A new chapter
As you are entering college as first year students, you also start a “new chapter” in your life where you can determine your future, choosing friends, do what you want, and change yourself into what you want to be. Before that, things often have been determined by your parents on what school you go to, what friends you have, what things you should do etc. However, with this new independent comes self-discipline, because with the ability to control your life, you also could change it for the better or for the worst.
The first thing you must learn in college is time management. You only have a limited time to do many things so you must set your own priority. When others go to parties, play videogames all day, or spend time with new boyfriend or girl friend etc. you must discipline yourself to study because you go to college to get educated and you only have few years to accomplish it. Studying should be your top priority as everything else can wait. Whatever you do in your first year will determine the rest of the time you spend in college. It is difficult to change after you make mistake in the first year so you should manage your time carefully.
When you go to college, whatever happened in high school is the past, do not look back. You may be an “average student” in high school but if you put in the effort, you could be a top student in college. You may be a “famous” person in high school but in college, there are hundreds of people who also are very “famous” in their high school too. Please remember that you are no longer in high school and what happened in high school does not mean much in college. Basically, everybody will have a chance to start from the beginning as college is a “new chapter” in the book of life. In this new chapter, other students will only know you from now on as they do not know your past and what you did. It would be best NOT to mention anything whether good or bad, as life goes on and you have a chance to begin with a “blank page” as everything should begin from here.
In high school, teachers explain clearly what they expect about homework and tests. In college, the professors give assignments and expect students to complete them according to the written instructions. As students, you are responsible to follow these instructions as no one will remind you about how to study. In high school, teachers check for attendance; if you skip several classes, the principal will be noticed and then your parents will know. In college, most professors do not check attendance; if you miss class that is your problem. Probably the first discipline that you must develop in college is going to class. You should go to all classes, every day and never skip any. You will probably be surprised at how many students often skip class in college. If you get into this bad habit, you will not do well and if you do not do well in your first year, what is the chance that you will do well in the next three years? That is why many students quit school or being expelled.
Most college professors do not teach according to textbooks as they often use new information, new ways to explain things. If you go to class every day, you get all the information, all the new ways to learn things. You know professors’ expectations and what they want from you. You go to class to learn from them as you do NOT learn by just reading textbooks. You go to class to listen and to ask questions; you go to class to discuss and interact with others and that is how you learn. When go to class, you must pay attention to the lecture and things being discussed. Paying attention means you do not sleep in class; do not read emails or send text messages to friends; or watching YouTube on your laptop. You go to class to study so do that seriously, if you are NOT serious about study than why go to college?
After each class, you must find a quiet place to review what you have learned by check the note that you took in class and compare with the textbooks and other references. I often advice students to find a place in the library then set schedule that you will go there every day to study until it become a good study habit. You go to college to learn but if you procrastinate then cram at the last minutes then you learn nothing. Cramming few days before the test may let you pass it but you will not have knowledge to develop the needed skills for you future. If you cheat or copy someone's works to pass tests or homeworks then you actually cheat yourself and deny yourself an opportunity to learn something good for your life. You may cheat to get a degree but you will not be able to get a job without the necessity skills. Why spend time and money just to get a “useless piece of paper”?
Today college students do not like to read, they prefer watching TV or “short clip” on YouTube. Reading is a good habit to have, regardless what type of job you do, you will find that you have to read more and write more than you think. Of course, in college you have to read your assignments but you also must read newspapers, magazines, online blogs and technical websites. More than that, you should read novels, read science fiction books, read mysteries books, read history and philosophy books. Read anything, read to learn, read to enrich your mind, read for pleasure because you learn a lot of information by reading. Another unintended benefit of reading is the more you read, the better you will write and reading and writing are the two most important skills in every company. By develop a reading habit; it will make reading for assignments easier; it makes reading for work after college easier.
College is not about study only so you must set time for other activities that help you to relax and stay healthy. I often advice students to spend about half hour each day to go to a park and walk slowly to relax or do some light exercises to reduce stress. After all, you are not a machine so you need to stay healthy throughout college by take responsibility for yourself and your actions. As you are growing up to be an adult, you must take responsibilities for everything that you do as well as everything that happen to you. Only by being a responsible person for yourself than you can be a responsible person for your family, your society and your country.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
