The McGraw Center offers a variety of support resources to which you, as a team captain, can refer your team members in order to enhance their academic skills and strategies needed to meet Princeton’s academic demands so that they can excel in both the classroom and in their sport. As a captain, by informing your team members about McGraw and making effective referrals, you can positively impact your team’s academic performance which, while valuable on its own, also contributes to your teammates’ athletic performance. All McGraw services are now in-person, with some also offered virtually and synchronously, so your teammates can talk with a learning consultant, tutor or workshop leader. Let me highlight our newest service, study-group matching. 
At McGraw, your teammates learn how to:

• Develop a personalized approach to their courses
• Efficiently read and learn from textbooks and scholarly texts
• Tackle demanding problem sets
• Take effective notes and create study tools
• Prepare for precepts and exams
• Overcome procrastination
• Plan large projects like the JP or senior thesis
• Conduct research
• Balance academics and their sport

As a captain, the message you can convey about academics and using academic support at McGraw is quite similar to the one you want to convey about athletic success and utilizing athletic department resources: To improve and to be successful, focus on the process (in the case of academics, that’s time management, study strategies), use resources (learning consultations, workshops, and tutoring), and leverage your strengths (skills, determination, work-ethic) and take the risks of putting yourself out there and trying hard. HOW you convey your message about McGraw is crucial to your team’s use of our programs and resources and their ultimate success, so use the information below to make effective referrals.
(1) Let your teammates know that in some classes up to 90% of students use McGraw tutoring and in virtually every class we support over 50% of students use tutoring. Conveying this information to teammates can normalize using academic support at Princeton even if they haven’t used it much before. (2) Frame academic support as comparable to getting athletic coaching and training focused on strength, skills, and techniques that improve athletic performance. A learning consultant is like a personal trainer for academics. (3) Provide a picture to your team members of McGraw as an informal, low-key place where students are not graded or evaluated, they can get personalized assistance, and stay on top of academics and avoid procrastination. For many students coming to McGraw makes academic work, like p-sets, more social and enjoyable. (4) Pull up McGraw’s website, show them what’s available, and help them sign up for a learning consultation, individual tutoring, or workshops and ask to put the appointment in their calendar or reminders. 
A good place for a first-year student to start is by meeting with a learning consultant who can serve as an academic mentor in the way more seasoned teammates can serve as an athletic one. Learning consultations not only help students build skills and acquire new strategies for Princeton, they can help students figure out what other resources to use and how to do so most effectively. Encourage first-years to make an appointment with a learning consultant. Specific information about learning consultations and other McGraw resources are on the back of this sheet.
McGraw offers a range of support useful to Princeton undergraduates at any point in their academic career as they take on new academic challenges and develop as learners. In 2018-19 McGraw had over 9000 visits from Princeton Undergraduates. Are your teammates using these McGraw services? If not, other students in their courses have a competitive advantage. 
ACADEMIC LIFE & LEARNING STRATEGY CONSULTATIONS/ACADEMIC COACHING
Learning consultants from a variety of majors are trained to collaborate with students to develop an individualized approach to academics that draws upon the student’s unique profile of strengths and is tailored to the specific demands of each course and assignment. In a consultation, students can address any academic issue or question with a sympathetic mentor who is there to help them achieve their academic goals. Making an appointment with a consultant early in the semester and on a regular basis is recommended in order to most effectively manage the academic demands of the entire semester.

ADVANCED ACADEMIC STRATEGIES WORKSHOPS

McGraw offers a series of popular hands-on, active, and practical workshops in which students learn and apply strategies designed expressly for the highly demanding Princeton University context. Workshops (offered on Wednesday afternoons and Fridays before practice 2-3:30pm in 330 Frist) emphasize advanced and innovative techniques for purposeful and efficient learning. During the sessions students apply strategies to their own course materials whenever possible. Look for evening workshops, too!

DIGITAL LEARNING LAB

The McGraw Center's Digital Learning Lab (DLL), located on the 100 level of Lewis Science Library, offers access to powerful computers and software as well as workshops and one-to-one support and training in software applications useful in completing class and creative projects.  The lab's configuration, as a teaching space, promotes collaborative work among students.  Contact the Digital Learning Lab by email ([email protected]) or by phone (258-6073) if you have questions.

ONLINE RESOURCES

McGraw has created many online resources designed expressly for meeting Princeton’s rigorous academic demands from reading efficiently to managing your time to participating effectively in precepts. 

McGRAW GROUP TUTORING

We provide free Study Hall drop-in group tutoring and appointment based Individual Tutoring in introductory-level mathematics, chemistry, physics, economics, and some other courses (so check our website). Experienced, trained undergraduate tutors are available to guide students through learning course material, thinking through problem sets, and enhancing problem-solving approaches. Study Hall also provides a good space for study groups to meet or for informal group work with classmates and teammates. Review sessions serve similar purposes.
Be sure to let your team members know that all of our services are cost-free and that use of them is unlimited and confidential. Contact Nic Voge if you have ideas on how we can partner together to support your team.