Sophomore year is one of uncertainty: uncertainty in choosing your major, uncertainty in deciding a career and the uncertainty of knowing if you’ll have a place to live next year.

But due to a new program, sophomores will be certain of one thing – their strengths.

The Ratio Studiorum Program, Residence Life and the Career Center have arranged that every sophomore take StrengthsQuest, a “strengths development program for college-age students.” This is the second year that StrengthsQuest is mandatory for sophomores.

MacGarret Becker, resident director of Swanson Hall, was a key player in bringing the program to campus.

“StrengthsQuest is a valuable tool in assisting with discerning and pursuing valuable life goals, developing relationships and aligning your strengths with academic and career goals,” he said.

Sophomores were e-mailed instructions to log onto the StrengthsQuest Web site. Each student was registered with Gallup, the polling company that created StrengthsQuest.

The students used StrengthsQuest’s “Assessment Tool” to find out what their strengths were. Sophomores’ reactions to the survey were mixed.

“I felt like some of the questions were redundant,” said Jenna Kampschneider, Arts & Sciences sophomore.

Students were given a choice between two statements such as, “I get people excited” and “I calm people down.” Within 20 seconds, sophomores were supposed to choose one statement that describes them best or choose ‘neutral.’

“It was like, ‘can’t I do both?'” Kampschneider said.

Sandy Ciriaco, assistant director of the Career and Academic Planning Program at the Career Center, explained why the survey was set up the way it was.

“The survey was limited to one choice. You want to have some finite answers because that’s how Gallup does its research,” she said. “They don’t want you to dwell on the questions too long because the more you think about it, the more you waver.”

After completing the assessment, StrengthsQuest calculated the top five strengths for each student. Ciriaco stressed the worth of working with the five chosen themes.

“The important thing about strengths is that you don’t just take the assessment and let it go. You’re supposed to do something with it.”

Ciriaco encouraged sophomores to research their strengths on the StrengthsQuest Web site. Ciriaco recommended students share their strengths with their friends, family and RSP advisers.

Out of the 34 strengths available, the top three most common strengths for last year’s sophomores were Achiever, Input and Adaptability. (The three least common strengths were Self-Assurance, Command and Individualization.) Ciriaco attributed the high Achiever rating to Creighton’s many pre-health students.

StrengthsQuest also increases interviewing skills. After identifying personal strengths, interviewees can focus on selling what they do best. Every person who applied for a Residence Life job was asked in an interview specifically about his or her StrengthsQuest strengths.

One of those who succeeded in getting a ResLife position was Arts & Sciences junior Laurel Kollath, assistant resident director of Kenefick Hall. She recalled being in the first class to take StrengthsQuest.

“I remember as a sophomore feeling like [StrengthsQuest] really wasn’t quite worth my time, but I kind of realized once I took it and looked at my strengths, it really showed me a lot about myself and different ways I can help people and use them in my job,” Kollath said.

Kollath advises sophomores to read the descriptions of their strengths now to prepare them for the future.

“When I was applying for this job, I remember going back and looking at my strengths and it really helped,” she said.