Office of Academic Support

When you get to college, it will be so different .........

 

I'll bet you have heard people say this to you quite often recently.  But has anyone ever given you specific details about how college work will be different?  Or provided any suggestions about how to prepare for college work?  Usually, the answer is no, so I'll try to be more specific in order to help you with the transition from high school work to college work.  Here goes.

Here are some things to consider.

Time management:

High School: High school does it for you. It keeps you in school about 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, so your time is planned for you.

College: In college you might have one to three hours of class per day. New first-year students cannot believe all the "free" time they have. However, the rub is that you have to decide what hours you need to work. In college, you will have enough homework (daily reading assignments, papers, presentations, labs, etc) so that you should plan on 2-3 hours of preparation for every hour of college class. So, if you are in class for 12 hours, you should be working about 30 hours outside of class if you want to work to your potential and be successful. If you seem to have a lot of free time early in the college year, run fast, very fast, to the Academic Support Office to get help with collegiate time management.

Link to suggestions for collegiate time management

Finding the balance: academic work versus social life:

High School: This balance is much easier to manage in high school. When you are not in school, you live at home. In order to spend social time with friends, you must plan to meet. Additionally, your parents are often present to set some limits or priorities.

College: Although this balance is part of time management, it so frequently sabotages the academic success of new students that it is worth a special mention. Because you live in residence halls with your new friends, it is much easier to spend time together. In fact, way too easy. You can simply stroll down the hall and find people to socialize with. And similarly, they can easily stop by your room as well. So, study first and socialize later. In order to get studying done, at least in the beginning of your college career, find a place to study other than your room. Get your reading and homework done in a distraction-free environment, then return to your room for guilt-free social time. Don’t worry about missing out on social life. You will quickly learn that most social life starts later in college, often after 10 pm. So, study first, then socialize.

Being successful in college means making a good academic adjustment and a good social adjustment. Having either need get radically out of balance can result in stress, unhappiness, and a sense of failure. Accordingly, as soon as possible, strive to achieve a balance.

Attendance:

High school: If you are sick or miss a week of school, you might get sent home and you can often catch up fairly quickly.

College: Missing an entire week of class in college can get you so far behind that it is extremely difficult and stressful to keep up with new work and make up what you have missed.

Additionally, one of the main predictors of students who will do poorly in college is poor class attendance.  Always go to class.  Whoever said "don't worry about going to class once you are in college," was very, very wrong. ,

Class Participation:

High School: It is easier to be quiet and still be successful in high school classes. Some teachers might think you are well behaved, others will appreciate that you are not a distraction, both of which might lead to favorable evaluations.

College: It's different in college. Other than lecture classes, students are expected to speak and make contributions to class discussion in college. Quiet students risk being labeled as disinterested or disengaged, and neither is good. In addition, if part of the grade is based on participation, speaking only a few times during the semester puts your participation grade at risk.

Homework and due dates:

High School: Homework is often written, often handed in, typically done after a class discussion, and the teacher is more likely to remind students multiple times about when homework and assignments are due.

College: In college, students are given a syllabus the first day of class. This is a map, perhaps guideline, sometimes even a contract for the course. Read it. Mark down assignments in a daily planner, including the reading assignment that you must do to prepare for the next class.

The syllabus outlines the work and assignments of the semester. Students are responsible for the dates in the syllabus and might not get reminded about the work.

Also, the term "homework" needs to be redefined. In college, homework is often a reading assignment to get you prepared for the next class. Thus, homework in college needs to be redefined as not just what you do after class, but what you do before class. Rather than written work, homework is often reading before class.

Reading Assignments:

High School: In high school, reading assignments are often fairly easy to understand and typically not very long or time consuming. In many cases, you use a textbook that provides an outline, a list of key terms to learn, important ideas are emphasized or italicized, and there are even questions to guide your reading. Additionally, your teacher typically spends considerable time discussing the reading to be sure you understand it.

