1. Why Are You Here?
Why did you choose to go through the expense of college? And it is expensive. You could be working full-time, and have to give up that income in most cases. You have to pay tuition and fees, even as subsidized as they are if you get in-state tuition. Why do it? For some students, its because they want to learn – they are innately curious and come prepared to gratefully receive what teachers have to offer. However, most of us, even a significant number of your professors, are not or were not like that.
Most of us have only the vaguest of notions why we go to college. Sometimes its because that is simply what you do after you graduate from high school. Sometimes its because we want a degree to get a job. The latter is a more specific goal, but do you have any idea what it takes to get there? Do you have any idea what it will take to advance in your career once you get that job? What do you need to know to achieve your goals? As a first year student, you probably don’t have specific answers to any of those questions. At the risk of sounding paternalistic, you are not a good judge of what you need to know. Something you should know right away is that “getting good grades” is not a good answer because good grades don’t mean as much outside of the classroom as they do inside. More on grading in college later.
One thing that perpetually confuses students about college is why they have to learn all that stuff. What is stuff? Anything the student doesn’t perceive a need for. If you’re an accounting major, how could knowing about global warming be useful to getting a job? Well, if the company you interview with for your first accounting job is involved in emissions trading, it will have global warming very much on its mind. Perhaps you don’t see the link, or know what some of the terms mean? Developing a broad base of knowledge that you can use to think about how the different pieces of the world fit together is what that “stuff” is all about. It makes you sound like an educated person when you talk, thoughtful and knowledgeable. After all, you never realize something is important until you need it.
One of the best things you can do for your college experience is have a good idea of why you are doing it, and allowing yourself to be interested in at least a part of what goes on in each class. That gives you a reason to be involved, which drastically increases the chance you’ll stick with it, get a degree, and achieve your goals.