Admission and first year at the Faculty of Exact Sciences-UNLP: Student perspectives on disengagement and the First Stage Tutoring program

Abstract

In the present work we propose to reflect on the experience carried out from the First Stage Tutoring Program in the year 2021. To do this, we recover the views of the entrants from group interviews carried out with certain students who expressed difficulties in sustaining continuity. in all the subjects that they initially proposed to study. The purpose of the survey was to learn about the experiences of this particular group and reconstruct their stories about a key moment in their university trajectories, such as admission and the first year. In this paper we will dwell on two of the multiple aspects addressed in the interviews: the reasons for the disengagement in any of the subjects and the role/impact of the tutors. Regarding the reasons that lead to the disconnection of the subjects, in the reports of the students interviewed, the pace of the courses appears as the most evident difficulty. Regarding the relationship with the tutors, they mostly value the possibility of having someone accompany them in the first year.