Being a Freshman Can be Tough

Well, September is the time of year when recent high school graduates are beginning to wrestle with their freshman year of college. My eldest granddaughter is one of those new university students this year. I wrote her some pointers that I thought might be helpful to others as well. Feel free to share these with new students among your family and friends.

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Hey, Granddaughter,

Just checking in to see how college is going.  Grandma and I have been praying that you have a wonderful first year.

We saw your post that you had a good first day of college and that you gained a bit more focus on long term goals since the last time we spoke.  I’m thankful.  It sounds like you have settled on pursuing teacher certification in History.  That’s a wonderful field.  I love history as well and would welcome someone to discuss it with. 

I don’t want to give too much unsolicited advice, but since I have spent the better part of 30 years hanging around colleges and helping students, I thought perhaps I’d share with you some things I’ve picked up along the way.

As you likely know, teacher certification can be a bit daunting.  Typically, students are required to maintain a strong GPA.  This is really easy to mess up for freshmen. It is not uncommon for incoming students to fail the whole first semester because college is so different from high school.  Then they have a terrible time getting their GPA high enough to be admitted to the education program.  (Many even have trouble staying in college.  I can’t tell you how many would-be sophomores have petitioned me to be readmitted after being academically dismissed–all with very similar sob stories: “If I had only known. . . .”)

Graduating college with a degree is, by and large, not a matter of intellectual brilliance.  (You are more than smart enough to succeed!)  But there is a hidden agenda in college.  In order to graduate, a student has to demonstrate a level of self-discipline and a work ethic.  Some employers rely on this fact.  Sometimes, when they hire a college graduate it is not that they need the knowledge behind the degree but that they know the person they are hiring can work hard and persist.

I thought it might be helpful for me to list things I’ve learned over the years that make the difference between students finishing strong or dropping out.  While relevant throughout college and graduate school, accumulated experience can allow older students to customize their habits to their own personalities and abilities.  However, a first semester freshman would be well-advised not to diverge too much from these recommendations.  The more things on this list that you do  just as suggested, the more likely you are to succeed in your goal of a college degree.

To increase the likelihood of your success, I’d suggest you pay attention to the following principles and recommendations:

• Set clear, long-term goals and write them down.  E.g. I will graduate in four years with certification in history secondary-education and secure a teaching position in a school district in SW Ohio prior to graduation.
  • Talk with an advisor who can tell you exactly what are all the hoops that must be jumped through in order to achieve this goal and write these down too.
  • Review these goals and the requirements about once a week.
• If you are enrolled in a full-time class load (15 or 16 hours), treat it like a full-time, 40 hour/week job.  In general, for every hour spent in class, a pretty good student should spend approximately 1.5 hours working on that class outside of the time spent in class in order to get at least a B in the class.  You will likely need to get at least a B in all your major courses and no less than a C in general education/elective classes in order to reach your teaching goals.
• Working a job while taking a full load of classes will cramp social life.  While not impossible, most data suggests that full-time students who work more than 15 hours per week have a hard time succeeding (particularly if that work is off campus).  Largely this is because traditional age students won’t give up their social life.  They therefore short-change their study time.  (Adults in their late 20s and 30s often manage this better by doing nothing but working, studying and sleeping.)
• Think through each course syllabus and stay on top of assignments.  Check the syllabi at least weekly.  This can’t be emphasized enough.  As soon as you get a syllabus for a course, find the major tests, papers and projects on which your grade will depend.  Then figure out how much time it will likely take you in preparation to get an A or a B on that assessment.  Work backward.  When do you need to start?  Use a calendar and block out the time you will need in study or research or writing.  Don’t procrastinate!  Staying up all night writing a paper guarantees a poor paper.  Cramming all night for a test generally ends in a poor grade.
• Keep up with the reading.  Admittedly, some faculty members assign readings and then never refer to them either in class or on tests, but don’t count on this!  In many classes there is a lot of reading and it is very easy to get behind.  If each class session requires you to read about 50 pages and you blow off one class session’s assignment, then you have 100 pages to read for the next time.  This piles up!!
• Students can’t rely on the professor to help in time management.  While some professors will coach students about what they should be doing as “homework” in the high school sense, many will not.  They will hand out a syllabus at the beginning of the semester, go over it, and assume the student will plan accordingly.  Generally, faculty members don’t have much sympathy for students who can’t plan ahead or get their work done on time without a lot of hand-holding.
• Writing is very important.  Work to do it well.  Don’t procrastinate and it will leave you time to proof-read and edit your drafts.  Professors hate grading poorly written papers.  Some won’t even accept papers with too many punctuation, grammatical, and spelling errors.  Don’t destroy your grades just because you don’t proof your papers!  (Professors don’t like poorly written emails either.)
• If you need help, seek it out early.  Most colleges have a good tutoring center.  And most professors welcome students who ask for help as long as they don’t wait until the last minute.  Don’t expect much sympathy from a professor if you email them a question at 10 pm the night before a paper is due, however.
• Take care of your health.  Your mind is connected to your body.  Take care of your body.  Eat right.  Exercise regularly.  Don’t just sit.  Get enough sleep every night.  And be aware that many college students destroy themselves by getting too cozy with drugs and alcohol.  (This has been a major problem for students since the first university was founded in the 12th century.  Avoid the trap!)
• Exercise integrity in the moment of choice.  This is probably the most important principle.  Once you’ve decided on your long-term goals and the kind of person you want to be, make every decision with those ends in mind.  There will always be things to do that are more fun than studying.  There will always be friends who ask you to do something besides reading that textbook.  There will always be temptations to do things you know won’t make you the person you want to be.  Choose wisely!  Act with the long-term consequences in mind.  Your brain will work overtime to rationalize and excuse diversion from what you should be doing.  Don’t let it!  And find friends who will help you stay on track (rather than the other kind).
• “Remember your Creator while you are young . . .” (Eccles. 12:1).  For whatever reason, when in college it’s easy to lose sight of the most important aspect of our life.  God created you and loves you as His own child.  Your own life fulfillment and joy will never be complete unless and until you love Him back more deeply even than a child loves his or her parent.  Find a group of friends who all love and seek to follow Christ.  Do life together with them.  Lean on each other and thus grow closer to the One who loves you more than all others.

Sorry to blast you with a whole list of dos and don’ts.  I’ve just seen too many of these principles ignored and sink a very promising student.  I just didn’t want you to get halfway into the first semester and be surprised at how things aren’t quite not going the way you want.  Do these things I’ve listed well, and you are almost assured to make it through the first year with flying colors.  We’ll be praying and rooting for you!

Much love,

Grandpa