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A JMU First-Year Survival Guide by Jonathan Church
Intro: So you’ve graduated high school and you’re feeling on top of the world, you’ve gotten into the best school in Virginia (JMU of course), and you had all of summer to be excited as can be for the adventures you are sure to have at the college of your dreams. But before your first semester as a college student can get underway here are 10 tips (call it a survival guide) to make your first year at JMU a memorable one.
Understandably, most young adults aren't ready for the college lifestyle. They're unprepared for the longer hours spent on school work, the looming financial costs, and the freedom that has suddenly been thrust upon them. There is no need to point at anyone for blame but rather let’s just get you onto the right track!
The first piece of knowledge I will dispense to you is that your professors are NOT your parents! Professors are there to teach and help you comprehend the material. They are not there to tell you how special you are, that you are capable of anything, or to give you all the answers. Having said that, professors are not some kind of weird creature who teaches and then disappears into some mist, they are people: mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles alike. They live among us, blending into the general population, hard to believe right?! I tell you this so that you can befriend them. Have a chat with them once in a while and ask how things are going. There is no reason that you cannot be friends with a professor, besides it may help you…they do grade your work. And guess who will be writing letters of recommendation for you 4 years from now? Besides these guys have done college already, most of them more than twice, they are the perfect...
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... you can and because you'll never know what you love if don’t you search for it. Do it because it really is now or never. You are still young enough to not have your mind made up but old enough to have the door opened to many opportunities. When I grew up I had the mindset that you either did something perfect or it wasn’t worth doing. This made me scared to try new things because I knew it wouldn’t be perfect the first time. Don’t be like I was go out and do new things, this is your chance to explore what you love in life. The best part about this is the memories are there for the rest of your life, even when you’re old and senile. This is very sound advice. (Stay out of the illegal stuff though).
Enjoy your time at JMU! Be productive, be adventurous, and soak up all the information you can whether it is related to your schoolwork or not. And of course, Go Dukes!
... a lot of pressure on high school graduates by parents and employers to get a degree if they want to make something of themselves. After being in the workforce over twenty-five years, I have experience well as qualifications that should make me more desirable than the twenty-two year old with little work experience. If he has a diploma, he will get the job before me almost every single time. That is why I am back in college after all these years. Attending college is a choice that anyone can make with their loved ones advice. Sit down with someone who knows you and write down your dreams and desires. Figure out what you would like to accomplish in life and investigate if you have a case for or against college.
As the economy evolves and the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s becoming harder to have a successful career without some kind of college degree. This creates a belief in many young students that college actually is a commodity, something they must have in order to have a good life. There’s many different factors that influence this mindset, high schools must push the importance of the student’s willingness and drive to further their education. College isn’t just a gateway to jobs, but it is an opportunity to increase knowledge and stretch and challenge the student which in return makes them a more rounded adult and provides them with skills they might lack prior to
Life is never easy, no matter how hard we try to short cut and escape the inevitable difficulties. After college is when life sets in, when work becomes a necessity and we all begin to find a place to settle down. People respond differently to different situations. Some of us embrace the freedom and the ability to earn money and spend money indiscriminately. Others crumple under the social pressures placed on us.
Many high school students are unsure or do not want to attend a four year college. These students feel pressured into doing something they do not want to do because the expectations of high school students is to set off for college to become successful in life. Adults paint the picture that without college education young adults will be failures. Adults believe college will make you superior and an automatic success. But that is an incorrect statement. A hand full of students who attend college eventually drop out for many reasons. Some students do not like the campus they are on because it is too distant from home. Maybe they do not like the community or professors that are present at the university. They become homesick
Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life. The first is the financial aspect of college. Second, is the relationship between the professors and students. Third is time management. These three factors play an important role in why people are afraid to go down the path to college.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
As students near the end of the academic year, they are constantly faced with some of the same choices the generations before them have been presented with too. The biggest question a lot of seniors in high school have to answer is if they are going to be attending college or not. There are a lot of legitimate reasons as to why a person might not attend a college, but I personally feel like everybody should have a higher education if they have the opportunity to do so. One of the biggest reasons that people do not have the opportunity to pursue higher levels of school is the fact that they do not have enough money to pay for it. With the staggering amount of debt, the majority of students incur in college, it is becoming a
Society puts too much pressure on high school students to attend a 4-year college right after graduation. Though this is an attainable goal for some, a great majority of students are not fully prepared for the demands of college. 4-year schools require an incredible amount of maturity and preparation, leaving very little room for mistakes. Schools often overlook this aspect because their main goal is to get as many students into 4-year college as possible. This is a great goal to have however they send students off to college who aren’t ready to be handle the difficult of their courses while being away from home. My senior year of high school, my family and I came to the conclusion that we were not going to be able to afford four-year college tuition. This upset me at first because I felt like all my hard work and good grades went to waste. I dreaded the thought of going to community college because my who...
