The first year means freedom -- but also striking a balance between class/social life

[Papa_Chicken]

<p>…getting admitted is just the beginning…</p>

<p>Article in the Wilmington (Del) News Journal
“College life a timed test in itself”</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/NEWS/710080372[/url]”>http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/NEWS/710080372&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>some excerpts</p>

<p>

Organization has always come naturally for Rochelle Day. She was able to keep her schedule together so effortlessly in high school that friends used to tease that she had too much free time.</p>

<p>But a month into her first year at the University of Delaware, Day felt “everything starting to fall down.” Classes, club meetings and campus events all were happening at the same time. Friends would ask if she had time to hang out and Day would decline, thinking she had something to do, only to realize she was free when it was too late.</p>

<p>“For things to go out of control like that, I could not take it,” the 18-year-old from Laurel said. “I was really freaking out, basically.”

</p>

<p>

Instead of regimented high school schedules and homework, courses are scattered haphazardly throughout the week.</p>

<p>Syllabuses list the readings and essays due during the semester, but professors – and parents – aren’t there to look over students’ shoulders to make sure the work gets done on time.</p>

<p>And diverting students’ attention from schoolwork are clubs looking for new members, part-time jobs to pay the bills and friends wanting to sunbathe, shop on Main Street or play football on the campus’ lush green lawns.</p>

<p>The students also have to find time to eat. And sleep. And like everything else, where, when and how much is all up to them.

</p>

<p>

But there is also the question of what types of study and coping skills students bring to the table. A survey of first-year students released this year by Noel-Levitz, a consulting firm for colleges and universities, found that 95 percent of students said they had a strong desire to complete their education. But only half of the freshmen surveyed said they enjoyed reading and almost 40 percent of men and about 30 percent of women admitted their study habits are irregular and unpredictable.

</p>

<p>…happy ending…</p>

<p>

Rochelle Day discovered the truth to one of the other pieces of advice Murray gives students – get organized and you’ll have more free time – when she began documenting her entire schedule on a calendar stored in her computer.</p>

<p>“My schedule’s pretty clear now,” Day said. “I have it under control.”

</p>

[ColoradoMomof2]

<p>My D actually had a harder time of it her second year, organization-wise.</p>

<p>She scheduled her first semester second-year so that she had all of her classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, save for a Monday recitation. She thought that having Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays “free” would give her plenty of time to study and hold down a part-time job. </p>

<p>I was leary, but kept my mouth shut. </p>

<p>Turns out she is overwhelmed with homework on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays because everything is due/needs to be read for those darned Tuesdays and Thursdays, instead of having things spread out during the week. Quit the part-time job this past week (about 15 hours a week) and is now doing much better, but she WON’T be scheduling all classes for 2 days a week ever again (her decision; I didn’t have to say a word).</p>

[cheers]

<p>That 40% figure for freshman male students is suspect. I think it’s more like 80%–unless the obys thought that pulling papers out of a hat at the last minute and studying for thirty minutes before the exam counted as ‘organized’. Yup, that would be them.</p>

[Papa_Chicken]

<p>cheers - I found the Noel-Levitz source report on freshman…interesting read in itself:
<a href=“https://www.noellevitz.com/NR/rdonlyres/3934DA20-2C31-4336-962B-A1D1E7731D8B/0/2007FreshmanAttitudes.pdf[/url]”>https://www.noellevitz.com/NR/rdonlyres/3934DA20-2C31-4336-962B-A1D1E7731D8B/0/2007FreshmanAttitudes.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>On page 10, the survey prompt in question was:
“My studying is very irregular and unpredictable.”</p>

<p>38.9% of Males responded yes
28.2% of females</p>

<p>But, I too (having 2 boys and 1 girl for contrast) agree with your sentiment…80% sounds about right! We’ll attribute it to questionnaire bias.</p>

<p>FYI, here’s the exec summary conclusion of the report…

The(se) attitudinal findings, juxtaposed against national graduation
data, bring to light a sobering disparity: Although the vast majority of
today’s first-year students arrive at college really wanting to complete
their degrees, only half of them are likely to accomplish their goal.

</p>

[ellemenope]

<p>Agree with CMof2–D had a harder time of it in the sophomore year.</p>

<p>Thinking “Hey, college isn’t so bad,” she tried even more things in the EC arena as the classwork got exponentially harder. It was not pleasant–but it was a learning experience.</p>

[barrons]

<p>I still have dreams about having signed up for a class and then forgetting about it until it’s finals and too late to drop it. I hate that dream.</p>

[doubleplay]

<p>I have that dream too, repeatedly with variations. Sometimes I can’t find the testing room, others I can’t find my books to study and the clock just keeps ticking away…
And then there’s the “show up for the test naked” dream.</p>

[Marian]

<p>I have the dream, too. It’s always art history. I have never taken art history and I would not have been able to pass a course in it even if I went to every lecture and bribed the professor, but I still have nightmares about having to take an art history final without ever having taken the course. And in some instances, I have to take that final in my underwear. (Of course, I actually did have to take a final once wearing embarrassing clothing – a T-shirt that had “skim” written over one breast, “whole” written over the other, and “vitamin D fortified” on the back – because I had lost a bet, but that’s another story.)</p>

[cheers]

<p>My mother has dreams of being naked in church.</p>