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Starting College Right
Starting College Right:  THE OFFICIAL MANUAL  Julie A. Floyd	Contents Ten Irrefutable Laws of  College Success..........................................3 Where Is Your Mindset? (quiz)...................6   Quiz Answers.............................................9    Top Ten Things Every Good College Student Always KNOWS...........................10 Deja Know.??.!!.......................................12   Remember the Laws of Grade Point Averages.................................................. 17 Where Do They Go Wrong?......................18   College is a Commitment...........................20  2
Ten Irrefutable Laws of College Success   1. You will decide from DAY ONE that you DO NOT SKIP. PERIOD. Going to class is a matter of DECISION. Don't make lame excuses. Go to class. 2. You will buy, keep, and regularly consult a calendar/planner that will become like a part of your body in its importance to your survival. 3. You will buy all required textbooks and will preview them thoroughly before classes begin. 4. You will have a notebook for each course, preferably a three-ring binder, in which you organize and keep your syllabus, all handouts, and all notes. These notebooks will be like MORE parts of your body because you will rely on them and USE them every day. 3	5. You will plan your days to include regular study times that you KEEP, times that equal two hours of study and preparation for each hour in class. * 6. You will use daytime hours, before and after class particularly, for review and study, for you will know the value of regular study and review. That's what college IS. 7. You will thoroughly review the material for each course every weekend before you plan, yes PLAN, your work the upcoming week. Remember.PLAN. 8. You will record and always KNOW your grades in all your courses. Good students always do know. Poor students seem to have no clue.a very bad sign. * Yes, at least TWO HOURS. You are learning for mastery of the subject.not just casual, passing recognition. Effective preparation could take more than two hours in some courses.   4
9. You will seek help from your instructor at the FIRST sign of academic difficulty in any course. Seeking help may seem scary. The instructor may seem scary, but  remember: instructors are here for students. Instructors, advisors, tutors, counselors.ALL are here to help, so don't be afraid. Let your feelings of fear or uncertainty HELP you to seek out good assistance.* 10. Daily, you will make sure you have at least one nourishing, balanced meal and some physical activity, and nightly, you will sleep at least five or six hours. more if you NEED it. (If you snooze in class or while studying, you NEED it.) * It is not uncommon to feel this fear. It is common to HIDE this fear. Don't hide your fear that you need some help to get through. Getting help is the SMART thing to do, always. 5	Where Is Your Mindset? Quiz - True or False?   1. The most important aspect of your first week on campus is how good your room/apartment looks. 2. How fantastic you look should be your main priority. 3. In college, you have to stay up most of the night and sleep most of the day because that's what college students always do. 4. Pizza, ramen noodles, and Kraft macaroni and cheese give you complete nutrition and resistance to colds and flu, which begin to run rampant on campus starting sometime in October. 5. College students don't NEED exercise beyond the strenuous workout that results from hurrying to class.* * Trick question. SMART college students don't usually have to hurry to class. They PLAN their time. 6
6. It will be okay if you don't study. You'll get by. 7. It will be okay if you study just a little. You'll get by. 8. If there's nothing to turn in for a class, then you have no work to do for the class. 9. As long as you pay your tuition, you may stay at USI even if you have low grades. 10. The study techniques you used in high school will probably work just fine in college. 11. Making a D is okay.it means you passed and can go on. 12. In college you have a really short, easy school day as compared with high school, so that means you  have a whole lot more free time. "Wishin ain't gettin"     7	13. If the prof doesn't take attendance, you don't have to go to class. 14. If you quit going to a class, somebody somewhere will drop you from the class, and you won't get an F. 15. You don't have to LEARN how to study. You just do it the easiest way possible.  16. If you have an illness or emergency and have to miss a week or more of classes, your instructors have to and will cut you some slack and help you to catch up.* 17. In college, you can be a full-time student and work at a full-time job.and succeed. 18. When it comes to the end of the semester, your prof will go ahead and pass you; after all, you TRIED! 19. If a prof doesn't dispute your excuses, that means he/she BELIEVES your excuses. 20. Your mom and dad can call the University at any time and straighten out your problems for you. *If ever you must miss a week or more of class for any reason, you need to call your advisor IMMEDIATELY. 8
