EDUCATION

WELCOME
TO YOUR
BY JEREMY S. HYMAN AND LYNN F. JACOBS

" . . . Before you decide to sleep through all of your 8 a.m.

lectures, you should know that professors assume you
have made all of the classes, and they have no hesitation
about asking a heavily weighted midterm or final
question that focuses on the contents of a single lecture."

S
o, YOU ARE ABOUT to embark on
the adventure of a hfetime: college.
Chances are, you have done your home-
work and already know a lot about your
future alma mater: the academic programs for
which it is known, what sorts of extracurricular
activities are available, the size of the average
class, and what the school mascot is. StiU, no
matter how muchresearehyou have done, there
still is a lot about the nuts and bolts of being a
college student that you do not know.
Wlien many freshmen first set foot on cam-
pus, most of their information comes from the
campus tour, videos of the college, and perhaps
anecdotes from an older sibling or friend who
went to that university. Often, it can take sever-
al weeks—if not the entire first semester—for
new students to figure out dos and don'ts, un-
written rules, and the general lay of the land.
The college environment is very different
from anything students have experienced be-
fore, and you wiU have much more indepen-
dence than you are used to from high school.
Applying some key pieces of advice wiU make
your academic and social transitions go much
more smoothly—^and help ensure your success.
You are in ciiarge of thiis thing. There is no
one to hold your hand Picking courses, getting
to class, doing the reading, and figuring out
what is going to be on the test and what is ex-
pected on the papers—all of these are things
you are going to have to do pretty much on
your ovm.
Your parents may not be much heip.
26
Some students are on their iPhones five times a
day looking for advice, support, or company
from mom or dad, but even the best-inten-
tioned parents can lead you astray. Colleges are
different—and, in many cases, much im-
proved—from what they were 25 years ago,
and professors' expectations have gone up ac-
cordingly. Whue it is not always comfortable,
college is an important time to develop your in-
dependence and personal responsibility.
You can choose your own adventure. Re-
member the series of books that allowed you to
decide what the main character did when faced
with a dilemma or decision? Well, college is a
lot like that—at least more so than high school.
The four-plus years ahead of you are not rigid-
ly planned out. You do not have to fill your
first-year schedule with only required class- or professor. You may be able to transfer to a
es—spread out your courses and, if possible, course that wül allow you to learn more and
take some more specialized classes right off the that you vwll enjoy more.
bat. Also, keep in mind that, even when it Do not sweat your ciioice of major (too
comes to fulfilling general or "core" require- much). Whether your college requires you to
ments, you may be able to choose among mul- declare a major at orientation or allows you a
tiple options. For example, you might be able few semesters to choose, do not let this deci-
to pick among U.S. History since 1865, British sion get you down. Declaring a major usually
History before 1600, or World History to ftilfiU is not a binding act and, at most colleges, it is
a history requirement. much easier to change your major than stu-
Moreover, as you build your schedule, make dents imagine. Also, there are relatively few
sure that you're taking the correct level of each careers that absolutely require a certain major.
course. You do not want to struggle through Attendance is not required—but is ex-
calculus when college algebra would have pected. One of the first things many students
been more your level. Finally, take advantage
discover is that college classes can be huge:
of your school's drop/add process if you reaiize
early on that you do not like a particular course 100, 200, and, at some state schools, even 500
students in a lecture. In such an anon)Tnous en-
USA TODAY • SEPTEMBER 2013
vironment it is the easiest thing in the world to
teU yourself there is no good reason to bother
going to class—and, even if your school has
small classes, attendance typically counts for
only atinypercentage of the grade, if at all.
However, before you decide to sleep through
all of your 8 a.m. lectures, you should know
that professors assume you have made all of the
classes, and they have no hesitation about ask-
ing a heavily weighted midterm or final ques-
tion that focuses on the contents of a single lec-
ture. Plus, unlike what you may have been used
to in high school, there is very little redundancy
in college courses. Once a professor has cov-
ered a piece of material, he or she moves on and
might notrevisitorreviewit again.
