Chickering's Seven Vectors Analysis

Chickering describes his theory for the formation of identity development through seven vectors. These include developing competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, establishing identity, developing purpose and developing integrity (Patton, Evans, Forney, Guido, & Quaye, 2016). Chickering noted that students do not move through the vectors sequentially, that students could be faced with more than one vector at a time, and that vectors build on each other as development continues (Patton et al., 2016).
Development in Relation to the Seven Vectors
In reflecting on my undergraduate years, it is apparent that I had a nontraditional experience. I went to a four-year university right out of high school and became pregnant at the age of 19. I also was engaged when my son was two. I feel that my experience as a college student, a mom and a fiancé really resonated with my formation of identity, as described by Chickering’s Seven Vectors (Patton et al., 2016). As Chickering mentioned, some vectors can occur
As I gained more experience with tutoring through my many internships in my undergraduate career, I realized that teaching was not the capacity I saw myself in for the rest of my life. I felt limited by the amount of students I would be able to teach and also by the limited knowledge I would be able to provide my students. For this reason, I decided to fulfill my life calling as an educational helper in the role of the counselor at this point in my life. While I initially thought I would spend my life teaching English to high school students, I decided that I could impact more student’s lives, and in many more ways, as an educational counselor. Through my experiences in college, I was able to grow and understand my purpose in