Many of you have grandchildren who are leaving school and may consider college or university. If they engage that path for their future, it is important to understand what they are going to face before they start. Here are some more of the 50+ points. When we talk about adapting to university, it affects every student differently. You will adapt and figure it out, but it will take some adjusting.
Points of difference
1. Look at the material before class and try to teach yourself something about the day’s topic. You will get more out of the effort you put into a course and the class time will be more efficient and effective. And review the material after class - what confused you, what you do not understand, then deal with it.
2. You will need to have above-average time management if you want to avoid cramming and jamming all the work into the last few weeks of term.
3. Do not blame the instructors for the workload if you had ample time to do it when advised and you decided to procrastinate. Do not cram. Do not pull all-nighters.
4. You should reset your expectations when you enter university. Most programs assume a 50–60-hour workweek for an average student to get an average mark. This is not high school. In the beginning, take it slow. Test the waters to see how much school takes up in your week.
5. Slowly get more and more involved in extra-circulars and other activities once you get a better understanding of your school workload. Realize that your lifestyle from high school to University WILL change. You might have to do this every semester.
6. Develop what is called a growth mindset if you do not have one. You will need one especially with the experiences most of you have had growing up in today’s world.
7. Be mature and be accountable - understand what your responsibility is and be accountable for what happens if you shirk it. Do not blame others. Face it. Understand it. Accept it. Figure out how to avoid the mistake. Do not make the same mistake again.
8. Learn to fail, learn from failing - while you can memorize facts, methods, and recipes, you cannot learn and develop key skills without failure, pushing yourself, persevering, expanding your comfort zone.
9. Embrace failure when you use it for learning and growing. You are not a failure just because you fail. Failure is feedback.
10. Realize that for most knowledge-based courses, you can learn on your own almost all the topics from the course material and what is online. The basic facts and recipes. You are smart enough. Learn to read with purpose and teach yourself.
11. Do not blame the instructor in knowledge-based courses when you should be able to learn it yourself. After all, many knowledge classes have the instructor writing on the board what is in the text and then reading it aloud; what you should be able to do for yourself with respect to the facts and recipes. For the subtle interpretations and insights, you need to be in class!
12. Learn what skills you need to be a student and in your future career, like planning, organization, time management, self-advocacy, goal setting, note-taking, active reading strategies like SQAR. Develop these through deliberate practice. Only you can develop your skills.
13. Initially you will be developing new muscles and it may be painful. Deliberate, consistent and repetitive practice of your skills will create improved results.
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