Are you a college student? Keep reading!

I would like to turn this blog entry over to my friend and colleague Donald Gregory, a sociologist (currently President of the Georgia Sociological Association) who has gained a lot of wisdom by being a most pragmatic person who knows how to navigate through life quite effectively. He's worth listening to, as many of my students will well attest. A year ago, Prof. Gregory wrote this blog entry on his own blog, and it has become quite popular. I'd like to re-post it here (I added the images).

12 Tips for College Students

 First written and posted by Dr. Donald Gregory in January 2011.

Ever wonder what professors' secret advice would be? Well, much of it isn’t too secretive, but there are a few gems I could tell you.

Learn to read assigned materials quickly and effectively.
There are secrets to scanning the material looking for the main points
and supporting evidence--
learn them, and your job as a student will be much easier!

1. We didn’t read everything when we were students, either. How can you, right? Sometimes it seems like there is way too much to do. But what we were good at was figuring out the most important material to read and how to successfully skim the rest of the readings. This is one of the best skills you can improve. 

Take five minutes and dissect your text or reading. Read the title, intro and conclusion. What is the main point? What are the chapter titles or headings? What are the three most important questions the titles or headings address? There you go--at least you have some idea about what is going on. Still, you will have to do more when it comes to exams, but this may work to get you through an occasional class.

Meet with your professor to ask questions!
Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

2. Come and see us in the first three weeks. Want to impress your faculty? Arrange a meeting during office hours and show up with a few probing questions about the course material. We have big egos and want to hear ourselves talk. Taking such initiative makes you appear really engaged and, when push-comes-to-shove, your office visit will make you a favorite.

3. Don’t make my life hard. Deadlines serve to help us, and you, manage work flow. Every exception you ask for gets compounded for us. This lesson will serve you well in all of your future work. Make the life for your boss easy, and he or she will be more inclined to keep you around.

Organize your time! You will be amazed at how much more time you can
find, and how much more accomplished you can be.

4. Organize your life--at least the part that I have to deal with. I spend a lot of time on organizing the course and the syllabus. You should get a calendar and write the due dates down. For projects, work backward. List the due date, break the assignment up into steps and work backward. If a paper is due on a certain day, how many days before that do you want the draft completed, the outline, the reading(s) done, the research? Work your schedule backward, and it will work for you.



5. Be engaged in class – or fake it. Notice any common themes? Our egos, our preparation, and our years of study mean we like to talk in class about our subject matter. If you don’t seem to have the same interest, then fake it. Again, this is an important life lesson. Sometimes you just have to play to get along. Laugh at a loved one’s joke. Feign interest in a boss’s story. Keep your mouth shut at the in-laws'. Life is not like Jersey Shore. You don’t have to express your true emotions. Grow up and get them under control. You can practice these skills in my class. Combine this point with skimming in point 1 and be ready to ask an open-ended question. For many professors, this will send them off on a topic of their interest and serve to make you look smart.

6. Don’t worry so much about the other students. I know, you want to be cool. Being cool means not being smart. You know what? You are paying a lot of money to learn and advance in your career. You are going to compete with these students for jobs. Start showing off now. You may party with some of them now and you may think that you have a huge number of friends, but they won’t be around ten years from now.

7. Cultivate your truest friendships. OK. A few of them will still be around. Party buddies are not the same as friends. Learn now to tell the difference. Friends (even twenty-something guys) will, at the end of the day, be kind to their friends. If they aren’t, then they are selfish and won’t be there when you need them. A need is more than “watching-your-back” at the club. It is, dare I say it, emotional and intellectual. Real life is about the mundane, not the insane.

 8. Your career has already started. I know college equals party. I know hooking up seems like the most pressing goal. But from whom do you think you will be asking your first recommendation letters? That’s right. Me. So remember that when you roll into my 11 a.m. class in flip-flops and pajama bottoms only to come to me in a month asking for letters of recommendation to law school.... I’m just sayin’. And remember, the world is a small place. You never know who your professors might know. Your future employer could be my friend and ask for unsolicited advice. It happens, really.

 9. Motivation. I can only affect your motivation a little. Seriously, this is important. How motivated are you to be here? The lower the motivation, the harder you need to work on a class. If your program isn’t your passion, then find one that is. Except for a few professional degrees, your major “may” only influence the first job you get. Everything after that is dependent upon your previous job performance. So what skill sets are you building if you are not motivated by your studies? Be honest with yourself.

 10. Seriously, cultivate a love of learning. I know. How cliche. The inquisitive person is a problem solver. You may be able to get through your college degree, but will you have a college education?

11. Read mainstream news. Avoid the political margins. Read from the largest newspapers and weekly news magazines. You want to have a knowledge of the world (that means beyond the United States) when you graduate. Make a habit of turning off Facebook and reading the New York Times or Time magazine. After a short while, you will find your professors are even smarter than you thought, and you will feel pretty smart, too.



12. Be careful of debt. Please don’t lease a car. Please don’t carry a balance on your credit card. Please invest in a Roth IRA. If you have income and if your parents have any wealth at all, ask them to help you open a Roth IRA. Do this when you are young, even if it is only a few hundred dollars, and then continue to add to it. You will be so thankful you did.

 I hope this is a good start for your semester.