Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the role that academic hope has in an appreciative advising setting and how it relates to GPA and student internal assets (commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity) in a population of undergraduate students who received appreciative advising services. Additionally, the researcher sought to determine if academic hope is an appropriate construct to be included in the appreciative advising theoretical foundation as proposed by its founders. Student cumulative GPA and data from two Likert scale instruments that reported student perceptions of their strengths and internal assets were collected from 68 participants who had been advised using appreciative advising techniques during the spring semester of 2018. Data was analyzed using a quantitative methodology using descriptive statistics, and correlation and multiple regression statistical tests. Academic hope was found to be strongly correlated with GPA and all four internal assets at the .05 alpha level. The regression analysis illustrated that academic hope was the only variable that predicted GPA (p <.001). The results of this study indicated that could be implemented in an advising setting to identify incoming students with low levels of academic hope who could benefit from appreciative advising services.