If it is easier now to park if your driving to campus, snow not with standing, and the class you wait list became available sooner than you thought and the lines in the dining hall are a little shorter and your classes are not completely filled to overflowing, then it is probably spring term or winter term on some campuses. After break fewer students return. This is traditional on most campuses. That is why there seems to be less waiting and fewer students. Because there are fewer students. Some students have simply found other things more pressing. Some need to work full time to save for their next attempt and some will never be back.
But you are.
You signed up again and showed up again for another term. And this is one less term you will be in school in the future. The basic axiom repeated by some on campus, "Live like a student now so you don't have to live like a student later" has a very good chance of being applied to you. Keep up the effective behavior. Nothing persists like persistence. And as of now you've got it.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
Quick Review
With your schedule pretty well set and classes starting promptly for this term time will soon be at a premium.
Friends, events, coursework, family, personal maintenance including your job will once again be constant pulls on your time and attention.
Before that all happens and keeps happening Planet College suggest a brief, very brief, time out, not more than 10-15 minutes. During this time out do this. Look at your grade report from last term. You've probably already reviewed it, maybe even a couple of times, with the now familiar combination of anguish and delight and possibly even relief with which you have viewed previous grade reports.
For this review, two things; first, is it satisfactory.? Well if you're still in school and haven't been dis-enrolled then it is at least that satisfactory. Second, you're lowest grade, what was it? If it was passing and you don't have to repeat the course, then that grade is probably really also satisfactory. But is it really?
As you have progressed toward you graduation your skills and discretion regarding classes, school, and just about everything else has been refining. Your expectations of your efforts have been gradually rising. A bumpy rise but still rising.
So, that lowest grade? - What could you have done to improve it? What would you do now? Drop sooner because you just did not have the time? Switch sections because a friend said her instructor was 'easy'? How about attendance? Yes. How often did you miss? Simple, obvious and often overlooked. If you made every session or at least most every session, turned in the assignments and took the final- then it was probably just simply a difficult course for you. You've had this before and will again during your time on Planet College.
But if you made every session you could, unless there was something else you wanted to do, skipped a few assignments here and there and blew through the final in ten minutes because you had to pack for home- then the grade you got- if it was passing- may have been a gift.
Only you know any of this. The past is past and might now only one big catalog of lessons learned, if you learned them.
There, that ten minutes was well spent. Here is the Planet College reminder; In order to graduate you have to go to class.
Friends, events, coursework, family, personal maintenance including your job will once again be constant pulls on your time and attention.
Before that all happens and keeps happening Planet College suggest a brief, very brief, time out, not more than 10-15 minutes. During this time out do this. Look at your grade report from last term. You've probably already reviewed it, maybe even a couple of times, with the now familiar combination of anguish and delight and possibly even relief with which you have viewed previous grade reports.
For this review, two things; first, is it satisfactory.? Well if you're still in school and haven't been dis-enrolled then it is at least that satisfactory. Second, you're lowest grade, what was it? If it was passing and you don't have to repeat the course, then that grade is probably really also satisfactory. But is it really?
As you have progressed toward you graduation your skills and discretion regarding classes, school, and just about everything else has been refining. Your expectations of your efforts have been gradually rising. A bumpy rise but still rising.
So, that lowest grade? - What could you have done to improve it? What would you do now? Drop sooner because you just did not have the time? Switch sections because a friend said her instructor was 'easy'? How about attendance? Yes. How often did you miss? Simple, obvious and often overlooked. If you made every session or at least most every session, turned in the assignments and took the final- then it was probably just simply a difficult course for you. You've had this before and will again during your time on Planet College.
But if you made every session you could, unless there was something else you wanted to do, skipped a few assignments here and there and blew through the final in ten minutes because you had to pack for home- then the grade you got- if it was passing- may have been a gift.
Only you know any of this. The past is past and might now only one big catalog of lessons learned, if you learned them.
There, that ten minutes was well spent. Here is the Planet College reminder; In order to graduate you have to go to class.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
C cruise
This next term will have the usual set of challenges and surprises, just as they all have had so far for you on Planet College. At the onset of a new term it is wise to once again asses your progress and decide what your goals are if you have goals. If you don't well set some. One useful set of goals is grade goals. Students on Planet College have used grade goals to set standards for themselves, their actions and behaviors effectively for a long time.
A grade goal is simple. Here's a class. What grade to you expect to receive?
If you have not been in the habit of setting grade goals here are some Planet College guide lines. First pick one class, just one, but make it one which looks difficult, maybe the one you have had to drop a couple of times and are trying again this term. Maybe the major pre-requisite which seems unusually challenging. Which ever class you pick, this is the class you will set a grade goal for. Now, your goal? Make it a grade of C. (*)Yes. A C. An average grade, a grade of C. Students unfamiliar with grade goal setting often react puzzeled if not outright negatively at this suggestion. No wonder. Most students who attend college are generally expecting more of themselves and their lives than 'average' anything. But by now you have seen that often things just don't turn out that way. So, a grade of C is realistic and doable.