Content is doled out in large units. You
USA TODAY • SEPTEMBER 2013
may be used to getting your content in short,
entertaining blasts: the one-to-three-minute
YouTube video, the abbreviation-filled text, the
140-character tweet. However, your professor
is thinking in terms of the 50-minute lecture,
divided into two or three main segments, and
the author of the joumal article is thinking in
terms of 25 pages of densely vwitten argument
divided into perhaps three or four main sec-
tions. You must adjust your focus from quick
bursts of content to sustained argument
Up to two-thirds of the work is done out-
side of class. Contrary to what you may have
heard, the lecture portion of the course is the
least time-consuming activity. That is because
(with the exception of a few very basic, intro-
ductory courses) the professor is expecting the
bulk of the work to be done by you, on your
own. When asked, most professors will say
that they expect students to do one to two
hours of work outside of class for every class
period. You might be tempted to procrastinate,
butremember,it is tough—if not impossible—
to cram half a semester's readings into the
weekend before your midterm. Figure out an
out-of-class study schedule that works for you
and stick to it
Tests and exams are not aiways compre-
hensive. When they sit down to take their first
midterm and look over the test questions, many
freshmen are surprised (and perhaps panicked)
when they see that much of the material cov-
ered during the previous weeks is not accounted
for on the test Remember, it is normal for pro-
27
 EDUCATION
fessors to test students on only a representative
set of problems or topics. They do not always
want to see that you have memorized the course
content; they want you to convince them that
you actually understand it—often in depth.
A "C" is not a good grade. Many first-year
students think that, if they get Cs in their class-
es, they are doing just fine—or at least ade-
quately. That is not so. If you are getting more
than a sprinkling of Cs, find out why. Your pro-
fessor or academic adviser is a good starting
point.
Not everyone who teaches is a professor.
At many state universities—especially those
where the student-faculty ratio is 15 to 1 or
greater—^much of the teaching is done by gradu-
ate students. At some of the better state schools,
only very advanced graduate students are al-
lowed to teach their own courses. At other
schools, though, the lecturer can be a first-year
graduate student who might not even have ma-
jored in the field in coUege. Whenever possible,
take courses with regular faculty who wiU be
more experienced and in the best cases, actually
wiU have done research in the subject they are
How to Be a Successful Student
W
hat makes some college students suc-
cessful, while others—well, less so?
Sometimes, it is a question of inteili-
gence or insight. Other times, it is sheer good
luck. However, a lot of the time It is good habits:
things they do on a regular basis that set them
apart from the hordes of other, more scattered
students. Here are some habits that the most-
successful students tend to share:
Have a goal. They have a definite reason
for being in college—and know what it is. Could
be a future career, graduate or professional
school, or just wanting to further their educa-
tion, but it aimost never is because their par-
ents told them to go to college, or because it is
the next thing to do after high schooi, or be-
cause they are too unimaginative to think up
anything else to do with their time.
Set priorities. For every student, college is
a baiancing act among going to classes, doing
homework, having a sociai life, and, for many,
holding down a job. The successfui student
knows how much time to allot to each of these
activities--and how to set iimits. There are 168
hours in a week—and not one of them can be
spent twice.
Divide up the wori<. Readings get broken
up into manageable chunks (not 200 pages in
one sitting). Quizzes and tests are studied for
over the course of a week (not at 3 a.m. the
night before). Paper ideas start gestating when
the assignment is handed out (not two days be-
fore the paper is due, when you barely can for-
mulate an idea, much less think through an is-
sue).
Be organized. Successful students have
gotten used to the fact that, in coilege courses,
there is not a lot of redundancy, review, or "go-
ing over." So, they make it their business to
make it to most of the lectures (and they do not
28
teaching. If your coUege does not list the name
of the instructor in the course description or at
the onlineregistrationsite, go to the department
office the week before classes start and ask who
is scheduled to teach the courses you are inter-
ested in.
it is the product that counts. Many stu-
dents think that effort counts. That is why, when
papers are retumed there always is a line of stu-
dents waiting to argue how many hours they
have worked, how many articles they have
read and how hard they have been trying in the
course. What counts most is the product: the pa-
per (not how it was produced), the test (not how
much you studied for it), and the oral presenta-
tion (not how much you knew about the subject
but could not quite get out). If you are not satis-
fied with the first few grades you receive, do
not blame the professor. Take a serious look at
your own work and how you can make it better.