First of all, many high school graduates cannot handle college. Isabel V. Sawhill and Stephanie Owen describe college as a place, “one can obtain a traditional four-year bachelor’s degree”. The work load outside of the classroom could be compared to working a full time job. For example, if a student is enrolled in four college courses and is in class a minimum of four hours the student should spend at least four to six hours of studying. This may be extremely agitating and stressful to a student that is not good at studying. The new college student may realize that the schoolwork is too much for him to handle and instead drop out. In Pharinet’s blog post, Is College for Everyone? He states that “…it is estimated that in the U.S., approximately 50% of students who begin college never graduate. There exist students who are not yet ready for the academic and financial challenges of college. There exist students who do not have the desire for college or learning.” This statement is important because if 50% of students that begin college never gradua...
Sometimes students question themselves if college is really worth it? That question has many answers that only a student can answer and decide for him or herself. For some students college can have a positive, life-long outcome. However, there are many obstacles when it comes to college. A student has to be very dedicated in school, and they have to know how to manage their personal life, school and work. College seems like it has more negative effects than it does positive for some people. For the following reasons college is not worth the cost because it is very difficult to find jobs after graduating or they find a job that is not in their field, some students who are not academically prepared wind up dropping out of school and wasting their money and some students struggle to balance school life, personal life and work life. As a result these students end up dropping out of school.
As a new freshman entering this Community College, you will be discovering and experiencing many new things about the world in which you live and yourself. The jump from high school to college can be a very scary but exciting experience. I have some valuable advice for you on how to make this transition smoother and an enjoyable experience rather than a scary and lonely one.
College has a extensive impact on a person that some people simply don’t realize. When I first started college, I was a little close-minded and unsure about what it was I wanted to do with the rest of my life. When I was halfway through my freshman year, I decided to completely change my path in life. I left ECU, moved into an apartment, transferred to Pitt and declared my major intended sonography. Then suddenly I hated what I was doing, I had to take a step back and truly evaluate my life and what it was I was meant to do. I was completely lost. Then one day I received a text from a friend telling me to apply to a hospital located in Chesapeake, Virginia. I did, and I got the job. When I told my parents they were less than thrilled, they didn’t like the idea of me taking a year off from school to work, but I thought long and hard about what was best for me and decided it was something I was meant to do, it was the path I needed to follow. I worked for a year while living at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. I was completely independent, providing for myself 100 percent. While working this job, I realized that what I wanted to do and what I was called to do in life was become a nurse, which is something I would have never figured out had I not seriously weighed my options
However, college may not be cut out for every teenager. Freshmen are dropping out after their first year because college can become a bit overwhelming on campus. The pressure of college whether it’s to maintain a high GPA score or impress parent’s, burdens many students. Although, college is supposed to improve their education, in hopes of obtaining a degree after graduation. Now, people attend college because his or her friends may go there.
To think that my first semester of college will be over this friday makes me realize how fast time flies. The first few weeks of college were tough, tiring and full of anxiety. Being in a new environment, a different state and not knowing one single person was something that I did not prepare myself for. Throughout all of the tears and the frustrations, I had to constantly remind myself that I am at The University of Akron to gain an education and become a successful individual.
Individuals in my generation that decide to go away for college may graduate with a degree but they also graduate with debt and have a hard time finding work in their area of study. College graduates are young and many may not have much experience in their field. It is a bittersweet option to go to college and further your education, I am all for it, but I am not for getting yourself in tons of debt, that will cause you to live your whole life paying off student loans and such. Which is one of the reasons why I chose to stay at home and go to community college, I’m saving money while still getting a great education. In earlier generations, people may not have felt that college was important because they needed a job to support themselves and their families. That is understandable because in the early years becoming an adult meant turning of age, 18, getting a job, moving out and starting your own family, but now turning 18 doesn’t mean you automatically are an adult and can move out and start your own life, I have friends that went to college, have a job but still are not able to move out on their own even in their