1.1 Welcome to College!

Congratulations on your decision to attend college! For the great majority of college students, it really was your decision—not just an automatic thing to do. If you happen to be one of the few who just sort of ended up in college for want of anything better to do, the benefits of college will soon become obvious. But you also need to understand the costs—and the risks.

The reason for this book, and for almost all college courses, is that college does require commitment and effort. Like everything else in life that leads to meaningful results, success in college is not automatic. But when you apply yourself to your studies using the skills you’ll learn in this book, you’ll find you can succeed.

When asked, most students say they’re in college primarily for the job or career they expect to follow after college. And they are correct that a college degree pays off enormously in terms of future earnings, job security and stability, and job satisfaction. Every statistic shows that people with a college education will make much more in their lifetime (much, much more than the cost of college itself) and be much happier with the work they do.

But your future career is only a part of the big picture. A college education results in many other personal benefits, and these also should be part of your motivation for doing well and continuing with your college plans. Here are a few other benefits of a college education:

A college education leads to greater success in all those areas, even though most students are usually more concerned with making it through the next class or test than the rest of their lives. But sometimes it helps to recall what a truly great step forward you are taking!

A book like this one can help you stay motivated when things get tough, but it can’t necessarily give you motivation to start with. You have to bring that to college yourself. What we can promise you is that if you are committed, you can learn the skills for succeeding in college.

Special skills are needed because college isn’t the same as high school. Throughout this book, we’ll look at the many ways college is different from high school. To name just a few, college is different in study skills needed, in personal skills related to being independent, in social skills for getting along with instructors and others on campus, in financial realities, in matters of personal health, and more.

Remember, you can learn whatever you need in order to succeed. That’s what this book is all about. You’ll learn how to get the most out of going to class. You’ll learn how to study in ways that use your time efficiently and help you pass tests. You’ll even learn how to remember what you read in your college textbooks. You’ll learn how to manage your time more effectively than you might have in the past, so that studying is less a burden and becomes more a simple routine. You’ll even learn how things like eating well and getting enough sleep and exercise make it easier to do well in your classes.

One warning: you might not at first see an immediate payoff for everything you read here. When it comes to certain things, such as tips for how to take good notes in class to help you study later for a test, you will get specific, practical advice you can put to use immediately to get a better grade. But not everything is as obvious or immediately beneficial. You’ll need to think about some of the things you’ll read about here. Some things will help you get to know yourself better and understand more clearly what you really want from your education and how to go about attaining them.

But we promise you this: if you care enough to want to succeed in college and care enough to read these chapters and try to use the information, suggestions, and tips presented here, you will succeed in college.

To be fair, it is important to realize also that not everyone makes it through college—that there is in fact a rather high dropout rate rate at many colleges. Typically, students who do not succeed in college drop out within the first year. Sometimes it’s due to an unsolvable financial problem or a personal or family crisis, but most of the time students drop out because they’re having problems passing their courses. The two biggest causes of this problem are a lack of motivation and not having learned the skills needed to succeed in college. This book addresses those issues.

You may have read or heard stories in the media about college students with enormous student loans who feel they will never earn enough in their jobs to pay it all back. These stories can be very discouraging, but they also are often misleading. Most students who complete their degree do in fact earn more than they would have without a degree and do not find it that difficult to repay their student loans. On the other hand, students who drop out after amassing a large student debt do suffer in the future because they don't get a higher-paying job requiring a degree but still have large loan payments to make. This problem emphasizes the crucial need to be committed to your college education once you begin. Dropping out after taking student loans is about the worst thing you can do. But don't worry: if you choose to succeed, as we hope you will with the help of tips and information throughout this book, you can succeed in college and earn your degree and go on to a successful future. (The later chapter Taking Control of Your Finances will offer many ways to help you avoid a large student debt.)