If you ask your professor for extra feedback,
help, and advice on how to improve, he or she
probably wul be wüling to oblige.
Understanding is more than just memo-
rizing. In virtuaUy every advanced or upper-di-
cut the sessions, either). They take really good
class notes (and keep them in super-neat con-
dition). They aiways get their work turned in on
time (no one-week extensions that only make it
harder to complete the work In their other
courses).
Work efficientiy. Each task is done well—
and once. For instance, there is no iistening to
the lecture a second time on their iPod or copy-
ing all of their notes over, in a 15-week semes-
ter, with four or five courses on tap, who has
time to do things twice (or, in the case of some
students, thrice)?
Be consistent. Do the work every w e e k -
even when nothing is happening on the grading
front.
Be persistent. The mantra is: i wiil get this
thing right if it kilis me (which it usually does
not).
Challenge yourself. Successful students
are intellectually energetic. When they read,
they think actively and critically about what they
are reading (not just slog their way through to
get the piot). When they go to ciass, they think
activeiy about, and question, what the profes-
sor is saying (not just taking it all in like a giant
sponge).
Hang out with smart friends. Successful
students know that peer support is as impor-
tant as getting good grades from professors.
Finding friends who are intellectually engaged
and eager—in some cases, taking the same
classes as you—can stimulate and reinforce
your own intellectuai drive. On the other hand,
spending iots of time with dorm mates who do
not know what courses they are taking—or
even why they are in college at all—can create
an atmosphere so toxic that any attempts to do
well immediately wither and die.
Be open to feedback. The best students
vision course, you wul be asked not just to re-
gurgitate what you have memorized from the
lecture or textbook, but to do some analysis,
apply the concepts to some new cases, or orga-
nize the material or data in some new or inter-
esting way.
The professor is on your side and wants
to hieip—reaiiy. Whue many students see the
professor as an enemy to be defeated—the per-
son who wUl try to trick you with aU sorts of
"gotcha" questions on the test—that usuaUy is
not the case. So, when the professor invites you
to come to an office hour, go to a review ses-
sion, or just communicate by e-mail, Skype, or
Facebook, take advantage of the opportunity to
engage one-on-one with someone who is a
specialist in his or her field. *
Jeremy S. Hyman, lecturer in philosophy, and
Lynn F. Jacobs, professor of art history, both
at the University of Arkansas, write an educa-
tion column for U.S. News and World Report
and are coauthors of The Secrets of CoUege
Success: Over 800 Tips, Techniques, and Sti^t-
egies Revealed
realize that returned papers and exams are a
golden opportunity: these are the times in the
semester when the professor is giving one-on-
one, customized feedback on their level of
achievement and they should absorb this feed-
back with a nondefensive and genuinely open
frame of mind.
Engage the professor. Successful stu-
dents realize that the professor is not just some
content-dispensing machine, pouring out what
he or she knows during iectures, but is a work-
ing scholar who is happy to work with them on
the content and materials of the course.
Do not kid yourseif. When good students
study, they really are studying—not flitting
among the e-artide, their Facebook page, and
the footbaii scores. When they get a bad grade,
they do not just tell themselves that everyone
else messed up, too, or the professor gave an
unfair test. When things are not going quite ac-
cording to pian, they diagnose the problem
and, if need be, adjust the plan.
Manage emotions. Successful students
know how to focus on their own positive achieve-
ments—rather than on their failure to get a
check-plus on the quiz that counts for only two
percent of the grade. They are not hypercom-
petitive or concerned to find out how everyone
else did on that just-returned piece of work.
Visualize success. Most successfui col-
lege students repeatedly picture what will come
at the end of the road for them: their dream job,
their acceptance to a prestigious graduate or
professional schooi, or simpiy the next stage in
their lives. This provides motivation and energy,
especially when stuck in a rut.
Strive for excellence. No matter what the
task, successfui students aim to do it well—
from term papers and midterms to weekly
quizzes, probiem sets, and daily homework.
USA TODAY • SEPTEMBER 2013
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