New Students At CCAC


I have seen successful students at CCAC and failures. The difference is often one of attitude.

If you have just gotten out of High School, you are in for a shock. In college, a year of High School material is covered in one semester. Also, the number of hours spent in class is much less. CCAC is a real College.

12 Credits of work is a full time load. This means 12 hours of class a week. This does not mean that you spend 12 hours a week learning. If you think that you can get through by just going to class, you are doomed to failure. 12 credits means 12 hours in class and a MINIMUM of 24 hours of study, for a total of 36 hours a week. Just 4 hours short of a full time job. You did not seriously think that 12 credits meant 12 hours total did you?

Also, for harder classes, you may need to put in extra hours. At times like mid terms and finals, you may need to put in double the amount of time.

In college you do not learn by rote. The professor does not repeat things over and over again until you have mastered them. This necessary process is up to you. Of course memorization without understanding is useless, but memorization is an important step.

In fact, your professor does not teach you. You teach yourself. Your professor is there as a guide. The sooner you learn that learning is your responsibility, the better off you will be.

In High School you may have treated homework as something to get done with then throw away. You will not succeed in College that way. Doing homework is just the beginning. You must study homework to figure out what you are supposed to learn. Then you must learn it.

There are tons of books available on how to study and think in College. Polya's "How to Solve It" is a great example of how to approach problem solving. It runs about $10.00 in paperback.

Take the initiative. Do not expect things to be given to you. You must go after what you need.

One reason employers value college graduates is that they know that they have learned how to learn.

I hope you are one of the hard working CCAC success stories. If so, perhaps you can give me a ride in your Mercedes in 10 years. If not, perhaps I will see you flipping burgers at Wendy's (I used to work at A&W). Hey, if you work twice as hard there as you did at CCAC, maybe you can be Employee Of The Month! (Don't let anyone fool you, those paper hats really are cool)