Learn strategies for moving from high school to college and position yourself for college success.
LEARNING HOW TO SUCCEED IN COLLEGE CAN BE A CHALLENGE WHEN STUDENTS START TRANSITION FROM HIGH SCHOOL
Introduction
No matter how many AP / IB classes you've taken or how many college programs you've attended, college will be unlike anything you've ever experienced.
And since you strive to get into a great college, you naturally want to make sure your college experience is equally successful. But what steps can you take to be successful in college?
In this article, we'll look at ten techniques you can use to make sure you're doing well in college as you prepare for a career or higher education.
Strategies for a successful transition from high school to college
1. Have a schedule (and stick to it)
In high school, your schedule is more or less determined by you. Spend your days going from class to class, while your afternoons are spent in extracurricular activities. And if you are absent from the lesson without good reason, disciplinary action is likely to result.
The university is different. Even if you still have a class schedule, you will have much more control over your overall time. This type of exciting new trend freedom looks good, but it can also be overwhelming. If you are not careful, you may skip the lesson and lag behind in the course work.
To prevent this from happening, you need to establish a schedule. You can use the class schedule as a starting point, but you should also fill in the gaps. To start, plan when you get up each day (and be consistent with that time). So, plan when you will do your homework. From there, you can add extracurricular activities as you have time.
There is no "perfect" program; what matters is to have some sort of schedule and stick to it. This is one of the key factor to be staying organized in college.
2. Visit the Career Planning Center in advance
Your college has dozens of resources available to you at no additional cost, so take advantage of them. One of the main factor which is valuable (and most overlooked) resources is the Career Planning Center.
You may think you don't need to visit career planning until you're about to graduate. However, it is too late.
While the career planning office can help you when you are about to graduate, it will be much more helpful when you still have a few semesters left.
Not only can they help you figure out which career might be right for you, but they can also connect you with opportunities to explore careers. This includes internships, as well as meetings with professionals in the fields that interest you.
And of course, the career planning office can help you refine your resume and write the cover letters you need to land jobs and internships.
3. Find an internship
If you graduate from college with no work experience, you will have trouble finding a job. While your courses aren't insignificant to employers (far from it), real-world experience can make the difference between a company hiring you and someone else.
The best way to gain experience is to look for an internship. Internships can take many forms, from spending a summer working full time in a company to working as a research assistant for a few hours a week. However, what all internships have in common is that they teach you things you can't learn in the classroom, including important social skills like communication and adaptability.
As mentioned in the previous section, your college's career planning office is the best place to start looking for an internship. Not only can they show you how to find suitable internships, but they can also help you with any internship application materials.
Note: Even if you plan to attend graduate school, medical school, or law school after graduation, you still need to do an internship. Strength of a student is not anywhere to search choosing the correct internships can makes you mentally strong and help you decide if right fields which are best for you to carve your skills.
4. Plan your course work
Having a schedule for each semester will help you stay organized on a day-to-day basis, but you should also have a broader plan to make sure you're on track to graduate. This means working with your advisor to find out which courses you should take (and when).
This is especially important if you are in a major with a rigorous curriculum and specific progression. STEM majors, in particular, need to know the various pre-courses they need before they can take more advanced courses in their majors. When you combine this with the fact that many advanced STEM courses aren't offered every semester, proper planning is essential.
Likewise, pre-med students must ensure that they take all the classes they need to enter medical school. You don't want to make it to your final year of college only to find you have to take classes that don't fit into your schedule.
5. Study efficiently
The popular image of studying in college is to consume caffeine, stay up all night to finish homework, and spend hours studying every day. While you may find yourself doing any (or all) of these things during college, this shouldn't be your default option.
With proper planning and proper study techniques, you can finish all your work each day while making time for other activities (including a good amount of sleep).
The main reason people turn to desperate study techniques is procrastination. If you complete every activity at the last minute possible, you will be constantly stressed and sleep deprived.
If, on the other hand, you learn to read your textbooks efficiently, start writing articles a week earlier, and schedule time to study each day, you'll find yourself calm and collected even when your peers are hectic and stressed out.
6. Don't be afraid to ask for help
College can be an overwhelming experience, especially when you're just starting out. If you are used to reaching a high level, you may not be used to asking for help. You may have finished all high school just because of your work ethic and intelligence.
