Want To Become A Successful College Student? Learn From The Habits Of The Best Ones

By Robert Morris

You already achieved great success when you got accepted to college, but that was just the start of the achievements you will have to make in order to be a successful student. According to the official statistics, the overall 4-year graduation rate for 2012 was 52% and 31%, for private and public colleges respectively. This information isn’t supposed to scare you, but it should motivate you to work harder if you want to achieve your goal and graduate on time.

In order to complete your college degree with success, you should learn from the habits of the best students and implement them into practice. It isn’t as difficult as it seems – you just need to work your way towards the degree step by step and you will soon notice how academic challenges become easier to face.

1. Benefit the most from on-campus resources

All colleges offer on-campus resources that have a great potential if you know how to use it. Make sure to get familiar with these places on campus as soon as you start with the studies: the career services center, the academic support center, and the library. These are three key places you should be able to find in your sleep.

Find out what types of resources and support these on-campus destinations offer. Career advisors, writing counselors, and librarians can become your greatest help towards turning your mediocre student skills into successful ones.

2. Know your priorities

As soon as you start attending lessons and completing college assignments, you should detach yourself from the high school habits, because they won’t help you balance the study time, classes, extracurricular activities, and socialization that college requires. Everything needs planning and you better start making priorities soon.

Successful students have one thing in common – they have daily schedules and always complete the most important tasks by the end of the day. Creating a time table will help you live with less stress while managing the entire workload with ease.

3. Showing up to class is not enough. Get involved!

Almost all students are intimidated by the large lecture halls, but that doesn’t mean that you should just keep showing up in class and sit quietly in the last row. The only way to understand the material and achieve higher GPA is to get involved and express yourself during the lectures. Your professor asks if anyone has a question? Deal with your insecurity and speak up. After all, the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.

Don’t avoid sitting close to the professor – that is your best chance of getting noticed and participating in discussions whenever you have something smart to say. However, you shouldn’t go overboard with your involvement. No one likes those students who tend to dominate all discussions and always speak no matter whether they have something relevant to add or they just want to ramble without a point.

4. Develop lasting relationships with your professors and mentors

Even if your professors seem too “cold” during the lectures, they are still happy to develop meaningful relationships with students who have great potential. Keeping a close mentoring relationship with the faculty members you relate to is one of the greatest benefits you will get from college life.

5. Focus on your portfolio

You should think of college as a great chance to work your way towards the career you want. Make sure to get involved in activities and choose classes that are relevant for the career path you’ve chosen. In this way, your college studies will help you build a professional portfolio.

Whenever you’re part of a big project or you complete successful coursework, save the documents in PDF and include them in your portfolio. Your future employer will appreciate the fact that you’ve been a diligent and successful student.

6. Don’t delay thinking about your professional future

Many students don’t like thinking about the heading their lives will take after receiving the college diploma, but those are not the successful ones. You have to set your goals! You won’t achieve all of them after graduating, but that doesn’t mean that you should leave things to chance and go through college without making any plans about the life that comes after.

You can avoid the shame of being unemployed long after graduating only if you keep your long-term goals in mind and work towards their achievement.

Tips on how to become a successful student are written by Robert Morris, who is a professional writer for http://www.ninjaessays.com/, where he writes on useful educational tips for students.