Skip to main content

Advice About College

A former student sent an e-mail recently, asking me for advice about how to approach college. Here is what I considered important while thinking about it.

I can tell you what I know about college. I know that you are not the only one who feels apprehensive about it. Many (if not most) people who attend college have some anxiety about starting something new like college, and more so because college is often more difficult academically than high school; but from my experience, college can be such a wonderful experience if you approach it in the right way.

For instance, going to college will mean more homework than you are accustomed to having, and it will mean being in a place where you may not know anyone. It will also mean learning how to be an adult. You will have to manage your money, balance your time as you choose which classes to take when (as well as balance your classwork with a job if you choose to get a job), and take care of chores and housing needs in those times you are not studying.

However, college also allows you to meet so many new people, hear new perspectives, and make new friends. It means proving that you can take care of yourself, and taking pride in it. It means getting the chance to learn about yourself more as you explore hobbies that your university or college offers, or deciding whether you want to explore hobbies at all.

With all that in mind, here is what I can tell you: relax and be at peace. From someone who found it difficult to be in a new setting with new people, I can tell you that I found more good things in college than bad things. My anxiety about college was overshadowed by all of the new experiences I eventually found myself in, and I would not trade it back if I could.

Equally important, I believe you should ask yourself what you want to get out of college. If you want to make new friends, then you should make time between classes and studying to find ways to make friends with other students. This might mean joining a club or some other social gathering on campus. I made the mistake of focusing only on my studies, and while that was good in a way because I was prepared for my classes, I also missed so much of the social experience of college. I would suggest making time for a social life, without neglecting your studies.

Last, you should make every effort to be your best in your classes. I learned so much in college, but it was only because I took the time to read the coursework and attend all the lectures. As a result, I improved academically and personally. There will be times when others will challenge your beliefs when there are class discussions, but these will also be chances for you to speak up and say what you think, too. Don't be afraid to speak and stand up for what you know is right when the chance comes. Others will respect you for taking the risk.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persuasion

At different points in history, governments have devoted men, women, and resources to try to persuade others to their side. One significant example of this occurred in Germany under Adolf Hitler. Hitler knew how important it was to make sure the German people were on his side as leader of the country. One way he did this was by controlling what people heard. Specifically, near the beginning of World War II, Hitler made it a crime for anyone in Germany to listen to foreign radio broadcasts. These were called the “extraordinary radio measures.” He did this to ensure that Germans weren’t being persuaded by enemy countries to question their loyalty to Hitler. He knew that a German listening to a radio broadcast from Britain might persuade that German to believe that Great Britain was the good guy and Hitler the bad guy. This was so important, in fact, that two people in Germany were actually executed because they had either listened to or planned to listen to a foreign radio broadcast (one...
Post a Comment
Read more

Comparison

Psychologists and others have studied ways in which we compare ourselves to each other. One man named Leon Festinger argued that we tend to compare ourselves to other people when we don’t know how good or bad we are at something (like football or playing the guitar). One way we do this is when we compare ourselves to those who are not as good as we are, to protect our self-esteem (called “downward social comparison;” example: we’re playing basketball and miss most of our shots, but we feel okay because a teammate wasn’t even given the ball). Another comparison we make is when we compare ourselves to others who are doing much better than we are (called “upward social comparison”). When we see others who appear to be doing better than we are, we can respond by trying to improve ourselves, or by trying to protect ourselves by telling ourselves it’s not that important. There was a study published in 1953 by Solomon Asch, who asked students to take part in a “vision test.” The par...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on Academic Purpose

If I could tell my students how to choose a path of employment, I would emphasize that no effective writer, historian, athlete, musician, or scientist became such without dedicating themselves to some goal. For that to have taken place, however, the respective expert must have had a firm idea about why they were doing what they were doing. In other words, they must have had purpose. Karl Marx spent countless hours in English libraries, I would share, to understand the functioning of society in order to improve it; while Isaac Newton often went without food to gain a firmer grasp of the science of motion, and eventually revised that science. They did this because they had a clear purpose, a real reason for doing what they were doing that would affect others around them. I would communicate that whatever passion students tap into, it should be embarked upon with that kind of clear goal in mind. While they may not know which passions they have yet, I would emphasize that school is a time ...
Post a Comment
Read more