Diversity and Demographics on Organizational Behavior

Succeeding in College

Attending college in this time and day is one of the most expensive investments a family would spend for their child or children. Earning a college degree is also daunting for anyone because students will encounter many challenges never before faced in high school and elementary days.

Many books have been written by various experts on learning and personality traits needed to succeed in college. Langan (McGraw Hill/Townsend press, 2001), in his book Ten Skills You Really Need To Succeed in College, specialized on how a student will be able to effectively shift from high school to college. Another author, Sherrie Nist on College Rules!: How to Study, Survive, and Succeed in College (Ten Speed press, 2002), on the other hand elaborated on the more practical side of college life and proceeded to offer handy tips to guarantee that the student will come equipped and continue to be so throughout his/her stay in college.

From these and other articles, this paper attempts to write a brief picture of how a student will have secured place as he/she pursues a course to prepare him/her not only for work but for a lifetime.

One of Nist’s advices is to enlighten the student that college life is vastly different from high school. The author then guides the reader to look into the other essential aspects of college life which will assist his/her easy adjustments when that happens. Anticipation of the challenges is assumed to help the learner to meet the experience with a degree of contentment instead of anxiety. Steps to studying smarter instead of just putting in plain hard work help make college life an enjoyable one. There are stressful events involved for sure because meeting deadlines, taking and trying to pass exams and even budgeting are sure ways of getting stressed out. Nist along with another professor also advised the students to take time out for leisure-balancing play and academics.

On the other hand, Langan offered to expound on the ten tips crucial for every student to master during his course of stay. Just as many of the other authors or experts on learning in college level emphasized, time management, learning how to take notes and knowing how to review those notes, establishing routine whether on day one (which is to attend class, and stay attending every session as possible) and thereon, making one’s room as conducive for learning as possible (tidying up etc.), and learning how to interact with instructors or professors in certain ways and all the nitty-gritty aspects that encompass a college existence are the most common items recommended. It is assumed therefore, that these have been time tested procedures and steps from experiences of intellectually average to superior individuals.

With guides like these and procedures given, the student is bound to see college life as something he /she could probably pursue and finish. This blueprint creates an expectation and optimism that university life will not be that difficult nor threatening after all.

Perhaps, the underpinning to the sound advices is one’s attitude towards the whole learning experience itself. One mother succinctly puts it, “Focus on learning, not on the GPA.” This doesn’t mean though that students will be intentional on getting a low GPA or grade on a particular course. This goes to show that a good GPA will usually follow if one thoroughly has the attitude to enjoy and learn as much as one can.

Succeeding in college means being smart enough to avoid the foolishness of ignorance and naivetй in things that one can get into where he/she is not prepared in the first place; like for example getting into a love relationship with the opposite sex which is very early for a college student. A wise student must keep a distance between his/herself from intimate relationships as this may complicate things and add pressure in his overall commitments.

Reference:

1. Nist, S., and Holschuh, J., (2002).College Rules!: How to Study, Survive, and Succeed in College. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, Calif..

2. Langan, J. (2001), Ten Skills You Really Need To Succeed in College, McGraw Hill/Townsend press.

3. Matthew, Jay, 10 Mostly Weird Ways to Succeed at College, 2005.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2003/06/03/AR2005032304315.html