A significant number of college students work either part-time or full-time while they are completing their higher education. Applying the expectations that employers have for their employees – being on time, following rules and procedures, completing work assignments in a timely manner, engaging in courteous interactions with others, behaving appropriately, and being self-responsible – to your education can powerfully increase your college success potential.
Consider this. College is your own investment of time, energy, money, and intellectual resources into your future. This is an investment that can never be taken away from you. What you put into your college education will have a tremendous impact on the quality of what you get out of it.
A student who approaches his or her education in a responsible, consistent, and engaged manner is a student who is more likely to obtain positive future recommendations from professors for jobs or graduate school.
Applying good workplace habits to your education can be a great stress reducer by giving you a better sense of control.
Yes, you can still have fun in college. Knowing when to be serious and focused and knowing when it’s okay to relax and hang out is a valuable life and work skill to practice.
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Essentials: English, Math, and Reading
In order to be admitted to a college or university, it’s very common for prospective students to take placement tests to assess where they are in English, math, and reading, which are collectively known as basic skills. If a student’s level in one or more of the basic skills subjects is not at college level, he or she will need to take developmental classes in order to get up to college speed.
If you need to take developmental classes in one or more of the basic skills, you will be required to enroll in and complete those in your first semesters of your college career. Once you have successfully passed them, you will then be required to take college level math and English classes that are suitable for your major.
It is an excellent idea to take the college level classes in math and English immediately after completing the last developmental classes in those subjects. That way, the knowledge and skills are fresh in your mind and it increases your chances for success. Fluency in college level math and English are needed to take more advanced classes, whether they are listed as formal prerequisites or not. Some classes will even require you to have earned a C or better in college level math or English.
If you are struggling with developmental or college level basic skills classes, get tutoring and other support to pass the classes right away. You do not want to get close to graduating but still have a basic skills class preventing you from doing so. Avoid using retakes on developmental and college level basic skills classes if at all possible – make wise drop decisions if needed.
Other classes that are often included under basic skills are speech, critical thinking, and computer competency. If you complete all of your basic skills classes early in your college career, you will be better equipped to take on the challenges of more advanced coursework.
If you need to take developmental classes in one or more of the basic skills, you will be required to enroll in and complete those in your first semesters of your college career. Once you have successfully passed them, you will then be required to take college level math and English classes that are suitable for your major.
It is an excellent idea to take the college level classes in math and English immediately after completing the last developmental classes in those subjects. That way, the knowledge and skills are fresh in your mind and it increases your chances for success. Fluency in college level math and English are needed to take more advanced classes, whether they are listed as formal prerequisites or not. Some classes will even require you to have earned a C or better in college level math or English.
If you are struggling with developmental or college level basic skills classes, get tutoring and other support to pass the classes right away. You do not want to get close to graduating but still have a basic skills class preventing you from doing so. Avoid using retakes on developmental and college level basic skills classes if at all possible – make wise drop decisions if needed.
Other classes that are often included under basic skills are speech, critical thinking, and computer competency. If you complete all of your basic skills classes early in your college career, you will be better equipped to take on the challenges of more advanced coursework.
Dealing Appropriately with Unforeseen Circumstances
Life happens while students are pursuing their educational goals, and sometimes life hands us circumstances which hold us back from doing our best at our studies. If you should encounter unforeseen emergency circumstances which will take you out of the classroom for a while, here are some strategies for dealing with the situation constructively.
• Contact your instructors immediately and be honest about your emergency situation. You do not need to tell your instructor any overly personal details, but do explain the scope and seriousness of what is going on, and provide an estimate of how long you expect to be out of class. Do not be offended if your instructor asks you to provide some sort of documentation; this is standard procedure at nearly every college and university.
• Notify your academic advisor so that he or she can direct you to further assistance from other college personnel or student services. We are here to help you in any way we can.
• Be willing to accept recommendations to drop classes or take incompletes if your absence from classes is going to be extensive.
• Be realistic about your abilities to bounce back from your absence within the time left in the semester. Some emergency circumstances (medical situations in particular) may take a lot longer for you to return to the classroom than anticipated.
• While you are out of the classroom dealing with the emergency situation, stay in touch with your academic advisor and instructors to update them on how things are going and when you plan to return.
• Contact your instructors immediately and be honest about your emergency situation. You do not need to tell your instructor any overly personal details, but do explain the scope and seriousness of what is going on, and provide an estimate of how long you expect to be out of class. Do not be offended if your instructor asks you to provide some sort of documentation; this is standard procedure at nearly every college and university.
• Notify your academic advisor so that he or she can direct you to further assistance from other college personnel or student services. We are here to help you in any way we can.
• Be willing to accept recommendations to drop classes or take incompletes if your absence from classes is going to be extensive.
• Be realistic about your abilities to bounce back from your absence within the time left in the semester. Some emergency circumstances (medical situations in particular) may take a lot longer for you to return to the classroom than anticipated.
• While you are out of the classroom dealing with the emergency situation, stay in touch with your academic advisor and instructors to update them on how things are going and when you plan to return.