Quiz answer... FALSE! BELIEVE it. They are ALL false. Read them again. These questions contain misconceptions, myths as silly as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and the magic learning zapper wand. The truth is, college is a great deal of work. Yes, work. It's a good thing. You are capable of organizing yourself and your time so that you are successful, but college is a full-time job that requires time, attention, dedication.and again, WORK. Only you can decide if you will DO that work and succeed.     9	Top Ten Things Every Good College Student  Always KNOWS YOU should know 10. When and where all your classes meet. 9. What's on each syllabus, who and where the prof is, and what's coming up for EVERY class session. 8. Your approximate grade in each course. (Good students usually know their exact grade. Poor students often have no idea.) 7. Which UCC courses you are in, which will come next, and which are required for your major, if you have one. 6. When EVERY test, quiz, and due date is coming. 5. Exactly where your books and supplies and notebooks and papers and disks are... always. 4. Your advisor's name and office location. 3. Where to buy a soft drink and chips or a quick lunch on campus. (It's not ALL work!) 10
2. Where and when you can most effectively study.  (Be realistic, and INTEND to study.) 1. Where to go and whom to talk to whenever you need to know something.as opposed to doing nothing or guessing wrong.both disastrous! Apartments and residence hall rooms are often not good places to study. Too noisy. Too much distraction. Try. Community rooms The library Outside  A quiet corner of the University Center and.You CANNOT watch TV and study at the same time. No arguments BEGIN to work on this issue. CAN'T do it!   11	DEJA Know!!?? You're just starting college, but you need to know this stuff ALREADY, as in NOW. Academic realities. Do you know them? A college degree is by no means automatically given to those who show up. It has to be earned. It is not easy. It's earned, by most who achieve it, by sustained study every day for four or five years or longer. Trying, by itself, is NOT enough. It's a fact that many who merely TRY without achieving end up not succeeding in earning a college degree. It's up you to LEARN in order to qualify for that degree. You need to start working from DAY ONE. Day one may seem too soon. Don't be fooled. Start studying immediately. Make it a habit. And don't let up.   There's more...keep reading! 12
FACTS... * In college, F actually does mean FAIL. It does NOT mean that somebody will overlook a problem or solve your problems for you. F can mean.OUT OF COLLEGE. * In college, D means FAIL. In high school, it meant OK, but not any more. On a 4-point scale, a D is a 1.0. TO get a degree, you must have a bare minimum of a 2.0, or a C average. And who wants to be bare minimal? * If you want to be a teacher, grades of even C+ are TOO LOW. If you make C's, you will never get into the College of Education. You must have a grade point average no lower than a 2.75. A C+ is a mere 2.5, not high enough. (Teachers should also LOVE reading and learning.) * If you want to enter a health profession, you need grades  of mostly A or B. Health professions programs admit a limited number of students, and there are plenty with grade point averages of B or higher to fill the programs. Usually, others simply do not get into the programs. You really CAN'T watch TV and study. You really do have to study DAILY and study EFFECTIVELY. 13	* If you want to major in business, you must have a C+ average, and again, that's the bare minimum. Many bright, ambitious students with B averages and higher enter business, a VERY competitive field. Also, to be successful in getting a business degree, you MUST be comfortable with mathematics. MUCH math is involved, and you have to be good at it. * If you aspire to engineering, it should be because you have a true interest in and ability to do math, primarily calculus, and an interest in and aptitude for math based sciences. * If you aspire to medicine or dentistry, remember that you essentially major in science, and you must be good at very difficult chemistry and biology courses. * You must become familiar with the Core Curriculum requirements, and you should begin NOW to explore various majors. You will complete most of your Core Curriculum before you reach junior standing, so you need to decide which field you wish to study so that you don't end up taking courses you don't need. Some majors require specific Core Curriculum courses. Read about program requirements in your University Bulletin.     14
