If you don't find it within yourself, where will you go to get it?
- Zen Saying
How can I succeed in College?
Starting college for the first time brings excitement, and often fear. Many students want to know how they can start off right and ultimately be successful. In general, college success means:
1. Being an ACTIVE participant in your education and career, not a spectator
2. REFLECTING upon and monitoring your progress
3. SEEKING out help and knowing the RESOURCES and services available to help you
4. Making CONNECTIONS with faculty, staff, students
Some questions to consider as you begin your college experince:
- What is the purpose of my college education?
-
How will general education classes help me at GSC and in other aspects of my life?
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What is important to me?
- What do I want to get out of this experience?
- What am I willing and able to put into college in order to be successful?
- What are some obstacles that may block my success?
- What are my coping and problem-solving strategies?
- What support networks do I have? (family, friends, college staff and instructors...you!)
Start off Right
- Begin the first day of class
- Use a planner
- Establish a routine time to study for each class
- Establish a place to study
- Treat your day like a job
- Schedule breaks in studying
- Make use of campus resources
- Form study partners
- Keep in contact with faculty
- Never be afraid to ask a question. Be curious.
- Words of Wisdom from Peers
|
Successful Students... |
Struggling Students... |
| 1. Accepts PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, believing that they determine the quality of their lives through the quality of their choices. |
...see themselves as victims, believing tht what happens to them is determined primarily by external forces such as luck |
| 2. Discover a MOTIVATING PURPOSE,pursuing personally meaningful goals and dreams that energize their daily lives. |
...have difficulty sustaining motivation, often feeling frustrated, and/or resentful about a lack of direction in their lives. |
| 3. Take PURPOSEFUL ACTIONS, consistently planning and taking effective steps in the pursuit of their chosen goals and dreams. |
...seldom identify specific actions needed to accomplish a desired outcome -- when they do, they tend to procrastinate. |
| 4. Demonstrate INDERPENDENCE, building mutually supportive relationships that help them achieve their desired outcomes and experiences (as they help others do the same). |
...are solitary, seldom requesting, even rejecting offers of assistance from those who could help. |
| 5. Gain SELF-AWARENESS, consciously developing empowering attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that keep them on course. |
...make important choices unconsciously, controlled more by habits than by well-considered decisions. |
| 6. Become LIFE-LONG LEARNERS, gaining knowledge and wisdon by finding powerful feelings in nearly every experience they have. |
...resist learning new ideas and skills, viewing learning as a chore rather than exciting and interesting. |
| 7. Develop EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, effectively managing powerful feelings and staying on course despite life's inevitable upsets. |
...get thrown off course by strong emotions such as anger/anxiety or the need for instant gratification. |
| 8. BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES, feeling competent and unconditionally worthy as human beings |
...doubt their competence and personal value, feeling inadequate to create their desired outcomes and experiences. |
Adapted from James Madison University