The following factors are crucial to your success in college.
1. Understand why you are in college. Identify specific goals and a useful goal-setting process for yourself.
2. Show up for class. When asked what they would do differently if they
could do it all over again, most seniors say, “Go to class.”
Instructors tend to test on what they discuss in class, as well as
grade, in part, on the basis of class attendance and participation. Be
there! Be on time!
3. Participate in class. The more you become involved the more you’ll
enjoy the class and learn. If you’re not assertive enough, take
assertiveness training. The Personal and Career Counseling Office, located in Student Affairs Office, has information on training workshops. Learn how to appropriately express yourself and
respects the rights of others in and out of class.
4. Set up daily and weekly schedules; stick to them! If you can’t do it
alone, find someone in The Kinkel Center for Academic Resources or in
the Counseling Center to assist you. Get a day planner or
“week-at-a-glance” calendar from the bookstore. Assign sufficient time
for study, sleep, work, and recreation. If you have family or work
obligations, find ways to balance them with academic demands. Time
management is critical to success.
5. Discover your learning style. Assess and improve your study habits.
Learn how to take more efficient notes in class and be more successful
on tests. The Kinkel Center for Academic Resources, the MAP (Managing
Academic Progress) program, and the Personal and Career Counseling Office can assist you.
“Work Smarter, Not Harder.”
6. Learn how to use the library efficiently and effectively as soon as
possible. The library isn’t as formidable as it might seem and it
offers extensive access to resources both on and off
campus. The librarians are there to help you.
7. Meet with your instructors and with your academic advisor. It’s okay
to get help. Students who interact with instructors outside of class
tend to be successful in college and complete a degree. Your advisor is
there to guide and support you, not to tell you what to do. Take the
opportunity to meet with your advisor at times other than just during
Advising Week. Connect through e-mail.
8. Learn what resources Fontbonne offers and where they are located.
Fontbonne has academic and personal support services that are free and
confidential. Successful people use these services.
9. Improve your writing skills. Employers want graduates who can write.
Write every day; the more you write, the better your writing will become. The
writing specialists in the Kinkel Center are there to provide
assistance.
10. Develop critical thinking skills. Challenge, ask questions, look for
unusual solutions to ordinary problems and ordinary solutions to
unusual problems.
11. Enhance your computer skills. You should be comfortable with basic
file manipulation, with the use of a standard word-processing program,
and with e-mail. Use your Fontbonne e-mail address.
12. Join a study group. Research shows that students who study in
groups often get the highest grades and enjoy a positive college
experience.
13. Choose a realistic work load. If you’re attending college full
time, avoid working more than 15 to 20 hours a week. Most students
begin a downhill slide academically when they work more than 20 hours a
week. If you need more money, talk to a financial aid officer, or talk to
your advisor about the possibility of taking a lighter academic load.
Students who work on campus tend to do better in classes and are more
likely to stay enrolled than those who work off campus.
14. Have realistic expectations. You may not make the same grades you
made in high school. Remember that we all tend to be better in some
subjects than in others. If you were a star athlete in high school, you
might not be in college. Develop realistic goals for yourself.
15. Members of the campus community care about you and your success.
Get to know at least one person; it takes only one person to make a
difference. It might be the leader of your orientation focus group,
your freshman seminar instructor, another instructor, an academic
advisor, someone at the career or counseling center, the campus
minister, a dean, or an advisor for a student organization. You are the
one who must take the initiative to establish this relationship; it
will be well worth it.
16. Make at least one or two close friends among your peers. Choose
your friends for their own merits, not for what they can do for you. In
college, as in life, you become like those with whom you associate.
17. Get involved in Student Activities. Join Student Organizations or Campus Ministry. Play intramural sports. Work for
the campus newspaper. Most campus organizations welcome
newcomers— you’re their lifeblood. Students who join even one group
are more likely to enjoy college, to be successful, and to graduate.
18. Take your health seriously. How much sleep you get, what you eat,
whether you exercise, and what decisions you make about such things as
drugs or alcohol, all contribute to your well-being. Be good to
yourself and you’ll be happy and more successful. Find healthy ways to
deal with stress. The Personal Counseling Office can help you.
19. Visit Career Services early in your first year. See a career
counselor before you get too far along in college, even if you have
chosen your academic major. Discuss career opportunities with your
academic advisor.
20. Assume responsibility for your own education. It is your
education— not your advisor’s, not your parent's, and not your
friend’s. Good luck!
Adapted from Your College Experience; Strategies
For Success by John N. Gardner and A. Jerome Jewler,
Sixth Edition, Thomson Wadsworth Publishing Company, Boston, 2006.
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