A New Academic Year = New Challenges

All Students

Welcome back!!! I hope you enjoyed a nice summer and you are ready to come back and hit the books as strong as ever. If you are anything like me, it took me a few days to get back into the swing of things. To this day, even as a professor now, it takes me a few days to get back in to the groove :). If you are freshman or a seasoned student such as a graduate student, getting off to a good start is an important one. Make sure that you get a good look at your assignments on your syllabi, and be sure to highlight the due dates and begin to make preparations to organize your studying.

I met with a new graduate student a few days ago to speak with her about her new journey. We talked about the importance of getting off to a good start. One of the things you have to remember with college is you may not get a chance to finish strong in a course. For instance, a professor can front load their course leaving you with very little to make up at the end of the semester. Therefore, it is very important that you look at the syllabus. From what I have witnessed, a lot of students have made the assumption in the past that they could cruise the first half and “hustle” the second half of the semester. Keep in mind, that all depends on the syllabus. Not ever professor is created equal; basically, we do not all operate under a certain umbrella. Hence, it is imperative that you put your best foot forward on each assignment.

Below are some tips to help you get organized at the beginning of this semester:

• Use your planner whether is it an Ipad, organizer, etc
• Read over your syllabi more than once
• Highlight the due dates for assignments on your syllabi
• If you big on using the library find a good spot in there for you to focus
• DON’T PANIC if this is your first semester in school
• Become very familiar with where your classes are on campus
• If you are on a large campus make sure you get your parking decal early and get to campus in a timely fashion (give yourself time to have to hunt for a parking spot)
• Learn the academic resources that your campus offers

I hope the above points will be usually for your initial success as your embark on a new semester in college. In the event that you would like to contact me, feel free to email me at getmotivatedtofinish@gmail.com . I would like to hear from you. For some of you who are new to reading my blog, I post weekly on topic surrounding academic success. Be on the lookout for next week’s post which will examine “unwritten classroom assignments”

Until next time,

Quintin Boston, Ph.D., LPC, CRC

College Prep Interview

Students

Greetings everyone, the semester is right around the corner. Yesterday I had the opportunity to take part in an interview surrounding topics that freshman and upper level college students should be familiar with. Since the interview took place prior to the beginning of the semester, I felt the need to go ahead and post the information here as well for students beginning their academic journey in the next few weeks.

The link for the entire interview can be found here:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuiyuvyhfjs&feature=c4-overview&list=UURB5E_xQdYMuepFCkz-jzSg

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of what is left for the summer, as I will begin my usual postings in the next two weeks.

Take Care,

Dr. Quintin Boston, LPC, CRC