Mistakes College Freshmen Make and How to Avoid Them
Getting started in college can be a hectic experience for students. Freshmen have endless worries: enrolling in classes, standing in long lines, finding the classrooms, making new friends, understanding teachers and having enough money to pay for everything they need. Some freshmen make big mistakes that damage their chances for success. Here are just a few of them:
1. Trying to save money by not buying the textbooks. While it's true that textbooks can be very costly, it's not smart to try to save money by not buying the text, sharing texts or even counting on reserve copies available in the library. Counting on a book given to you by a former student can be a problem if the edition has changed. (That happened to two students in my classes this semester.)Serious teachers start assigning text reading the very first week and you need your own copies to keep up with your assignments
2. Over Committing If you're taking too many units and trying to work long hours, you're set on downward slope. Experts agree that you should allow at least 2 hours for each unit in which you've enrolled. For a 15 unit load that means 30 hours a week set aside for studying. If you can't manage study time while holding down a job, you're asking for frustration, fatigue and failure. Consider cutting back on your work hours or taking fewer units per semester.
3. Disregarding the Syllabus While many students receive the syllabus, and perhaps even glance at it, not enough students believe it. For example, I don't take late homework or give makeup tests. Although this is clearly stated in my syllabus and stressed on the first day, a few students don't believe it's a firm rule, or think it doesn't apply to them. Think of the syllabus as a bible on how to navigate the course.
Learn about more mistakes from the Warrick News.
posted by Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. @ 10:58 AM
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