Add an Experience to the Spartan Experience Record as a Student
The Spartan Experience Record is excited to hear from you about the out-of-class experiences you’re involved in. Undergraduate students can submit an experience to be included in the SER via the SER Student Submission Worksheet.
The student submission does not necessarily result in adding an experience to your individual record, but it could lead to that. The submission process is for new experiences that have yet to be added to the SER and can profoundly impact all students that participated in the suggested experience. Experiences you may be participating in as an undergraduate student that can be submitted include: Leadership roles, on-campus jobs, volunteering, undergraduate research, committees, student organizations, and more!
Please see if your experience is already approved within the SER by checking the SER Opportunities Catalog. However, keep in mind that not all experiences are visible in the catalog, as a small number of experiences may be based on selective criteria and only influence a small number of students. If you want to double-check with the SER team whether an experience needs added or not, please email mystory@msu.edu to inquire.
Submission Process for Students, Explained
The submission process for students starts with completing and submitting a submission worksheet. Once submitted, the faculty or staff contact—provided by the student—is asked to verify that the information is accurate. After being approved by the faculty/staff contact, the SER team will submit the worksheet for final approval by the SER Advisory Committee for inclusion in the SER. Follow the steps below to get this process started:
- Make a copy of the Student SER Submission Worksheet. When making a copy, be sure to select “copy comments” to rollover helpful tips from the SER team.
- Read the instructions on the first tab of the submission worksheet and open helpful resources. Then, select the tab names “SER Submission Worksheet” answer the required prompts.
- Complete the worksheet. You are welcome to work with others to complete the sheet.
- Once finished, email the worksheet to the SER team at mystory@msu.edu and a SER team member will be in contact.
Student Submission FAQs
- I don’t know some of the information the worksheet is asking for. Do I have to complete all of it?
- Students are welcome to complete the worksheet alongside the faculty/staff member who oversees the activity, with other student participants, or individually. As a student, if you are unsure about how to answer a prompt, feel free to attempt to answer or leave the field blank, but please highlight the cell yellow to draw attention to the field in question, so the SER team can follow up with faculty/staff. The worksheet asks for a faculty or staff contact who can verify the information on the worksheet and supplement any necessary information. The faculty/staff contact provided will be contacted by the SER team and asked to fill in any missing information.
- Can I work with others to complete the worksheet?
- You are encouraged to work with others to get the worksheet completed. This includes the SER team, peers in the same experience, and faculty or staff associated with the experience. SER Ambassadors are student employees trained to assist students with submissions. You can visit with a SER Ambassador on a drop-in basis (learn more here) or email mystory@msu.edu to initiate a conversation with an SER Ambassador.
- Can’t my faculty or staff member submit the experience?
- Yes, but the submission process for faculty and staff is different (learn more here). You can reach out to the faculty/staff member(s) that oversee the experience directly and state that you’d like the experience added or email the SER team at mystory@msu.edu with the name of the experience (no unexplained acronyms) and the contact information for the faculty/staff member(s) that directly oversee the experience, at which point the SER team will contact the faculty/staff member(s), on your behalf, to begin the SER submission worksheet. The SER team is happy to work with units/offices/departments/groups on adding their experience.
- Are there any resources to help me with this process?
- A screen-recording video explaining the student submission process is available on-demand to help you through this process. The first page of the student submission worksheet includes additional, helpful resources, including example submissions, a submission checklist, and an interactive SER example. If you need additional assistance, the SER team is happy to help students with the submission process. You can visit with a SER Ambassador on a drop-in basis (learn more here) or email mystory@msu.edu to initiate a conversation with an SER Ambassador.