Apropos decision-making processes: What do I actually want?

In an interview with study adviser Carina Canbolat

Making life-changing decisions is often incredibly difficult. Some seem to crush you and drive you to despair. As if you were wandering aimlessly through a labyrinth with no way out. Fortunately, you are not left alone with this and can seek advice and help. This can be from friends, parents or acquaintances. When it comes to the subject of studies, these people often know just as little as you do yourself. That is why there is student advisory services. Here in Würzburg it
can be found at Hubland Nord, Clara-Oppenheimer-Weg 32. How students and their concerns are dealt with on site, how the work there runs and what can help when making decisions, I found out in an interview with Carina Canbolat on 20 July.

Sinah: Would you please briefly introduce yourself and your work at student advisory services?

Carina Canbolat: My name is Carina Canbolat. I completed my degree in Education here at Uni Würzburg in 2008 and then worked in a vocational preparation scheme for the first two years. In 2010 I actually switched to student advisory services at Uni Würzburg and have been employed here on a fixed-term basis since 2010.

As for our work: the day-to-day business essentially consists of advising prospective students and students via video, telephone and of course also in person. We have a lot of email correspondence, so exchange with students. We naturally have to process the emails daily as well. We give school talks, which are also regular, so many appointments. We also offer school visits here at the university, so schools come here and look at the university. We always do a campus tour then.

Further tasks: We organise the university information day, the taster studies, we hold a first steps talk at the beginning of studies, my colleague does that. The Uni@school project and the telephone service are also coordinated by student advisory services. We now also have orientation studies. We offered a workshop on various questions: interests and strengths, goals and values. My one colleague also held a workshop on learning techniques
We also worked together with the Career Service on this. They also held a workshop on it.

We also have cooperations and networking with other advisory services. That is of course also something that regularly comes up in our work here. So that we naturally also exchange information and know: where else can we refer students to. What other offers are there here at the university and of course also in Würzburg overall.

Sinah: That means, under what circumstances or when do students seek out student advisory services?

Carina Canbolat: The majority are mainly prospective students who come here when they have questions about subject choice or also about combination options for Bachelor's degree programmes. Also on the subject of application and enrolment and how I have to apply. "Students" are of course also a major focus. But there it is mostly students from the 1st semester of study who come here and have questions about timetable advice or of course things like changing subjects.

Sinah: How does a "normal" consultation with you run?

Carina Canbolat: The person seeking advice comes here. Then of course they first have to explain the issue, why they are here. And then it is mostly mainly about providing information. Depending on the question, you first show all possible courses of action, you say what is available at all. That is totally different of course. As
I said: what is important here above all is that the student always answers concretely and tells everything that is available in terms of information. So to speak, puts all the cards on the table so that we can really advise comprehensively. That of course also requires a high degree of trust in us. It is then really anonymous advice. That is very important. And then you look for the best solution and show courses of action. The top priority is of course always to find the best solution for the person seeking advice.

Sinah: Students also come to you when they face difficult decisions. How do you deal with that?

Carina Canbolat: Yes of course, overall the consultation requires a high degree of empathy and sensitivity. You have to make sure that you really engage completely with this issue and of course find the best possible solution. There are actually sometimes problems that also get to you personally and where you would like to help, but where you also know: there are no courses of action available now or everything has already been exhausted. Then I sometimes turn to the team and we discuss it. If I myself don't know what to do, they might have ideas. Of course everything anonymised. In such cases, where you simply have to look at it yourself again, I often get the email address if that is desired, or arrange a new appointment straight away. We too often have to check back with other departments at the university, the examinations office or others, on any questions: "What other options are there? Can't we…?".

Sinah: So how does such a decision-making process run, so someone comes to you and has a problem or a question. How do you then pursue that concretely?

Carina Canbolat: If someone wants to make a decision, the person seeking advice first needs knowledge of all the framework conditions and all their possible solutions. It is first important that we comprehensively inform the people seeking advice about their own situation and about courses of action. On this basis you can then work out solutions step by step. This can sometimes take quite a long time in a conversation, so an hour or more.

Sinah: Do students then sometimes come to you more frequently?

Carina Canbolat: That varies. It depends on the people seeking advice themselves. If they feel that it is done for them after a conversation and they have all the information they want, then they don't come back. We used to have a really open surgery. Now because of Corona we only do it by appointment. But it can certainly also
happen that they come several times.

Sinah: To what extent do you accompany decisions or intervene in them?

Carina Canbolat: We don't intervene. We accompany in the sense that we simply show other options and then of course also answer questions about how we see it. I wouldn't really give advice as such, but rather: the person seeking advice ultimately has to make the decision themselves. These are indeed often life-changing decisions. Such a degree programme should of course be well thought through. But no student adviser can do that, especially because we only ever see people in snippets, in a brief moment, we simply cannot manage that. So making decisions, the person seeking advice must of course do that themselves.

Sinah: What is the most difficult moment when making a decision?

Carina Canbolat: That is a difficult question. I think it is becoming aware of what consequences your own decision has and what effects and consequences you will have in the longer term. Because the simplest decision, this easiest solution or what is most convenient, is not always necessarily the best solution or best decision. That is why I believe that this is the most difficult step: really thinking everything through carefully first and then finding the best decision based on that.

Sinah: What methods do you use to make decisions easier? Perhaps you have a secret tip on how to make it simpler?

Carina Canbolat: To be upfront about it: I don't have a real secret tip or a secret plan for how to make decisions most easily. But of course there are methods that we apply depending on how the person seeking advice comes to us. It always depends on the question being asked. For example, I often suggest that people create a decision matrix themselves. On the basis of the consultation, I tend to give them instructions and explain how to do it. So we don't work through it step by step together; rather, we have some materials and I'm always happy to share those. What we might also do is set up a decision matrix, where you say: "Okay, now you really work out a question that is precise". Because you shouldn't ask: "How should things go on?", but rather concrete questions like: "Degree programme A or degree programme B?". And then various grids: long-term, short-term goals.

When students really come and say: "I have two completely different things and I can't decide at all. I've weighed all the pros and cons and I don't know what decision to come to", you can sometimes also give instructions by applying methods like: "Imagine you're 80 years old and a speech is being given about you. What would you like to hear about yourself in that speech?". – How you see yourself, what life goals you set for yourself, what values you have. Sometimes, when you're faced with two decisions that are actually equally weighted at first glance, it becomes easier and you say: "One path will bring me closer to the goal of how I'd like to see myself later". That remains more in the sense of guidance. It's also very important in this decision-making process to involve people you know well: to ask teachers again, to ask parents.

We also always offer that if you've done that and want to discuss it again, we can make a new appointment and go through such things again in conversation.

Sinah: When would you describe a consultation as successful?

Carina Canbolat: Well, of course, if the person seeking advice leaves here with a good solution for themselves or simply with all the information. If perhaps there's a problem that has also been solved for the person seeking advice somehow. It's actually quite often the case that people come here and then think: "This is now totally dramatic" – And then we tell them: "No, that's not a problem at all". They then really leave here with a sense of relief and that's of course also nice for oneself. You're naturally pleased when you could help further. It's also typical that students think: "Oh, now I'm changing subjects again" or "I started my first degree and now I don't like it at all". And then sometimes just to take the pressure off and say: "Lots
of students change and it's not a drama at all and nothing happens". Or lots are in this: "What will that look like in my CV?". And then sometimes to take some of the air out and say: "It's all not so dramatic". Some leave with a sense of relief and that's of course nice for everyone, both for us advisers and for the people seeking advice.

Sinah Breunig

Decisions are an inescapable part of our lives. In a series of articles, I engage with this topic.