Success in the classroom starts with a desire to want to be in the course. Students spend semesters and quarters of their college life in a classroom, but with the birth of the internet that’s making it possible to bring the classroom to the comfort of your home. Professors can tell how serious a student is about their class if they show up, prepared and ready having read all the appropriate chapters and having materials needed for class ready to go. Professors also grade on students who put the time and effort into the assignments given in class as well. Many colleges and universities are offering classes online with the exception of courses that require a lab course to fulfill the degree or certificate requirements.
Going to college is a commitment and investment in your future, but it’s when you get those select few who waste financial aid money and taking up seats in classrooms this takes away from actual students who are serious about attending college. It’s a problem when you have students who come to school as a social gathering when after a while those same people you hang with will eventually move on. Part of coming to college is to set the path for your future career, and part of that is also learning how to interact and network with people. You’re there to build skills that will help you down the line not only in school, but in your professional life as well. In the first two years you should have some idea of what you want to do instead of wasting it taking classes that aren’t going to apply towards a degree or professional certification.
The system of college advising should be revamped so that it’s applied before high school students even graduate so they can have some idea by the time they get to college and declare their majors. The way the educational system is they expect high schoolers to be ready to declare their majors when they should be exploring that before graduating high school so that potential freshman can start their first year in college with having some idea of what they want to do already set in stone. Students shouldn’t aim for specific schools because they’re party schools because most of the students in party schools don’t do well academically. Success has to be something a student wants through hard work, effort, and the time they’re willing to commit to work on earning a degree. If they were giving degrees away everyone and their mama would be lining up from here to kingdom come to get one. Degrees are work and they’re not given to you when you have to earn them.
The students who graduate with the grades are the ones who were willing to put in the time and commitment to studying are the ones who graduate on time whereas those who spend more time fooling around are the ones who graduate late or not at all. College is what you make of it and how you spend your time there determines when you will graduate. Keep in mind that for some of you who rely on Pell grants to pay your way through school will only have four years since that’s the time limit you have to get it. So it’s wise to also use your financial aid money wisely because once it’s used up you can’t get it anymore once you’ve graduated with a bachelor’s degree.
College students will achieve success if they are serious about school and are not there goofing off and letting time slip by. Time is a precious element when it comes to college and should be used accordingly so you won’t end up like Johnny Lechner who made national headlines spent 12 years as an undergrad only to accomplish very little in the time he’s been in school while his peers had gone on and graduated and had married and started families. This is a classic case of what you should not be doing as a college student when the goal is to get in there and get out.