College Strategies

1. ON COURSE:
Strategies for Creating Success
in College and in Life
Chapter 1:
Getting On Course to
Your Success
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

2. Getting On Course to
Your Success
Successful Students…
• Accept personal responsibility
• Discover self-motivation
• Master self-management
• Employ interdependence
Struggling Students…
• See themselves as victims
• Have difficulty sustaining
motivation
• Seldom identify actions
needed to accomplish a
desired outcome
• Are solitary
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

3. College Smart-Start Guide
GET
FAMILIAR
• Campus
• Classrooms
• Syllabus
GET
ORGANIZED
• Supplies
• Schedule
• Technology
GET
SERIOUS
• Setting Goals
• Attending Class
• Completing
Assignments
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

4. Understanding the Culture of
Higher Education
Surface Culture:
Elements we perceive with
our senses
• Foods
• Language
• Gestures
• Holidays
• Customs
Deep Culture:
Elements are usually taken for
granted until they are disobeyed
• Norms
• Beliefs
• Attitudes
• Opinions
• World Views
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

5. Surface Culture of Higher
Education
Surface Culture:
May feel unfamiliar/require
you to adapt
• Class size
• Appropriate dress
• Amount of Homework
• Students’ Race/Ethnicity
• Ages
Deep Culture:
Expectations for you to know
and to do
• Create a long-term educational
plan
• Know the importance of your GPA
• Complete Gen Ed requirements
• Complete prerequisites
• Talk to and meet with your
instructors
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

6. Write a Great Life:
Guided Journal Entries
• Flannery O’Connor once said, “I write because I don’t
know what I think until I read what I say.”
• Guided Journal Entries allow you to journey with an
experienced guide who takes you to places and sights
you may not have explored on your own.
• Dive deep to design a life worth living. By bridging the
gulf between knowledge and achievement you will
make yourself successful.
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

7. Write a Great Life:
Creating Meaningful Journal Entries
1. Copy the prompt
2. Be spontaneous
3. Be honest
4. Be Creative
5. Dive Deep
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

8. Understanding the
Expectations of Higher Ed
1. Responsible
2. Motivated to Succeed
3. Attend
4. Collaborate with peers
5. Make changes when things are not working
6. Passion for learning
7. Manage emotions
8. Realistic self-confidence
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

9. Understanding Yourself
Consider a curious puzzle: Two students enter a
college class on the first day of the semester.
Both appear to have similar intelligence,
backgrounds, talents, interests and abilities. The
weeks slide by and the semester ends.
Surprisingly, one student soars—fulfilling his
potential—and the other sinks—falling short of
his potential.
• Why do students with similar aptitudes perform so
differently?
• Which of these students do you identify with?
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

10. Success Is…
Hard Skills
• Writing skills
• Math skills
• Reading skills
• Learning skills
Soft Skills
• Persistence
• Self-confidence
• Motivation
• Self-management
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

11. Assess Your Soft Skills For
College Success
• What is the purpose of taking the On Course self-
assessment?
• To identify soft skills that support your success and
to discover soft skills that may need to be
strengthened to achieve more of your potential in
college and in life.
• Why is the self-assessment not a test?
• Because there are no right or wrong answers. The
questions give you the opportunity to create an
accurate and current self-portrait.
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

12. Our paths in college
and in life are filled
with a series of
opportunities and
obstacles.
The choices we make
at each fork in the road
will ultimately
determine our level of
success!
Navigating a Path
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

13. Success Comes from the
Inside Out
• “I don’t need this success stuff. Just give me the
information and skills I need to get a good job.”
• “I already know how to be successful. This is just a
waste of my time.”
• “I don’t want to examine and write about myself. That’s
not what college should be about.”
©2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.