Greetings and salutations everyone!
For the final installment of this series, I just wanted to go through a general rundown on what you can do to survive college.
From a student perspective, things can get a little rough as you progress through your classes. You'll find very quickly that college does indeed put a hamper on the things that you would most likely prefer doing, however this is for the sake of education.
For many of our classes, we are required to put forth a lot of asynchronous time, or time away from the class to complete our work. Despite the level of work you may be acquainted with, this could mean either a lot of documentation, building of programs, fine edits to the video projects, or even just working for hours on end to get a project done.
In regards to this, it can be a little overwhelming at times. The classes will only get harder as time progresses, that the higher level classes are higher level for a reason. They are there to cover the larger topics, and sometimes you may work with a topic that was entirely theoretical and you need to try and build a program or work with it despite the lack of tangible help that may be available online or with your professor.
It does get really tough. And if you all do pursue a job off of campus, or on campus, or take up multiple higher level classes or projects, it only becomes harder to work with as well.
But you can do it.
Sometimes we need to grow out of the mindset that we can do everything in a small amount of time. I would know, being a procrastinator to the furthest extent possible. I would wait until the last day to do my homework, and then wondered why I'm quickly running out of time trying to push all these papers through. It wasn't even until my Junior year that I realized that I had finally hit that wall. That I was working on my projects and work up until I couldn't focus in one of my classes anymore because I simply did not get it. For a programming standpoint, I need to understand it, but the information just wasn't sticking and it was taking a toll on my grade.
This is but one hurdle that I have overcome. And it is the same for everyone else too.
Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with admitting that you need help. I certainly didn't know that I needed help until it was too late, because I have never been in such a situation where I was struggling significantly within a class. The feeling was new to me, but it was a lesson that I need to pass on to everyone else though.
There is nothing wrong with asking for help. Because if you are continuously struggling with the topic, then it will be too late.
Take into consideration of your learning style and ask for help where necessary. Find your preferred method of learning and work with your classmates or professor with it accordingly. If you prefer open lecture, maybe you can find the professor afterwards or work with class primarily. If you like digging down and participating in the projects, then you could potentially work with online lessons and outside projects as well.
There are several things you can do, but just be mindful that the projects that score the grades should be a priority for your classes. At the end of it all, we are here in college to achieve an education and prove our prowess in our fields upon graduation. With that, there is nothing wrong with potentially taking a semester slower, especially if they are more rigorous courses.
With that, make sure to try and keep a healthy balance of work and play. There are several events always going on around the campus, and you join in on them at any time. We as students are always more than willing to accept more people coming in, heck we want more student interaction! But even if it is just an hour break to drop your cintiq pen, or let your mouse stand idle while you go outside for Ultimate Frisbee or maybe to the game room to play Bloodborne or Smash Bros, it's all fine because you will be doing something you enjoy as well, which should be another goal as you progress through college.
Aside from the food, clubs, classes, and events, there are a lot of things to do in college, and not only should you all be focusing on having a good time, but also be making sure to work with your classes and learn in a healthy environment as well.
With this blog post, this concludes my 10 part series on surviving college. For what it's worth, it's not so difficult, it's moreso just a matter of finding what works for you, and moving forward with it!
From here on I will be making other posts about various topics across the University, but until next time,
-Nicholas "TAE"
