From college failure college lecturer.

I saw a question on Quora, and decided to answer it . After I was done, I thought it may make a good cross-post to LinkedIn. My friend (and former student) talked about failure yesterday in a post. Failure figures in heavily in this question and my answer.

The question:?I feel unmotivated at university. It's my first semester and I'm failing my classes. What can I do? I study and I was a great student in high school. I just feel so useless.

My college story.

This was me, my first semester (and 2nd semester). I quit going to college. I want to point out, I was a first generation college student, as well, which figures into all of this.

Throughout high school, I was a solid B student, without doing any real work. My senior year, I actually applied myself (I brought homework home around a DOZEN whole times to do) and got close to a 4.0. So, to put it into perspective, high school was a cake walk to me.

I always KNEW I would go to college. I always KNEW I would get a degree. I then got there. Holy crap, I was NOT ready. I actually HAD to study, and I lacked the real skills to do so (since I never had to do it before) and I REALLY lacked the discipline to do it (same reason above). When I started college, I was admitted to the honors college. I had a bright future. My parents were 100% funding it, etc.

So, as I stated in the beginning, I failed… hard. I ended up with a 1.75 GPA after my first year. It was BAD. Thankfully, I did get some of the humanities and other electives out of the way, which would help me later. I was blessed because I have an affinity for technology and love computers. I ended up going to work full time, and eventually started working in IT. You don’t need a degree to do well in IT, it is really about your actual skills (though, it never hurts).

I ended up getting a job in my 30s that let me go back to school for a fraction of the cost. I couldn’t pass up that perk, and I started back to school… slowly. Two to three classes a semester. I was a single dad with a daughter and full time work. I could only expend so many hours a week on school.

It took me an extended time to complete my 3 semesters. It took me 6 years and I ended up with a mid B GPA. The 1.75 in my freshman year killed any chance of a really good GPA. I ended up with an IT business degree and a minor in marketing. (I was doing a lot of analytics at the time, and those two tied together really well). Two days after graduating with my Bachelor degree, I started my MBA. I BLEW through it. Interesting thing, learning is a learned skill. After a lot of years, I got good at it (again), and was able to take classes more efficiently. I completed my 2 year MBA in 1.5 years and getting just short of a 4.0 this time. During this time, my son was born 6 weeks early and he spent 5 weeks in the NICU. I did a lot of homework in the hospital during those weeks. Additionally, three days after he was born, we closed on our house and 2 days later started moving in. I graduated with my MBA at age 42. One of my professors had become department chair and asked me to come and teach as an adjunct. I started teaching on the side. After a couple of more years, I was brought on full time as a lecturer.

That is my story of going from college failure to college lecturer. I wasn’t ready for college. I didn’t know what college would be like. I did eventually complete my degree, and getting it was worth it.

Now, some insights that may help.

• Getting a degree in 4 years is NOT easy.?While most colleges advertise a 4 year degree, actually GETTING a 4 year degree is not always easy or straight forward (especially in STEM degrees). I’d recommend planning on 5 years. Take it easy on your first semester or two. ESPECIALLY since you are like me, and found high school easy.

1. It's ok to take more than 4 years.?My parents expected me to complete my degree in 4 years. To get to the prereqs at the time required a TON of work, and pushed me beyond my actual limits. I wonder if I had not had so much pressure to complete my degree in four years, if my Freshman year would not have been a failure.

• Map out all of your classes/talk to advisors and professors.?It’s good to look at all of your classes, map out prereqs and balance easier classes and harder classes. I kind of viewed everything like high school and progress as linear. It’s really not. Some classes have prereqs. Some coreqs and others don’t have either. Try to complete all your 100/200 level classes in your first two years. Then, complete your 300/400 level classes your junior/senior years. (If doing 5 years, you have a middle ground there that will have a larger mix). Advisors are good to talk to about your plan. Professors are also really good to talk to, since they have more intimate knowledge of the degree.

1. Higher classmen get to choose classes earlier.?As you move up in class level, you will be able to choose classes earlier, allowing you to get into classes that you need easier.
2. ASK YOUR PROFESSOR FOR A PERMISSION NUMBER to get into full classes.?Seriously, most of us can take on a couple extra students, but you have to ask us. Don’t count on other students dropping the class and getting in.

• Take advantage of professor office hours.?Many professors are there because they like to pass on their knowledge. I’d say that number goes up quite a bit if they are like me, and get into teaching after having worked in the real world beforehand. Take advantage of that. You can find out what exactly they are looking for, so you don’t drop points over misunderstanding directions or other stupid reasons.

1. If there are open tutor hours use those.
2. Many professors are still available, outside of office hours.?Drop by and see if they are available or email them for an appointment.
3. Professors don’t bite.?Trust me, we would be fired for assault. ;-)
4. What you see in media is mostly wrong.?You see in TV shows and movies how evil professors are, and how they have a disdain for students. This is NOT how we are.?We want our students to be successful.?Heck, my performance reviews are partially based on how my students do and how they rate me.

• Get to know other students in your degree.?Start collaborating on assignments. You have to do your own work, but if multiple people are working through problems, you are much more likely to get the right answer. Just put it in your own words.

