Getting College Freshmen Off to a Good Start

Here is the list of ideas I give my college freshmen orientation class to help them get off to a good start. Some of them are my own little pet peeves, but others are serious. Am I missing anything important?

1. Academically
- read and understand the complete syllabus of each class
- write due dates in your calendar
- keep up with assignments
- go to every class (Tuition is $8120 a semester, if you take 15 hours that means a 3 hours class costs you $1624. The class meets 42 times a semester, so each class you missed is $40 you’ve wasted. You wouldn’t pay $40 to go to Six Flags or a baseball game and then decide to sleep in that day, so you shouldn’t do that with class either – go and get your money’s worth of an education.)
- do the readings
- act interested
- for many assignments the library can be more useful than the internet

2. With Your Professors
- call them doctor or professor, not Mr., Mrs., or Miss
- don’t call them by their first name, unless invited
- go talk to them in their office hours
- don’t call them at home
- don’t come into class late
- turn your cell phones off before you enter class
- don’t make up excuses for not completing an assignment
- don’t ever start a conversation with ‘My tuition pays your salary.’

3. Socially/Personally
- join clubs/ get a campus job
- get involved
- don’t hang out with only your roommate
- be open to having a variety of friends, people of different races, or nationalities