Since I've been home, I have run into pretty much everyone and their mother ranging anywhere from the grocery store line to the benefit I attended this past Thursday (details to come soon, promise!). The most common questions I have been asked by concerned mothers and incoming college freshmen have been the following:
1. Are there a lot of drugs and parties?
It all depends on the environment you put yourself in, the people you make friends with, etc.
2. How are you doing in your classes?
I'm doing well, thank you! College is great when you give it a real chance.
3. What are some things my child/I can do to succeed in their/my classes?
Well, there are a lot of things they can try.
You might notice that the answer under the third question is, well, extremely vague. That's because there is no one way to succeed in college, no golden ticket to help you zoom right on through. Everyone has their own regiment that work for them - the problem most people have, however, is that they haven't found the method that works best for them yet.
This e-book is filled with so much information! Nine chapters, eighty pages, this e-book is a healthy mix of things I already knew and other ideas I had never really thought of. Some of the most helpful things I wanted to make sure to point out to y'all who may be on the edge of looking into the e-book are that:
1. There are entire chapters on Motivation, Procrastination, and Balance. These are three areas I personally have not seen too many books include about besides the obvious "Focus on your goals", "Study now means play later" or "Stress is bad, remember to take care of yourself". These chapters go a bit more in detail and include plenty of helpful tips.
2. Each chapter ends with a section labeled 'Takeaways'. Let's be honest: you're reading this e-book for information you don't already know. You may choose to skim areas you don't believe you need as much help in - this is where the 'Takeaways' are really handy: after skimming, you can make sure you hit the high points by quickly reviewing the list at the end of the chapter (or you can just jump to the list and decided whether or not to read it, totally your choice!).
3. If you have a hard time getting through large chunks of reading and believing you actually took substantial notes, then you really need to check out the chapter on Reading. Within the chapter, there are several different suggested strategies (from SIBS to SPICCS) about how to tackle these problems.
4. The worksheets provided with the e-book are simple yet effective. I used to print out all of my course requirements and take several pens and highlighters to it, trying to figure out how to make my schedules for the next few years so that I could make sure I was going to graduate on time. Needless to say, I killed a lot of trees and was left with a big mess of scribbles. The Courses worksheet is exactly the type of thing I could have used a year ago when I was stressing over course requirements.
College can truly be an
amazing experience.
If you allow it to be. One of the ways you can reduce tons of stress and have fun is by making sure you can handle your academics: remember that school comes first! If you're not happy with where you are academically, what are the chances that you'll truly be happy with the rest of what's going on around you? Odds are the stress from one area of your life as big as school will bleed into other areas and affect your mood and attitude.
If you have struggled with finding your rhythm in school, I strongly suggest you look further into
Sara's e-book How to Succeed in College. If you're thinking about buying it now,
you can check it out here!
xx
Catch you next time.
