The Failing College Freshman

The American school system is a joke. Too concerned with standardization and what is in effect, social programming, the importance of imparting an education and knowledge have faded into the background. And guess what: highschoolers aren’t stupid. They catch on to this. Many learn at an early age that they don’t have to try to do well in school. Plenty of kids graduate with a B average or higher without having to lift a metaphorical finger. Others realize they can coast by with a C average even without doing homework.

In the grand scheme of things, I believe these students are the worse off. Never having to learn skills like proper studying habits or time management, these students at the top of their classes are naturally pushed towards the college route. And I don’t want to make hugely false blanket statements, as a lot of these students turn out okay. They adapt and overcome. Or maybe some of them went to a hard high school, or had difficult teachers and were forced to learn those skills that are important for success in college. But a lot of them don’t, and I was one of them.

As a not-so bright and eager freshman I went to classes, barely paid attention, and expected to get good grades, because that had always worked for me. And it did work, at first. I made it through my first semester of college with a decent grade point average. Lower than anything I’d ever gotten before, but I thought hey, it’s college, it’s supposed to be harder. Second semester was when it hit me. For some reason I got the idea into my head to become an engineer. Since I was a semester behind the rest of the engineering kids, I thought I’d overload a bunch of classes to catch up. At that time I wasn’t even considering the possibility of failing and besides, most of the classes I had already taken at a high school level. What could possibly go wrong?

By the end of my second semester I was placed on Academic Probation with the worst GPA I’d ever seen in my life. Needless to say my grand engineering plans were shot. While I did make it out of school on time with a decent GPA, many students never recover from their initial college shock.

As the semester wears on for many of you out there, I sincerely hope that you take college seriously, and don’t let the easy first semester put you in a false sense of security. I’ll post a few quick college tips below, and expand upon them in future posts.

And if you get nothing else out of this post, remember this: focus on learning in college. Actually learning, not just passing classes so you can get your degree. If you actively try and want to learn the material, the passing will come naturally.

Quick Tips for College Success:

• ·         Take notes in class. This assures you’re paying attention and lets the information pass through your brain multiple times.
  
• ·         Read assigned assignments. Seriously. At the very least, skim them, or read a review.
• ·         Schedule your time. I once read in a college help pamphlet that if you properly manage your time, you end up with more play time than study time. Stay away from the facebooks.
• ·         Study outside of your room, and for math or science classes when you study actually do the sample problems

That’s all for now. If you can think of any more important study tips, leave them in a comment below.

DiCG