College: In college, reading assignments are typically quite different. Readings might be dense and difficult to understand. Reading assignments can be very long. Although some courses have textbooks, they are not as common in college. Non-fiction books and scholarly essays are often used in college. These present new reading challenges. Unlike high school, you cannot read all texts the same way; sometimes you will need to memorize terms, sometimes you will need to locate the reading’s thesis and evidence, and sometimes you will have to find a way to make sense of a theory that overarches the ideas in the reading. Also, expectations about what you should get out of a reading will vary from subject to subject. For example, part of learning philosophy is learning how to read with a philosophical eye. And last, your college professor might discuss the reading in class, but sometimes might not. However, college professors expect that you will have done the reading, understand it, and are prepared to discuss it in class. Even if it is not discussed in class, it could still appear on a test. If you do not understand a reading, you should use that as a good reason to visit your professor during office hours. Doing all of the reading well in advance of a test or paper due date will give you plenty of time to do that.

Responsibility for assigned work:

High School: Assigned readings are discussed in class. If they are not discussed in class, they typically will not be on the test.

College: If something is assigned in the syllabus, you need to do it, and know it, even if it is never discussed in class. In college, the student is responsible for all the course assignments, readings, films and lectures. This material can show up on a test whether it is discussed in class or not.

Grades:

High School: Grades can be fluid in some high schools. Lots of intangibles might be taken into consideration when deciding high school grades.  Perhaps intangibles such as: typically a good student, being a nice person, trying hard, working hard, involved in lots of things, factors like that. So it is understandable why students might say I don't know what my grade is in this class.

College: Grading in college is usually much simpler. You add up the grades as defined in the syllabus, divide, and the average number is your grade. One word of caution, however. Different assignments don't always have the same weight. The syllabus usually spells out exactly how grades are calculated. If the average is on the border between two grades, factors such as the quality of class contributions might be taken into consideration, instead of "rounding up". So, a prof might like you a lot, be aware that you work hard, and know that you are busy, but your performance on tests, papers, and assignments is virtually always what determines your grade.

Responsibility for Grades:

High School:

College: Interaction with the professor:

High School: In high school, if you talk to a teacher outside of class you might be viewed negatively by some; terms like brown-noser and apple-polisher come to mind. Thus, there can be peer pressure leading students to keep their distance from their teachers.

College: In college, you are encouraged to talk to your professor. Professors expect it, and are more likely to notice a student who does stop by their office to talk. Also, students who work closely with faculty often are more successful in college and more likely to feel connected to the school in a meaningful way. Faculty like to work with students who take the initiative to make themselves known. That's one of the reasons why many students choose to attend a small college. In college, get to know your professors.

Addressing college “teachers:”

High School: In high school, calling your teacher “Mr.” or “Mrs.” is typically appropriate.

College: However, in college, Mr. or Mrs. can be inappropriate, and in some cases even seen as offensive.

In college, start by addressing your teachers as “Doctor” or “Professor.” At St. Lawrence University, about 98% of the faculty have their Doctorate (Ph.D.) or highest degree within their discipline. Thus, Dr. or Professor is the best place to start.

Some professors will tell you how they prefer to be addressed, and you can act accordingly. Some will even tell you to call them by their first name. However, don’t mistake the informality of the first name as an indication that the professor is not serious about course requirements. In college, many faculty may seem friendly and informal in their interactions with you, yet they might still be very strict about their course requirements and expectations.

Last thoughts:

You were admitted to SLU because you were a good student in high school. However, many of the study strategies that helped you to be successful in high school may or may not work in college. Don’t panic. Even excellent high school students will have to learn new study strategies. This can be difficult, even somewhat traumatic, but it is perfectly normal—and going to college is probably neither the first time, nor the last time, you will have to reinvent yourself and learn entirely new ways of doing things. The ability to adapt to changing circumstances by changing is key to success. This requires facing your challenges with determination right away. It requires being willing, and humble enough, to ask for help. There are many resources available to assist you with this academic transition—they are simply waiting for you to be willing to ask for help. Your academic advisor is an excellent place to start. He or she will be able to steer you towards the academic services and resources available to you at SLU.