Large classes are becoming inevitable at large research Universities. The sociology department at Virginia Tech University routinely offers a course with approximately 600 students. Each year approximately a sixth of those students fail the first exam. To increase the performance of at-risk students a mentoring program was created, but many did not participate. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that contribute to at-risk students choosing not to take advantage of the academic mentoring program offered in their class. A survey was received from sixty-eight students who failed the first exam, in which only thirty-seven students participated in the tutorial program. The analysis will focus on eight domains and nineteen hypotheses that might be associated with help seeking. The domains are: classroom behavior; students’ self-perception; classroom practices and institutional policies; general perceptions of help seeking; history with mentors; time commitment; college demographics; and respondent demographics. Some of the major findings suggest that student’s self perception; time commitment; and college demographics are related to help seeking. Findings related to the classroom practices suggest that some students do feel that the different options (withdrawal rule, dropping the course, and dropping the lowest exam grade) led to their non-enrollment in the mentoring program.
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