As the Class of 2017 starts the next chapter of their lives this month in college, the College Counseling Office wanted to share a few pieces of advice for a smooth transition to make the most out of the next four years!
The next phase of your education is right around the corner and all of you are making preparations for college. It’s exciting and possibly a bit intimidating to think about the new academic environment that follows your Tabor experience. We’ve distilled some of our own experiences along with feedback we’ve received from alumni to give you the essence of what you need to be successful in college. The following tips, your innate abilities, and a solid work ethic will be the perfect elixir for future success.
Live in the Academic Moment
You might think a mantra for success would be “get good grades,” but there’s more to it than that. Instead, focus on your assignments, papers, and projects for their intrinsic learning value and strong grades will follow naturally. College education is a classic process versus product paradigm. Plenty of students complain about their work or obsess about their GPA, but that’s just a waste of time and energy. Don’t get caught up in any academic tedium. Instead, take a more practical approach to your education and you’ll find the successes will come naturally.
Don’t Study in Your Room
Unless you have a Spartan single and you have concentration powers of steel, your room is the worst place to study because of the comfort and the distractions. Given the realities of dorm life, it’s far too easy to wander across the hall and talk to your neighbor or have the social media feed streaming. Instead, find a place to study on campus that’s yours and yours alone. A carrel in the upper stacks of the main library usually works perfectly as there are no distractions. Oftentimes smaller, more lightly-used libraries on campus have great study spaces and lighter traffic. Unoccupied classrooms can have excellent lighting, privacy and plenty of space to spread your materials out. Find a spot that works for you and call it home.
Find the Working Side of Academia
Ask professors about possible research positions or find departmental projects to work on while you are establishing yourself on campus. 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. If you must work as part of your financial aid package, look for jobs in departments and/or libraries instead of going the dining services route for your work-study job, if only for the connections you’ll make outside of your regular student life and the accidental study opportunities. You might be surprised at what’s available and you’ll be pleased to discover the people you’ll meet and the insight you’ll gain on the institution as a whole if you find an entry point to the college via the working side.
Choose Professors, Not Classes
It’s a classic picture–a student flipping through the course guide picking classes for the next term based on what looks interesting that fulfills core course requirements. Don’t follow that model. Instead, find the best professors on campus and take those classes, even if they do not necessarily “sound” as if they are as interesting. Talk to your advisor, use the faculty review resources your school has, ask older students who their favorite faculty have been and follow those leads. A good professor will turn a neutral subject matter for you into a joy and a poor professor will blunt your interest in a subject area you love. As a corollary, visit several classes the first week or two of a term. Most colleges have some sort of “shopping period” when the class rosters haven’t been finalized. Use the system your school has to visit additional classes before you settle on your final schedule. You are only going to take 30-40 courses during your college years so don’t waste one on a poorly designed class or a dry, energy-sapping professor.
Get Connected to Life on Campus
Academic clubs, social organizations and professional associations take on a larger, more applied and energetic meaning in college and you should jump in with both feet to take advantage of these opportunities. Find a few different ways to meet new people on campus and broaden your experience, even if it means stepping outside your comfort zone a little bit. The breadth of opportunity for student interaction is remarkable even at the smallest colleges and getting involved will dramatically increase your overall satisfaction.
Always Go to Class
It seems silly to say something so profound, but it won’t be quite so obvious next year when there are no detention for missing classes. Professor’s lecture notes are often available online. Your roommate might choose to skip an early morning class when the alarm clock goes off. Resist the temptation to skip classes. Your class time drops by over half when you go to college and you have access to some of the most accomplished experts in their field in your professors, and you are paying a large amount of money to have access to them—don’t waste it.
Avoid Procrastination
Sounds easy on the surface, but everyone has their own ways that they contribute to their own procrastination, some more severe than others. The trick is to figure out how to break it down given your habits. Perhaps it’s making sure you study in the afternoon after classes so that you do not take that afternoon nap. Or, maybe it’s setting up arbitrary hurdles (and rewards) for keeping sloth at bay. One key strategy that all students should use is to outline large projects or papers well in advance. If you are a chronic procrastinator, you’ll probably not have much luck changing your stripes once you get to college, but if you find little ways to curb your own habits, you’ll be surprised at how much you enjoy being ahead instead of behind.
Visit Professors During Office Hours
Professors like talking to students. If you go to office hours with questions, ideas, or just to find out more about the course material, you’ll be surprised at how enthusiastic (most) professors are to sit and talk to you, but more importantly, how much they’d like to get to know you beyond the paper or lab you’ve handed in. You’ll learn more, you’ll appreciate your academic experience more and when it comes time to find mentors, recommenders, or employers on research projects, you’ll have a way to identify them.
Find Mentors and Advisors
Every college and university has a wealth of people whose specific role is to advise students. Resident Assistants, Major Advisors, Deans, Department Chairs, etc. are all in place to give you their perspective on your academic path and personal career. That being said, academic advising is the bane of post-secondary education. There simply aren’t enough talented people around to advise the thousands of students who are in college. Don’t settle for an inadequate academic advisor or rely on one point of view. Further, as you move through college you’ll find wonderful mentors will cross your path in your field or department. You’ll know them right away, as their wisdom and their caring will come shining through in their interactions with others. Find ways to work with them and ask them for their advice and input.
Be Patient
Many alums report that their Tabor experience is both a blessing and a burden as they make the transition to college. Tabor enables students to become comfortable with a diverse and talented set of peers, familiar and confident about living and learning independently, and well-prepared to handle a heavy volume of work, high-level thinking and extensive writing. Tabor also provides a climate that encourages deep and enduring friendships with peers and faculty. Your new classmates may be panicked by things you find ordinary, and you may be frustrated or uninspired because you have such high standards of expectation. What you might forget is that these things develop over time. Be patient as you and your classmates settle into college life. Don’t expect everything to be perfect, but draw strength and inspiration from your Tabor experience.
Good Luck!
The College Counseling Office
