Campus Chronicle

High Point University

How to Succeed in Your College Classes

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By: Ann Shelley

Freshman year can be terrifying, exciting and challenging all at the same time, and it’s okay to feel that way. You’re leaving behind your home and starting at a brand new place with new faces and new surroundings. Believe it or not, everyone in your new Class of 2021 is feeling something along the lines of that. On top of this, you start the first day of your college classes soon. I remember freshman year I was forty-five minutes late to my first class ever in my college career. Way to start out strong right? I even left fifteen minutes early to make sure I got there on time. I sat in an advanced physics class for five minutes after class had started with a classroom full of math majors. I finally figured it out after the professor introduced himself and started going over the course material. It turned out my professor had changed the classroom at the last minute and had emailed us about it. However, being a freshman I had no idea what my school email even was. I spent 30 minutes just trying to log into my account so I could see what the classroom had been changed to. To put the cherry on top, when I finally showed up to this exercise science class my professor made me stand in front of the classroom and introduce myself. So to avoid any embarrassment like I had my first day, here are some tricks of the trade to help you succeed in your college classes.

 

  1. MAP IT OUT! When you get your schedule, a day before classes start you should go to each classroom and make sure you know where it is. Whether it is a big campus or even small campus like HPU, it is easy to get lost in the sea of classroom numbers pretty quickly.
  2. INTRODUCE YOURSELF! Those students around you are only a small part of your brand new freshman class. So why not get to know them? My biggest advice is to introduce yourself to the first person you sit next to in class. You never know when you need a study buddy for a hard biology exam coming up. Study groups are the best for the difficult classes to help quiz each other and work on homework, as well as keep you motivated.
  3. PROFESSORS CARE! I have not met one teacher at HPU that I can say genuinely did not care at all about their students and their success. Get to know them! I was once struggling in my Spanish class and my teacher saw this, so she reached out to me and helped me after class further understand the lesson. In this way, I was able to succeed in my Spanish class. Your professors are a great resource, so take advantage of it!
  4. CHECK BLACKBOARD! If your teachers haven’t already introduced you to it, Blackboard is how you can access your grades, homework assignments, the syllabus and so much more. Don’t forget to check it every night—you never know when a professor will post homework assignments without informing you about it. It is better to be safe than sorry.
  5. EMAIL IS YOUR BFF! Many of your teachers will still send out alerts through your HPU email account. Don’t forget to download it on your phone too. This is a quick and easy way to send emails right from your phone to any teacher in case you don’t have your laptop. This is also how you get your daily reminder emails of everything that is going on at HPU for that day.
  6. GET A TUTOR! If you are struggling in a class, don’t wait until you are about to take a midterm to get a tutor for it. The HPU library offers free tutoring sessions for any classes you are struggling in. Go to your individual student success coach to request a tutor. After that, you will start your individualized tutoring sessions that work for your schedule. The best part? Most of your tutors will be your peers that have already taken the class.
  7. CALL ON YOUR COACH! No, not your coach for your sports team—your success coach assigned to you in Cottrell based on your major! These individuals are here to make sure you are succeeding in your classes by helping you find the resources to do so. They can help you drop and add classes, as well as give you advice for what classes you should be taking your freshman year to stay on track.
  8. DON’T BE FASHIONABLY LATE! Something I learned my first semester was that it really is important to show up to class. Your professor may say important things in his/her lecture that you can’t get from just reading her notes later on Blackboard. Tuition is expensive, and missing class is like throwing that money out the window. You also run the risk of getting dropped from the class if you miss too many. So why take that chance? It really does pay off to go to class.