So You’re Failing A Class
It happens sometimes. Regardless of what the reasons might be, you’re failing a class. Hopefully, you have become aware of this relatively early in the semester when there are still many things you can do to remedy the situation. Even if you have found out around midterms, you still probably have a fighting chance. But if it’s the last few weeks of the semester, there may be little you can do.
This is why it is so important to keep track of your grade in the class throughout the entire semester. If you know there is a specific grade you need to earn in a class for financial aid, scholarship, or transfer purposes, you need to focus on behaviors geared toward earning that grade from the very beginning of the class.
Here are some steps to take if you are failing a class.
• Talk to the instructor and ask for a breakdown of your grades. He or she may have helpful suggestions on what you need to do to improve your grade and probably can advise you as to whether you have any realistic chances of passing the class. Remember, the later you check into the problem, the less likely it is that it can be fixed.
• Take a look at the work you’ve done so far in the class and figure out where the weaknesses are. Do you procrastinate on out-of-class assignments? Are you losing points on reading quizzes? Do you panic when a major test is coming up? Are you unsure of how to write a paper? Find out what is tripping up your grade, talk to your instructor, and see if there is tutoring available to boost your confidence in the trouble areas.
• Look closely and honestly at your approach to the class. Are you truly putting quality time and energy toward learning the material and earning the grade you want?
• Multiple learning resources are readily available for most classes. Are you reading the textbook? If your textbook has free online supplements for students (most of them do), are you using them? Are you taking good lecture notes? If the class uses an online learning management system such as Blackboard, are you logging in and checking for updates frequently?
• Talk with more successful students in the class. Find out what their approaches to studying for the class are and see if their suggestions will work for you. You might want to see if there are any active study groups or if there is interest in forming one.
• See whether you are still able to drop the class without a penalty of some kind on your transcript. It would be a good idea to talk with your academic advisor before you do so.
• If none of the above is possible, you may simply have to retake the class. Consult with your academic advisor. Being aware of what went wrong the first time you took a class can be a powerful tool to use in successful completion of the class the second time around.
This is why it is so important to keep track of your grade in the class throughout the entire semester. If you know there is a specific grade you need to earn in a class for financial aid, scholarship, or transfer purposes, you need to focus on behaviors geared toward earning that grade from the very beginning of the class.
Here are some steps to take if you are failing a class.
• Talk to the instructor and ask for a breakdown of your grades. He or she may have helpful suggestions on what you need to do to improve your grade and probably can advise you as to whether you have any realistic chances of passing the class. Remember, the later you check into the problem, the less likely it is that it can be fixed.
• Take a look at the work you’ve done so far in the class and figure out where the weaknesses are. Do you procrastinate on out-of-class assignments? Are you losing points on reading quizzes? Do you panic when a major test is coming up? Are you unsure of how to write a paper? Find out what is tripping up your grade, talk to your instructor, and see if there is tutoring available to boost your confidence in the trouble areas.
• Look closely and honestly at your approach to the class. Are you truly putting quality time and energy toward learning the material and earning the grade you want?
• Multiple learning resources are readily available for most classes. Are you reading the textbook? If your textbook has free online supplements for students (most of them do), are you using them? Are you taking good lecture notes? If the class uses an online learning management system such as Blackboard, are you logging in and checking for updates frequently?
• Talk with more successful students in the class. Find out what their approaches to studying for the class are and see if their suggestions will work for you. You might want to see if there are any active study groups or if there is interest in forming one.
• See whether you are still able to drop the class without a penalty of some kind on your transcript. It would be a good idea to talk with your academic advisor before you do so.
• If none of the above is possible, you may simply have to retake the class. Consult with your academic advisor. Being aware of what went wrong the first time you took a class can be a powerful tool to use in successful completion of the class the second time around.
What NOT To Do with a Syllabus
**SARCASM ON**
• Space out, talk, text, and/or sleep while the instructor is reviewing the syllabus in class. Better yet, don’t even show up the first day of class when the syllabus is likely to be reviewed in detail.
• Don’t read it – in fact, go ahead and lose it or throw it away. That way, you can use not knowing what is in the syllabus as an excuse for a variety of things the entire semester.
• Don’t bring it to class. After all, who needs to keep track of when things like due dates for tests and major assignments are changed?
• Don’t transfer test and assignment due dates from your syllabus to your planner or calendar. Everyone knows that the work required for one class has no relationship to what you need to do for other classes.
• Don’t look at all your class syllabi together at once to get the big picture of how you need to organize your time and energy for the semester. It’s just too overwhelming!
**SARCASM OFF**
• Space out, talk, text, and/or sleep while the instructor is reviewing the syllabus in class. Better yet, don’t even show up the first day of class when the syllabus is likely to be reviewed in detail.
• Don’t read it – in fact, go ahead and lose it or throw it away. That way, you can use not knowing what is in the syllabus as an excuse for a variety of things the entire semester.
• Don’t bring it to class. After all, who needs to keep track of when things like due dates for tests and major assignments are changed?
• Don’t transfer test and assignment due dates from your syllabus to your planner or calendar. Everyone knows that the work required for one class has no relationship to what you need to do for other classes.
• Don’t look at all your class syllabi together at once to get the big picture of how you need to organize your time and energy for the semester. It’s just too overwhelming!
**SARCASM OFF**
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