1. You are responsible for your education, so make sure if you do this, you UNDERSTAND how the answers were derived, if you don’t work on them directly. A student getting all As on assignments and then getting a C or less on exams is kind of a red flag.

• Use your university’s services.?My university (So I would assume others as well, if not most) have additional services you can take advantage of. From general tutors to help how to take classes, mental health, and more. Ask a professor where to start. Ask your department chair where to start. Most are happy to do some leg work to get you pointed in the right direction, if they don’t have materials pre-created to give to students already.
• Work ahead.?Get 2 weeks out on home work if possible. The first week is a dud for most classes. your work load is 1/2 or less of what it will be the rest of the semester. Work ahead on that. If you don’t have the materials readily available, ask your professor when they will be opening them up (I run 2 weeks out in my class) and if you can get more, earlier.
• READ YOUR MATERIAL.?Seriously, this part alone is like pulling teeth as a professor. My students that actually READ the material seriously do 1 to 2 grade levels HIGHER than their peers that do not. Every single class.
• Go to every class.?Take classes in person as apposed to online. This is one where I see students really struggle. Online students generally don’t perform as well as in-person. Those that show up to class tend to just always do much better overall. (It may be that good students go to class, and not the other way around… so that causality link may be reversed).
• It’s?ok?to take a semester or year off and regroup. Just make sure you WILL go back. My plan was 1 or 2 semesters off, and then go back. It ended up being well over 15 years. I lost out on a LOT of additional earnings in that time. There is a certain inertia that is lost when you take time off, so be VERY aware of that.
• College is not for everyone.?Yes, I am a professor. Yes, I have a degree (and recommend it). I am also a realist. College is not for everyone. There are a lot of people that are successful without a degree. Though, if you want to get into a field that REQUIRES a degree, you have to go to college (Engineer, nurse, doctor, etc). If your field doesn’t RQUIRE a degree, it doesn't mean that having one won’t make your life easier. A couple of thoughts on this part.

1. Anecdote 1:?I have a good friend that is an amazing programmer. Like VERY top tier, better than probably 90% or more of their peers. A bunch of years ago, he was ALMOST fired from a good job, because he didn’t have a degree. For whatever reason, the management team (well, upper management, his direct manager was horrified at the thought of losing him) decided everyone in IT should have a college degree. The only reason he kept his job is because a LOT of his peers rallied around him and told management things would burn without him. THEY knew his worth, even if upper management didn’t. Even then, he was barely able to keep the job.
2. Anecdote 2:?You will see a number of jobs that say it’s nice to have X degree. That is because it can be used to screen out applicants if there are a lot.

• Get additional training. A college degree is not enough.?It used to be, you got a degree and you were set. That is not the case anymore. You need to do more to set yourself apart. Now, I teach IT. I ALSO spent two and a half decades working in IT in everything from front line helpdesk support to web development, to web hosting and networking. From my sphere alone, there are several topics that will help you in the business world.

1. Understand?Analytics?(and?get a certificate / minor / major). It?will help set you apart from other job applicants.?
2. Know Excel, PROVE you know Excel. LinkedIn has skills Assessments that can prove you have at least basic proficiency in a number of skills. You can see the available ones here . Seriously, know how?vlookup, xlookup,?and?if?functions work.?
3. Understand how a computer works, so you can?create directories, unzip files, delete files, move them around the file system.?
4. Learn about AI.?Going forward AI is going to be a helper in many (if not most) jobs. They are great at reducing your work load, especially for the mundane, boring tasks.?
5. Get an internship, or two, or more. More job skills will help you.
6. Learn the soft skills . Unfortunately most college graduates think they have the soft skills down . (working in teams/groups, communicating via email, memo, in-person, video, etc). They don’t. There is about a 20–30% margin of difference between how college graduates rate their competency in soft skills and what industry people rate college graduate competencies.

• Never give up learning.?I’m an IT guy. It’s part of who I am as a person, since I have been in this field so long, and have been a tech head even longer. My hobbies include gaming, 3D printing, photography, and drones (Mainly for photography). These have led to other specialized skills and equipment, like web streaming, high-quality microphones, high-quality cameras, video, Photo/video drones. These have led to other areas, and I can put those skills to creative uses. Like being able to record high quality training materials for students. Understanding production. Knowing how to take pictures (I was given the additional job role as one of our staff photographers in my previous job. Sure, it was more work, but I got to do some cool stuff too). Gaming is what taught me how to work on computers, and really started my whole career. Back in the 80s/90s, computers were not nearly as simple as they are today, and being a gamer meant having a high level of technical skills. I was also a gaming journalist for a few years pairing my technical knowledge (web development) with my interest (gaming) (at least computer gaming). Tabletop gaming got me into 3D Printing, which got me into journalism again, and hosting my own news/informational website. That got me more into streaming / video / audio production. You never know when these additional skills will set you apart, get you a promotion, or get you a raise. NEVER stop learning.

** Sorry about the weird list formatting. LinkedIn doesn't allow nested lists. I had to get creative to show the sub topics that went with each main list item.