How to Succeed in College

Taking the responsibility for my own learning has probably been one of the hardest steps in my high school and beginning of college time period. At my high school, we have what I call being “spoon feed”. By that I mean getting constant reminders of when things are due, how to do them correctly, getting un-needed extensions, and getting to re-do our work that it not satisfactory. Well here at college, we get none of that. We are given a paper with all the dates our work is due and possible reminders along the way. That’s it. Not re-dos do extensions and no help unless we ask the teacher directly.  For me, that was a hard lesson to learn. You learn everything you need on your own time, not during your teacher’s time. So to take full responsibility for my learning, I needed to study 6 times as much as I did, make sure I knew when everything was due, and if I needed help, I needed to ask. It was so important for me to take that responsibility because without doing so, I would probably have failed all 5 of my classes. Mostly I needed to learn time management, which by the end I finally did. I have a job, still participate in my high school band, participate in musical, go to church twice a week, play hand bells, take care of my brother and at times my father, and try to maintain a very active social life, along with trying to study and do work for 15 credit hours. That was so hard for me to do at first. I had no idea how I was going to manage. But by the end, I learned if I learned to say no to something in my social life and slept for only 6 hours or less a night, I could get it all done. I am not saying for everyone to try this, but I am saying to it is very critical to do well in college you need to have great time management, know when your stuff is due, and know when to ask for help.