Difference between Try and Triumph
The difference between try and triumph is a little
UMPH! Students often attend class and study and go through the motions of
“trying” to get a decent grade. According to Arum and Roksa, in the book
titled Academically Adrift, over 1/3 of college graduates didn’t improve their
writing skills, critical thinking skills, or reasoning abilities during their
time in college.
Attending college with a little more UMPH can make a huge
difference in the outcome of the 4 (or 7) best years of your life! Here
are 5 ways to help you TRIUMPH in college:
1. Attend
classes.
Okay, this is an obvious
suggestion, but
it won’t be quite so obvious as you settle into college life and realize that
there’s no detention or punishment for missing classes and discover that the professor’s lecture notes are online. According to the Educational Policy Institute,
students who skip classes increase their odds of dropping out of school by
250%. Your class hours drop by more half when you go to college.
You have access to some of the most accomplished experts in their field, and
you are paying a tremendous amount of money to have access to them. Don’t waste
it.
2.
Live in the Academic Moment
A college education is a classic
process-versus-product paradigm. Plenty of students complain about their work
or obsess about their G.P.A., but that’s just wasted energy and time. Focus on
your assignments, papers and projects for their intrinsic learning value; the
grades will come naturally.
3.
Find the Working Side of Academia
Every college has opportunities for
undergraduates to do research or to assist in large-scale academic endeavors,
so actively seek them out, even if you haven’t been on campus very long. You’ll
be rewarded by the people you’ll meet and the insight you’ll gain on the
institution as a whole.
4. Use tutors.
College classes can be much
harder than anything you experienced in high school, which is why colleges
offer free tutoring to its students. The tutors are often upper classmen who
are majors in the subject. The tutors may do a better job of explaining the materials
than the professors and they are usually far more accessible.
5. Choose a
major you love.
You have a better chance of
succeeding in college if you major in something you truly love rather than
picking a college major that you or your parents think is more
practical. If you like your college major, you are more likely to devote more time to
it and to excel.
Some
experts have suggested that you need to devote 10,000 to master a subject,
whether it's Mozart or Michael Jordan - and you are more likely to be able to
pull this off in your career if you like what you're doing.
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