
I was in college for a long time maybe too long I took a lot of classes and I used to tell my friends that I was going to be a professional college student, I would just take college classes for the rest of my life and the more classes you take the better you get at test-taking the better you get at studying and eventually, you feel like you’re a college professional student this article is about mistakes.
The three biggest mistakes that college students make are mistakes that I’ve seen in my own students as a teacher these are mistakes that students make over and over and over again and I see it semester after semester and I would be lying if I I told you that there’s an easy solution for curing these mistakes at the end of the article.
I’ll try to give you some tips that you can follow to try to overcome these mistakes because chances are you are making some of these mistakes because they are very common I see them every single semester one of the biggest mistakes that college.
Taking too many Classes:
Students make is taking too many classes if you take too many classes you are not going to do as well, it’s just a fact okay there’s only so much time in a day and if you have other responsibilities it makes it much harder as a general rule I think maybe three hard classes per semester is a good upper limit so when I say hard classes, I mean classes that are going to require a lot of your time so for example, if you’re taking a math class I would consider a Calculus class as a serious class or an abstract algebra class as a serious class physics could be considered you know a serious class You know the math and the Sciences are pretty hardcore same the thing with engineering classes that consume a lot of time Anatomy you know anything that’s considered difficult and it varies by subject so you know.
What those hard classes are if your friends are saying hey that’s a hard class if the teachers are saying hey that’s a hard class consider it a hard class try to limit yourself to maybe three per semester the problem with this advice is if you’re on financial aid at least in the United States you need more credits in order to get full financial aid and that’s where it gets a little.
Bit tricky another problem people have with taking my advice and not taking so many classes is that people feel like it’s too late remember it’s not too late if you’re 22, 23, 24, 25 even 30 or older it’s never too late to go to school you’re not going fall behind in your life.
Because you’re taking a couple of extra semesters to finish your degree life is not a race it’s a journey and education should be part of that journey so slow down right it’s okay to take it a little bit slower and is and that’ll help you, in the long run, you’ll get better grades if you take less classes and you’ll be able to absorb the material in a much better way my best semesters were the ones where I took three to four classes and I just focused hard on those classes and I did my best to get an A in those classes most of the time I was able to get an A but whenever I upped the limit to you know four or five serious classes that’s where it got really difficult and that’s where I had to start cutting back on some classes and sacrificing some grades here and there so try not to take too many classes if you can help it honestly less is better.
it gives you more time to enjoy your life too right now college is also about making friends and having fun I mean it’s a good experience and you want to make it a good experience so don’t overdo it try to keep your classes to a minimum so you can learn better get better grades and have more fun at the same time.
Working too Much During College:
Another really big mistake that college students make is working too much and this is one that I was very fortunate because I was able to avoid it as soon as I started college I was 24 so I was able to get financial aid so I was able to go to college with student loans and free money from the government.
So I finally finished paying back my loans it took forever it was not fun but it worked for me I was able to focus on my studies and it just really helped now I’m not saying you should go out and get loans and all that stuff but I’m saying is try to cut back on how much work you do if you’re working full time try to go to part-time.
if you’re working part-time and it’s interfering with your college studies try to get a job that relates to the field you want to go into if you want to go into computer science try to get a job doing something related to computer science if you want to go into education maybe consider getting a job as a tutor by working somewhere that aligns with your goals it’ll help you keep.
You focused also, you don’t want to work full time unless you have to and I know this is not good advice for some people there are a lot of people in college who have full-time jobs they have significant others they might have kids they have responsibilities so it’s just not possible to stop working and go to School.
I feel like every year there are more and more people like this and there’s nothing you can really do other than just taking it slow maybe just take one class at a time if you’re working full-time two tops it is really difficult to work and go to school and I don’t know I really don’t know how people do it I’m getting Goosebumps it is so difficult I have done it I have worked and gone to school and I struggled so if you were one of those people who is working and going to school props yeah you’re awesome.
Not Taking It Seriously Enough:
The third biggest mistake that college students make is not taking it seriously enough it’s really important to take it seriously I used to always think about it like let’s say you’re in a Calculus class this is the only time in your life that you’re in calculus this is it 20 years from now you will not be in
your Calculus class or whatever class you’re taking you will not be there I mean unless you drop a class or fail and then take it 20 years later but for all practical purposes, this is it all you have is right now all you have is today.
So make It Count you don’t want to look back on these moments 20 years from now and say oh you know I should have done better you know I really should have studied more I should have listened to that random person on YouTube telling me to take it.
Seriously take it so you don’t have regrets not only that if you take it seriously you’re going do better you’re going to learn more you’re going to get better grades you’re going to have better experiences it’s just better overall so those are the three biggest mistakes that I see college students make every single semester.
Every semester for years I always have students who I feel are either taking too many classes working too much or just not taking it seriously enough that it gets really bad when you combine all of these things and this does happen right you get people who are taking six classes they’re working a full-time job.
They have tons of responsibilities outside of school and then they decide not to take them seriously situations like that usually are not very good so try to avoid those things remember take fewer classes if you take fewer classes you can go slower you can enjoy the experience.
You’ll learn more and you can have more fun if you’re able to work less that gives you more time to focus on your classes and more time to focus on fun and your relationships and if you’re not taking it seriously enough start just start it will make a big difference.
You Want to Make It Count Remember this is the only time in your life that you’re in college this is the only time 30 years from now you will not be in college you want to look back and you want to say that you did the best you could make this a memorable experience.