Over 90% of freshmen report having to work harder than expected to meet the demands of their instructors. Combine that with the freshman tendency to overestimate work habits and the questionable notion of “I work best under pressure.” It’s no wonder that the average first year student here enjoyed a high school GPA of 3.6, yet manages by year’s end a 2.6 UT GPA.
Take your classes seriously, and allow time in your schedule to truly prepare for tests and assignments.
The relentless pursuit of clearly defined goals . . . it makes life worth living. But most of us settle for the vague pursuit of a general notion such as “This semester, I want to be a better student.”
Get specific! “This semester, I will make a B+ or better in Chemistry by attending every lab and lecture, by attending Supplemental Instruction, and by studying Chem from 4:00 to 5:30 every MWF afternoon.”
Narrow your sights, define your goal, and set specific steps toward reaching it. Then, chase it with everything you have!
Is this just another way of saying, “Grow up”? Perhaps. Of all the life-lessons college teaches you, the pursuit of delayed rewards is perhaps the most important.
You sacrifice in the present (reading chapter five when you’d rather be doing countless other things) so that you can succeed in the end. In other words, you don’t do what you want to do. Instead, you do what you should do or need to do. The more you do that, the easier it will become to continue that productive path.
If you’re going to be in charge of your time and freedom, you have to set time boundaries and social boundaries. As we said, you study Chem from 4:00 to 5:30 every MWF afternoon. You’ve put walls around that block of time. That’s the way to establish your time boundaries.
Then one sunny day a friend reminds you that the softball team is at home this afternoon, and the party really can’t start without you. The part about the party is true; your arrival always marks the beginning of any social event. However, it’s up to you to develop language that says “No” or “Later.” Anything from “I have a conflict” to “I can’t make it until 5:45” will do, but you have to establish your social boundaries and not let other people run your life for you.
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