In college, however, chances are you'll come across more challenging courses than anything you've done before. When this happens, don't be afraid to ask for help. You have many resources at your disposal, from your professors to your university's mentoring center.
And this tip also applies to situations outside the classroom. From student health center to career planning, your university has facilities that assist you in all areas of life. Use these resources when you need them and remember that asking for help is not a sign of weakness.
Sometimes college isn't a good choice, whatever you do. In this case, you may want to consider moving to a different institution. Here's how to successfully transfer universities.
7. Participate outside the classroom
First of all, the university is a place to learn and study. It's an opportunity to delve into areas that interest you as you explore topics you didn't have access to in high school. So you will spend a lot of time studying and attending classes.
But don't let the academic aspect of college be the only thing you do. To get the most out of college, make sure you participate in activities outside of the classroom.
There are dozens (if not hundreds) of organizations to join and interests to explore. Whether it's playing intramural sport, stargazing with the astronomy club, or joining the campus marching band, extracurricular activities provide an opportunity to broaden your horizons as you make new friends.
Just make sure you don't overload. You don't want to be involved in so many activities that you don't have time to take care of yourself (and your studies). If you find that you're doing more than you can handle, it's okay to scale it down (especially when you find out what you really care about).
8. Go to Office Hours
In my experience, office hours are one of the most underutilized resources available to college students. Your teacher (or technical assistant) has taken the time to offer you dedicated help, so you should take advantage of that.
For starters, office hours have the obvious benefit of helping you understand the material you're struggling with. You can get more personalized help than would be available in the classroom by taking the time to focus on specific concepts.
However, in addition to the academic benefits, office hours also offer you the opportunity to meet your professors. Forming these relationships (especially in the beginning) will make it much easier to get quality recommendation letters and references when you need them.
Additionally, meeting your professors can lead to other opportunities, such as research assistant-ships or selective study abroad programs.
9. Study abroad (if possible)
Speaking of studying abroad, I highly recommend that you do it while you are in college. There are too many benefits to mention, ranging from a broader world perspective to the opportunity to study a language on a deeper level. Not to mention, having study abroad experience on your resume is a great talking point during a job interview or vocational school.
To study abroad, you will need to plan carefully. I recommend that you speak to your campus study abroad office during your first year. Even if you don't plan to study abroad until your third year, contacting the study abroad office in advance will help you plan how a semester (or even a few weeks) abroad will fit into your general courses.
Finally, don't assume you can't study abroad because you have a STEM major. While the rigid curricula of these specialties can make studying abroad difficult, it is possible with proper planning. Even if you can't do a full semester abroad, you could still adapt in a few weeks during the summer or winter holidays.
10. Don't neglect your health
It's easy to get so caught up in college excitement and activity that you forget to take care of yourself. You can slip into a cycle of nights and steady work more easily than you think (especially as the semester progresses).
Vincent Massey quote: The neglect of the humanities in present education is doubtless not a cause but a symptom of an age.
However, to perform at your best, you need to be healthy. This means eating, exercising regularly, eating a balanced diet and getting enough sleep.
Let's start with the exercise. If you like working out in the gym, do it. But remember, there are many other options, including gymnastics classes and intramural sports. The key is to do something that makes you move and increase your heart rate.
When it comes to healthy eating, it doesn't have to be as extreme as you think. You don't have to give up on pizza, but remember that the café also has a salad buffet. And while a couple of cups of coffee a day won't hurt, stay away from sugary energy drinks.
Finally, there is the matter of sleep. I struggled a lot with this in college, mainly because a lot of exciting things were apparently happening every hour of the day. While there's nothing wrong with staying up late every now and then, try to find a sleep schedule that gives you at least seven hours of sleep a night (ideally more). You will feel much better (and be a more efficient student).
Succeeding in college is up to you
I hope tips to be successful in college in this article were helpful, but I want to remind you of one last thing: college is a learning experience. There are many things you can do to prepare yourself (reading articles like this is a great place to start), but there's also a lot to learn on your own.
You have entered a large university, so you are more than capable of doing it. Take it seriously, but don't forget to have fun too.