* It is very important, even if your major is not decided, that you keep your grade point average well above 2.0 from the very start. Do not let yourself be like some unwise students who reach 60 credit hours (and that will happen much faster than you can imagine now) and yet have a GPA too low to declare the major they want.or in some cases, ANY major. The sad fact is that some of these students cannot continue at USI. They've shut themselves out. * Students may not be advised in University Division after they earn 62 credit hours. Remember, nobody gives you a college degree. You have to work for it, plan for it, and EARN it. You have to be involved wholly. You have to earn the grades. People who don't have the grades simply don't get the degree. It's that simple. Your advisor can help. Keep in contact with your advisor always! KNOW what's going on. Don't GUESS...  FIND OUT           15	Keep and READ your University Bulletin so that you know what's expected of you. Keep it close to you. You will not be given another, but you'll definitely NEED it. Visit the USI website to find out what the University has to offer and what you need. Learn to find out course information that most professors post on the web. www.usi.edu Learn to study. STUDY. Get help from your instructor, from Academic Skills, from your advisor, or from classmates who perform well in class. Begin from the very start and continue to the end. Academic Skills, Orr Center 012 Free tutoring is available on a walk-in basis. Smart people take advantage. Over 70 percent of students using Academic Skills services are A, B, and C students. Think about it!               16
wise quote: "Watch your GPA that first semester. It STAYS with you!" - Nicole, second-year student - Remember the LAWS OF GRADE POINT AVERAGES * A GPA lowers much more easily and rapidly than it rises. * It is much easier to maintain a good GPA from the start than to pull it up from a low point. * One bad grade lowers GPA quite a bit. A high grade raises it very little. * The more hours you earn, the harder it is to raise your GPA. * GPA, alone, if it's too low, can keep you out of a major you would like to pursue. * GPA, if too low, can keep you from continuing at USI.                           A    4.0       B    3.0         C    2.0                       D    1.0                     F    0.0 17	Where Do They Go Wrong? YOU don't want to go wrong. Yet, sometimes students do. The vast majority of the students who have academic difficulties are fully capable of succeeding. They just need to do some things right. So.What IS right? PLAN each school day. You're out of high school and on your own, but your school day needs to be LONGER now than in high school. You need daily planned study sessions. Study in one- to two-hour blocks with breaks and shifts in activities. But DO the studying. If your study methods don't work, learn new ones. Seek and find help if you need it. Chances are, you will need new and different study skills. Try DIFFERENT study methods; use what WORKS for you. PREVIEW. READ. REVIEW. Take notes and highlight after you have read a section. Reading ACTIVELY is essential. Planning + Effort + Responsibility + Work = SUCCESS!   18
Overlearn. Study until you know it, and then study some more. Then review regularly. Most test anxiety is a result of not having really learned the material. Realize that college learning, particularly in new subjects, NEVER comes quickly or easily. It does come, and you can learn, but you must invest time and effort. There's no way around it. And there is no greater satisfaction in life than to have worked to achieve. Dispel the notion that "WORK" is a negative term. From the start, build your reputation as a serious, responsible student. Go to class. Do all the reading and studying and assignments. Turn in your work on time. Make good grades. You reputation will follow you.either way. Do not make excuses. They sound good only to YOU, and they are damaging to you. Know what's expected of you as an adult student. Do what's expected. Review regularly. Reading once will benefit you very little if at all. STUDY the material many times. 19	Fewer than twenty percent of people have a college degree. There are reasons! and finally... College is a COMMITMENT. It is a commitment of time. It is a commitment of effort. It is a commitment of money. Take these words to heart: Life works only so long as you keep your commitments. They are true. Are YOU committed to getting your degree? Only YOU can decide. University Division AdvisingEducation Building (ED 1142)  ** 465-1606