The experience that an individual has during his or her college years, varies greatly depending on the goals that individual plans to achieve. Simultaneously many books offer techniques in which they promise to reveal the secrets of success in college; yet, these guides focus mainly on getting high grades. On the other hand, in his book What The Best College Students Do, Ken Bain gather a compilation of interviews and research-backed concepts to give the reader an idea of the type of behavior and approaches, which should optimize the readers college experience and aid in later life. Sprinkled intermittently among the main concepts are explanations of human behavior, which serve to support the rational of how the concepts were created. To complement the research, Bain provides interviews with individuals who exemplify the concepts of the best college students. The main concepts that make “the best college students” according to Bain are: deep learning, the mindset that intelligence can be improved, embracing failure, and practice self-kindness. The concept of self-kindness is the base upon which the rest of the techniques outlined rest. Further research on self-kindness illuminates why it is far superior to self-esteem and why it is a very important concept for college students to practice. Despite finding many useful techniques for college students, among them self-kindness, and having a flexible view on intelligence; Bain fails to pay proper attention to the importance of social organizations and the stress that a student could undergo by being separated from their family member (aka separation anxiety disorder).
Self-Kindness
Dr. Kristin D. Neff an Associate Professor in Human Development at the University of Texas Austin deve...
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...ould be conducted to find if there is a correlation between self-kindness and Separation Anxiety Disorder.
Works Cited
Bain, Ken. What the Best College Students Do. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2012. Print.
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Schuster, C. S., and Ashburn, S. S., (1980). The Process of Human Development: A Holistic Approach. Boston: Little, Brown and Company Inc.
Students entering college for the first time become concern with their college life. The students are on their own once they enter college. There are no parents or guardians telling them when to do homework, when to go to bed, or how to eat healthy. These student are now responsible on how they are going to succeed in school and meet their own needs. From the beginning, these students wonder what their experience is going to be like and are they going to handle the demands from college. Students are becoming more stressful due to academic demands, social life, and work. First-year college students should receive more help from school to learn how to help themselves and become independent.
College will require a great degree of self motivation and personal responsibility from the student. It would be great if during the primary stages of the college introduction the student took inventory of several personal traits that can impact their learning. A student should also be able to honestly assess his or her strengths and weaknesses. Awareness of shortcomings will arm the student with the ability to enhance them. Having awareness of strengths can help the student further develop their strong areas. Parallel to becoming aware of strengths and weaknesses, is becoming aware of one’s dominant style of learning. Chapter 2 introduces the concept of different learning styles, but encourages the student take personal responsibility for their education by adjusting to the env...
Jealous, Benjamin Todd. "Lessons from an HBCU’s Demise." The Conversation. N.p., 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
When any adolescent enters High School they are still young and on the search to find themselves. High Schooler’s often make bad decisions, but quickly see that these mistakes there to be learning experiences rather than to dwell on them. Often, for many students, High School does not present an extreme amount of stress, rather it is a a place to learn more about yourself. Once college hits, stress is the only thing on the mind. College students are always worrying about if they did their homework, if they have a big test coming up, if they studied enough, and if they even have enough money to pay their bills. So the key to college is to know that the fundamentals of college are different than high school, be responsible and reliable to yourself, do all your homework, and most importantly be respectful to your peers and teachers
“When in doubt eat fruit.” That is the advice Francesca Haller gives her daughter, Nicole, any time Nicole is hungry and isn’t sure what she wants. Nicole is a sophomore American Sign Language major at Northeastern University.
It is perceived that college graduates will make more money and be successful in their lifetime. Although it may seem that college graduates are more successful in the long run, which they can be if they are motivated. Anyone can get a college degree but what one does with it is what determines their future. President Obama has called it “an economic imperative.” The rate of return on education is 10%. If one goes to college an extra year he/she can earn an extra 3,000 a year. If one attends a 4 year then he/she can earn up to an extra 12,000. Attending college can cause anxiety because of how much one may pay. In the future it will pay off because it 's given one a way to provide for him or herself. The rate of return has increased tremendously with some colleges providing financial-aid. Along with colleges having financial-aid and high
Many students are struggling in college. According to the New York Times Web site, only 33 percent of the college students are graduating in six years. Obviously students still need much help to succeed in order to get where they want to go. Although college can be challenging, I am going to succeed by using advice from experts, by developing strategies and ideas, and by taking advantage of the benefits offered by my college.
Around half of students get jobs out of college (Wei). That is an frightful statistic that inclines people to conceive that attending a more competitive college is necessary to job attainment. Each American dreams of becoming a successful person, one who reaches their goals, maybe has a family, and a steady income. Some seem to regard that in order to reach that level of success they must attend an elite school, a school that is usually private, and only admits fewer than ten percent of applicants. The Ivy league receives much attention among the elite schools. “Only 0.4 percent of undergraduates attend one of the Ivy League schools... too much attention is paid to these eight institutions” (O'Shaughnessy).
Everyone wants to better themselves in life…right? No one wants to graduate high school and be stuck living with their parents or only make minimal wage. There are plenty of ways to have a better life, one in which is attending college. If a person attends college, they have a more likely chance of making more money, being more successful, and securing their future financially. Going to college not only leaves someone with better opportunities but it can instill in a person responsibilities, persistency and work ethic. All of these things are important unless a person is born into a rich family and are automatically given a job, the rest of civilization has to work and that is where college comes into play.
Radey, M., & Figley, C. R. (2007). The social psychology of compassion. Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(3), 207-214.
Determining college readiness is an essential part in determining who will qualify as a good candidate for admission into a college or a university. The last thing that colleges want is for students to qualify for admission and drop out, this affects drop out rate and graduation rate. According Robin Chait and Andrea Venezia (2009),
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What defines a successful life? In other words, what are the measures of success and to what extend is college important to achieve success? Although most of mankind link a successful and a fulfilling life with money, success can be determined by other factors. These questions spark a controversial debate, creating factions in people’s minds. While one side of the debate is more vivid, people tend to deny it. Most people argue that in order to achieve a fulfilling life, the success must be structured on a basic foundation and element, that is education. College paves the way to students for a successful life not only on the workforce scale, but also on the personal, social, and economic level.
A recent failure that has changed how I go about my daily life is one that many college freshman experience in their first year. In high school I was a very good student, but I did not have to put in a lot of effort to get the grades that I wanted. I would joke with my friends and say that high school taught me how to put in the least amount of effort, and still get the maximum result. All of my teachers told me, as they did every student, that college was going to be different and if you do not put in more effort it would be very difficult. I knew this coming into school, but I am not sure if part of me wanted to prove people wrong, or if I actually was just adjusting to college life. I did not study as much as I should of, and as a result my grades suffered. Luckily I did not completely ruin my grade point average, but since first semester I have completely changed my study habits. This has taught a much needed lesson about hard work, and I am determined to never again fail at my studies. I am the kind of person that learns a lot from failures. My dad has always told me it is ok to make a mistake, but never make the same mistake twice. This I a motto that I live by.