College Knowledge: 101 Tips (1 of 3 free samples)

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COPYRIGHT
College Knowledge: 101 Tips by David Schoem. Copyright by the University of Michigan 2005
All Rights Reserved. Sharing not permitted.

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College Knowledge: 101 Tips

By David Schoem


DEDICATION: To My Students

PREFACE
http://www.dailylit.com/books/college-knowledge-101-tips/preface


THE TOP 10 TIPS FOR COLLEGE SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS

1
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

I can't overstate the importance of maintaining your self-confidence at college. You are a bright, capable person, and if you have good study habits and the desire to succeed, you will do just that at each and every college that offered you admission. Know that this is true, remind yourself daily, and never question your intellectual abilities.

There is a mind game that gets played out at every college regardless of its guidebook ranking. Very simply, students worry that they're not up to the college's standard. Unfortunately, colleges do very little to allay such fears. First-year students look at their peers in the residence hall cafeteria, at the college convocation, or at the first lecture or seminar and worry that they're just not as smart as the other students.

Many students, when they are speaking openly to me, wonder aloud whether the college admissions office made a mistake in admitting them. Deep down in a vulnerable place inside them, they imagine that if the college admissions office had truly read their applications carefully, they would not have been deserving of admission. After all, with so many other smart students in their school and now sitting with them in college, how could they have been fully competitive and worthy of admission.

I experienced this same fear when I attended college many years ago. Sure, I was a good student in high school, but I worried that I would be found out once I got to college. Maybe the admissions office accidentally put my application in the wrong pile and sent me the wrong letter. I wondered whether colleges ever send out "so sorry" letters retracting admissions to students like me.

Of course this is all silliness. And if such a notion should ever come over you, just let go of it immediately. College admissions offices know what they're doing. The truth is that colleges receive applications from so many outstanding students that they must reject hundreds, even thousands, of qualified students. So, clearly, everyone who is admitted is fully capable of doing outstanding work. The key is discovering what your interests are, finding your own identity, meeting good students and faculty, and developing good study skills.

When you hear others talk about all the smart kids at college, know that they're talking about you. SAT/ACT scores? Once you're in college, no one cares about those exams and what your score was. Your high school GPA? Forget it. After the first few weeks of college, high school will seem like years in the past. No one is interested. What faculty members and the other students will be interested in is you--in your ideas, your interests, what you care about, what classes you are taking, papers you are writing, books you are reading, and what you hope to accomplish in your life.

When I first entered high school in ninth grade with a class of 1,500 other students, our principal gave a welcoming speech to us in our huge high school auditorium. He told us to look at the student sitting next to us on our right and then to turn and look at the student sitting next to us on our left. Then he told us that in four years, at the end of twelfth grade, one of the three of us would not be there for graduation. I remember that sorry speech and its negative message all too well.

But unlike my high school principal's advice, you should approach your college education with full confidence that you will graduate in four years. And your expectation should be not just that you will graduate but that you will excel. In college you will begin the path of realizing your academic, professional, and personal dreams.

Right now, take out a piece of paper and write down the following. "I know I am smart. I know I can do well in college. I believe in myself and in my academic abilities. I will achieve to the top of my ability. I will accomplish great things." Put this paper in a secret place. Read it to yourself as often as you need. Self-confidence is your first insurance policy for success in college.

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