To the graduates:
Oh man, are you in for a treat. Realizing once I got into college how much I hated high school, I found the freedom of college to be what I was longing for. From the time I entered college to the time I graduated, it was the best time of my life so far. I’d like to pass onto you some of the best things I learned while in college.
1. It’s a fresh start. In high school, if you were cool or a nerd, a nobody or a BMOC, an overachiever or an underachiever, a focuser or ADHD-ish, you get to start over. After one semester nobody cares what you did in high school. And in that light don’t wear your letter jacket anywhere on campus. People will mark you for a dork.
2. Try your best to talk to upperclassmen about who the good teachers are. I hear there are online sites where students do reviews of teachers. Some of the best teachers you’ll ever meet in college never had an education class.
3. On the 1st day of class get to your classes early and get a front row seat. Don’t allow distractions to come between you and the lecturer. Learn to take notes. For mercy’s sake don’t sit in the back and put your feet up on the chair in front of you.
4. Study your buns off to make an A on that 1st test. The professor will notice you and think you care.
5. NEVER skip a class, even if you’re sick.
6. Visit the professor with valid questions a few times, even if you already know the answers.
Note: Numbers 3, 4,5,6, will definitely work in your favor if your final grade is something around 88 or 89. Go to the professor and make a case (schmooze him) that you deserve an A. He saw that you were always in class in the front row, you asked questions and showed interest, and you’re just a nice person. Odds are about 90 % you’ll walk out of there with a 90. I promise you it works. If not you lost nothing by trying.
7. Form a study group with one or two other serious students. There is hardly no other more effective way to learn the test material.
8. Major in something challenging. The harder the subject the more likely an employer will be looking for you. Most of all you’ll respect yourself for meeting such a challenge.
9. Study first, play later.
There’s nothing wrong with starting college a year after graduation. Get a job learning to build houses, fix appliances, handle livestock. Work with a plumber or an electrician. Good way to learn Spanish is in the construction trade. Learn what it’s like to go home after work sweaty, dirty, exhausted, yet with achievements which build confidence. Learning how stuff is put together goes a long way to knowing how to fix it. Later you may build your own house(s) and fix your own appliances and save wads of money, not to mention the aggravation of finding a decent repairman that’ll show up when he says he will.
All this goes for men and women both. Confidence and self esteem are not gender selective.
Bién Suerte!
