This is a real small community. Local school is K-12 with lest than 300 students overall. My wife is from here & she's the first & only one in her family to even get into college, much less graduate (4yr degree). She beat the odds, with perseverance, determination. She graduated from Montreat-Anderson in Montreat, NC.


> > > Is it as stressful to you? Does it get easier with each new semester?

Jr/community college is generally easier than a 4-yr college. Is it stressful to me? Ha!

Take an old man that hasn't done any school-type thinkin' in almost 30 years and put him in a classroom with people young enough to be his children. What do you think? Hahahaha!!!

Nah, it's really been fun, but it can be stressful, if you let it. You just have to remember that YOU control that stress. It's up to you what level of stress you deal with. That's not to say that it's easy to control stress, just that it's possible.

The first semester is usually hard because it is so different from HS. The instructors aren't going to push you to do your work, you either do or don't. The work load can be overwhelming and takes some getting used to. You'll need to devise a strategy that works for you. The typical "I'll get to it when I can" attitude won't cut it in college. It's the other way around. You'll get a lil' R & R (rest & relaxation) when you can.

Second semester is usually easier but not always. It's mostly easier due to hopefully you've developed good study skills and strategic study times & places. I do my best studies and work in a park-like setting, all by myself.

A lot of students, including myself, get overconfident after their first semester or two and take on more than they can handle. Be careful about that.

If there is one thing that I must tell you about how to be successful in college it would have to be: Do not procrastinate!"

Get your work done as soon as you can, never putting it off even for a few hours. Once you get behind in college, you are BEHIND. The weight of the load will crush you. This is the #1 reason people drop out of college. Procrastination - It's a killer. In all of life.

Try your best not to look at your workload as a whole, look at it piece by piece, take it one step at a time. Don't say, "I've got a paper due Tuesday and a speech due next week, also." But look at it as, "I've got a paper due Tuesday." Once you've completed that, then you look at the next piece of the puzzle and say, "I've got a speech due next week." One step at a time, or else you can get overwhelmed real easy.

To make this "How to be Successful in College" article complete, there is only one more thing I feel you should know. Do not accept mediocrity from yourself. Never do just what you need to get by, whether in the amount of work/study or the contents of your reports/papers. Give it your all, all the time. Do your very best.

That's it. I seriously believe that's all a person needs to know to be successful in college. It just so happens to be the same recipe for a successful & fulfilling life.

Now, get out there & knock 'em dead, gal! You can do it!!!

I hope you have a great weekend!
Mike
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

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