I’ve been rereading examples of a feature the Pope Center started a few years ago called “If I Knew Then What I Know Now.” The aim was to create an “advice column” for students, written by Pope Center interns, who are typically undergraduates or graduate students. Taken together, they offer a window into student life as practiced by smart young people in college (primarily flagship public universities). I have put some of the themes together into a column on our site.
So what do student mentors advise? Freshmen should speak up in class and get to know their professors, although the reason is not necessarily to learn more. Rather, a professor who knows you might give you a break on your grades in a pinch or write you a good job recommendation. Second, choose your major early if you can, but if you can’t, work around it.
There’s also the matter of negotiating your social life. Don’t over-party; it will hurt you in the end. And stand up for yourself. The most poignant story in this collection is by a young woman who went to a mediocre school because her boyfriend was going there. Bored and uninspired, she changed her mind, got into UNC–Chapel Hill, and seems to have been happy ever since.
Go to your professor's office hours! Believe it or not, most of us actually enjhoy taliking to students more than our colleagues. For me, it has always been a wonderful learning experience - your problems help me understand how you perceive the material, and I have been known to change HOW I teach troublesome material when I understand how students perceive it differently. In a statistics class I used to teach,students performed poorly on an exam on t-testing after three weeks of lectures and homework. I asked them to come to my office and go over it with me, and the insights led me to rework presentation and develop a two page guide that explained the logic. After that, It took three lectures to cover and was always one of the highest average scoring exams.
The point about references is also well stated. The more we know about you, the better we can write a recommendation. For example, one student who failed an initial exam started coming to my office ALL the time and managed to pull up to an A-. By coming for help constantly, I also learned that she had badgered the top scoring student into leading a voluntary tutoring session, she found an empty classroom to hold it in, and pestered all the other struggling students into attending. That was the only semester I taught statistics that I did not fail at least one student. She was a psychology student who decided to pursue a Master's in Environmental Engineering so she could make a career as a safety and environmental trainer - despite a minimal science/engineering background. She was admitted largely on the basis of my recommendation which exhibited personal qualities not on her transcript, successfully completed the masters, and is now doing exactly what she wanted as a career.
You can also find that you build lifelong friendships. One of my close friends is a histroy professor I had as an undergraduate for two classes. Another is a student I met as a faculty fellow with a residence hall and employed as a research assistant when he was working on his MBA. Believe it or not, a lot of us are "normal people."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMake sure that you have at least one class everyday Monday through Friday, particularly on Friday. It's easy to tell yourself that if you have a free day you'll use it to study and catch up on homework, but you won't. Particularly if that day is Friday, it'll just turn into a three day weekend every week.
Similarly, try to take a class outside your "time" comfort zone: If you're not a morning person, try to take at least one 8:00 or 9:00 class a week; if you're the sort of person who falls asleep after lunch, make sure to take some afternoon classes. It will help you push through your block and make better use of the time.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse