Best Advice for College Students

Best Advice for College Students

In Annie Murphy Paul's "Secrets of the Most Successful College Students," she discusses the idea of there being three different types of learners; "surface, who do as little as possible to get by; strategic, who aim for top grades rather than true understanding; and deep learners, who leave college with a real, rich education." Before going to college I never read Paul's article although I remember developing my own version of theses different types of learners throughout high school. I categorized them as the people who didn't try, the try-hards, and the ones that just wanted to learn. The people who didn't try usually got alright grades and focused more on things besides school, like hanging out with friends or sports, or anything other than school. While back in the day I thought these people weren't the smartest I come to realize that having good grades doesn't mean you're the smartest person in the room. I began to see this more when I started to meet people I would call try-hards. The ones that would only want to get straight A's to get into a good college and get a good job after school. I never got straight A's so I wasn't that kid, but it annoyed the heck out of me when I would see people striving for straight A's and doing extra curricular activities not to learn but look good for colleges. Maybe I was jealous they were getting straight A's and I wasn't but who knows. Then lastly the people who just wanted to learn, I'd like to think I'm one of those people. I enjoy learning and I could see that so much more now that I'm in college. I remember loving my General Education courses, classes like Geology, Filipino, and one of my favorite courses Communication. I remember sitting in Communication thinking about how I could apply everything I was learning to my day to day life, how I would talk to my friends, my family, everyone. Pushing me to stay curious and refine the way that I would communicate with other people. It sparked something in me, a drive that wasn't there before. My Comm class it made every single hour a chance for me to learn continue growing even when I wasn't in class. It made life interesting and fun, having that drive and that passion for something is addicting. Better than coffee, better than heroin, and better than naps in the afternoon. Even though I'm not a Comm major it's inspired to me continue following things that I'm interested in developing who I am and how I perceive the world.

Talking to college graduates and people older than me constantly give me advice to follow your passions, do what your love, and keep learning. I'm happy that I'm learning these things now than later down the line. Even though I'm not sure exactly what I want to do down the line, I'm sure my passions will help pave the way for the future.

By the way I haven't done heroin.