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Taking a Deep Breath

Looking forward to the fall semester, some of my students are wound very tightly, terrified about what’s coming. (Will I fail instantly? Will everyone hate me? How will I ever find my way around campus? Maybe I should just give up now!) Others are extremely laid-back and probably won’t even begin to think about college until August 24.

Message to the uptight

Relax! If you made it through high school, you can probably make it through college. Thousands of students on thousands of campuses have done what you are about to do—and my whole agenda as a teacher is to help you pass. Ashland University has a lot of resources to help you get through this place, and you don’t have to pay extra for them.

If you are still full of anxiety, make a list of things you need to do (Get computer ready; buy a book bag.) and as you accomplish them over the next month, check them off. Then you can look at your list and say, “There! Nailed that one! I’m closer to my goal!” Visit the campus and walk around so the geography isn’t as scary (and so you know where to go on the first day). Talk to some of the folks who are here over the summer and find out that Ashland University isn’t nearly as intimidating as you feared.

Message to the laid-back

I’m glad you don’t feel overwhelmed, but you you do need to take this transition seriously. Over the next month, this blog will list specific things you need to be doing to get ready—and it would be a good idea to actually do them.

I always have a few students who are just too casual about the whole educational process. They are the ones who cannot be bothered to figure out how to do things like sending email or finding our course in Blackboard. They are the ones who stroll into a 50-minute class twenty minutes late. They can’t be bothered to submit papers on time, and they think I’m making a joke when I talk about course requirements. Perhaps—who knows why?—their high school teachers just let them slide through, but college is different. You have to treat college like a job you want to keep. Otherwise you won’t be here in a year.

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