to continually improve their GPAs. This puts them in a much stronger position to finish community college within three years and to transfer credits to a four-year degree program, if that is their goal.

In addition, OMD requires that students entering community college directly from high school enroll in a college success seminar at their college, which focuses on time management, successful study habits, academic planning, and other useful skills.  OMD has found that this seminar is invaluable for high school students who must transition from a supervised academic environment to one that is considerably more independent. 

ACADEMIC PLANNING

OMD requires all students to visit an academic advisor at least once each quarter to develop and review a tailored academic plan. This academic plan becomes the map that guides the scholar (and all of those supporting him or her) to the destination of a college degree.

Research suggests that requiring students to create an academic plan focused on degree completion, pathways from community college credentials to careers, and transfer requirements can improve student persistence and completion.

SUPPORT FOR SCHOLARS TRANSFERRING TO A FOUR-YEAR YEAR COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY

OMD works closely with our scholars who choose to transfer to a four-year college or university to ensure they have the required credits to do so, they are selecting a college that is a good fit for their academic needs and professional aspirations, and they are making a choice that will help them maximize their financial aid. OMD also leverages a network of professional volunteers to assist scholars with their college admissions essays.