Part Nine: There are Many Ways to Achieve Success
In the past few parts of this guide, we’ve covered time management, knowing and using your school’s resources, and approaching your assignments with a positive attitude. In this, our penultimate installment of the 2023 guide on How to Succeed in College, we’re returning to something we touched upon in the first section of this guide: Achieving and defining success. You are not your grades. Ultimately, you are the person you have to answer to the most, and you’re the person that you’ll have to spend the most time with, so think carefully and often about what college success means to you, looks like, and requires.
A successful college student will forge their own path
College is what you make of it. Your dorm room and social life are a big part of your college experience, but they don’t define it. You can still have a great college experience even if you spend a lot of time studying, or if you choose to live off-campus. You might make close, lifelong friends with people who live in the same city but do not attend your school. You might major in something that is only somewhat adjacent to what you do.
Not all of your education happens in class or even on campus
Not everything you learn in college is going to be tested on an exam or written on a PowerPoint. While grades are important, and it’s certainly easier to get good grades if you’re paying attention in class and taking good notes, college is about more than just getting a good grade. It’s about learning new things, developing new skills, and preparing for your career. It’s about developing a framework for life.
Don’t assume you can predict the future.
You may be very surprised at the things you are actually using in your daily life five or ten years from now. Some things you learn in college will be directly applicable to your career, but other things may end up being more important in unexpected ways. For example, you might not think that a literature class will have much relevance to your future job, but the critical thinking skills you develop in that class could end up being crucial to your success. The ideas you engage with in classes like that could prove to be the defining factor that helps you navigate tough times.
Be agile
During the course of your studies, you might grow as a person in ways that shift you away from your original goals, and that is OK. That’s why, way back in the early parts of this guide, we suggested that you frequently revisit your goals. It is OK to change majors and career plans, or to realize that your values have changed. If nothing changes, then you aren’t really learning anything.
Remember, if the shit hits the fan and stress levels become intolerable, you can always reduce your workload by hiring an essay writing service .
Thanks for tuning in! If you can believe it, we have only one more section of this guide left to go. Read on to learn about holding yourself accountable for your own success, and why that is an integral part of success.
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