“During high school, I never had to do very much to get decent grades, so I had a lot of free time. This was not the case in college. I was required to constantly study — something I didn’t realize until a year into college.”

~Christopher Semanson, Senior in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Michigan-Dearborn

  1. Create your system. In high school,you could count on teachers, parents or coaches to keep you on track. In college, your success depends on creating your own system to do the same thing. The truth: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Need organizational strategies? Make a list of goals that keeps you focused. Use a calendar that tells you to write the first draft of your paper Saturday. Set a beeper on your phone that reminds you to hit the sack so you can do well on your test tomorrow. Get it together now or prepare to get lost. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a paper planner or a digital PDA. What matters is that you create something that you’ll use every single day. If you struggle with this, as most of us do, find someone who’s good at it and ask for advice.
  2. Take charge. From groceries to electric bills, you’re responsible now. Asking mom to schedule your dentist appointment doesn’t cut it anymore. Even if you’re still living at home, do your own laundry. Why? Because the leadership skills you learn managing your life are the same skills you’ll need to take on every other challenge college throws at you. You’ll need to lead your own academic plan from choosing a major, to choosing courses, to making sure your credits are awarded and you’re on-track to graduate. Get used to asking lots of questions; everyone is figuring this stuff out, but the most successful students are the ones who keep asking others for advice until they understand what they should do.
  3. Invest time on task. Would you spend a thousand dollars on a concert ticket and then not show up? Yet that’s what some students do with their classes, before dropping out altogether. If you’re going to invest in an education, make sure you don’t throw away your money. You can handle the workload, but not with rotten study habits. The biggest factor in how much you’ll learn is time on task. Students who succeed attend every class unless they’re sick. And for every credit hour of class, they block out two hours to study on their calendar. That means 15 credit hours will need an extra 30 hours of focused study time per week. Time spent multi-tasking on the cell phone and YouTube doesn’t count because your brain can’t absorb as much information when it’s distracted. Figure out when you’re sharpest during the day and schedule study time then.
  4. Treat homesickness. Symptoms include running home every weekend, hanging out with old friends at the expense of meeting new ones, and a very big phone bill. Seriously, leaving home is an enormous step, and even commuting signals a basic change in your life. All major life changes bring growing pains. Give your new world a chance. Spend at least as much time there, if you can, as you do at home. If you’re lonely, keep a journal. Homesickness is like many other diseases; it can be cured, in time, if you treat it.