Now that you have the class and the goal there are just a couple of additional acts that are necessary to follow through. First attend every class, never miss a class meeting. Second, meet with the instructor two or three times during the term to inquire personally about your progress. Finally, - and this is serious- find out exactly where the final will be held. Yes. Because, maybe you have had this experience, the final examination for some classes are not held in the usual meeting place. And you don't want to miss the final. That is it. Attend class, get the book and materials for sure, take the final. nothing more to it. This term, put your self on a C cruise and pass that class.
(*) Planet College has endorsed a grade of C as a means to finish college since this site opened. While it is true that most average students can finish and graduate with out ever getting a grade above a C there are sometimes requirements, especially pre-reqs. for some majors that require at least a "B" in order to be admitted to the major. Before attempting this type of pre-requisite class please ask at the department office if there are 'grade' requirements for the major you are seeking to enter. Could be important.
A grade goal is simple. Here's a class. What grade to you expect to receive?
If you have not been in the habit of setting grade goals here are some Planet College guide lines. First pick one class, just one, but make it one which looks difficult, maybe the one you have had to drop a couple of times and are trying again this term. Maybe the major pre-requisite which seems unusually challenging. Which ever class you pick, this is the class you will set a grade goal for. Now, your goal? Make it a grade of C. (*)Yes. A C. An average grade, a grade of C. Students unfamiliar with grade goal setting often react puzzeled if not outright negatively at this suggestion. No wonder. Most students who attend college are generally expecting more of themselves and their lives than 'average' anything. But by now you have seen that often things just don't turn out that way. So, a grade of C is realistic and doable.
Now that you have the class and the goal there are just a couple of additional acts that are necessary to follow through. First attend every class, never miss a class meeting. Second, meet with the instructor two or three times during the term to inquire personally about your progress. Finally, - and this is serious- find out exactly where the final will be held. Yes. Because, maybe you have had this experience, the final examination for some classes are not held in the usual meeting place. And you don't want to miss the final. That is it. Attend class, get the book and materials for sure, take the final. nothing more to it. This term, put your self on a C cruise and pass that class.
(*) Planet College has endorsed a grade of C as a means to finish college since this site opened. While it is true that most average students can finish and graduate with out ever getting a grade above a C there are sometimes requirements, especially pre-reqs. for some majors that require at least a "B" in order to be admitted to the major. Before attempting this type of pre-requisite class please ask at the department office if there are 'grade' requirements for the major you are seeking to enter. Could be important.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
FAFSA Time.
First things first for a new calendar year. Your fafsa. Time to do your fafsa for next school year. That is 2013-2014. Yes it is that time and the sooner the better. Many schools base their awards on a priority system. That is, the sooner your school, or which ever school you will be attending, gets your information, the sooner they can get to work on your award package. Right now, before everything gets real busy, and it always does, get on line, put in your username, put in your pin and start updating your fafsa. You may not have every thing you need, for example, your 2012 employers may not have sent your W-4s, your 2012 earnings reports. Still, you can start now and update the information as it comes in. On Planet College, there is no time like now to take that next important step.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Maintaining Your Brand.
In keeping with this out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new time of year, Planet College offers this.
"Brand" is the common term now for most every product or service available in this consumer economy. Companies work earnestly to maintain, protect and improve their computer's, automobile's or soft drink's, i.e. their "Brand's" image, (the commonly held public perception of the product or service the brand represents.) Corporations are careful, vigilant and even jealous of how their brand or more exactly brand's image is used. This vigilance is eminently practical. They likely have spent millions establishing and maintaining this image and will spend just as much to protect it.
You too are a brand and your image also deserves care. Electronic communication, available now for years to students on Planet College, invites the distribution of images of you. You have likely responded to this opportunity with images of your student life. With a major part of college life at least supposedly dedicated to partying and other such pursuits it is not surprising that evidence of this behavior has found its way on to the internet. While useful for connection with other revelers some students, especially those approaching graduation - and by that Planet College means getting serious about looking for work beyond valet parking for tips- have found this evidence to be inhibiting to their job search. Employment screeners, the workers who initially review applications and resumes, are often younger, newer members of the hiring staff and not too far past college themselves. So, they know all the same sites you do. Their excuse for searching these cites maybe expediency, it may be security but for whatever reason, if your favorite social media page features a photo of you painted to look like that gekko with the annoying accent that sells insurance inhaling six beer bongs at the same time, - well - they may think twice before calling you in for an interview.
Planet College is aware that there are some enterprising individuals who offer to 'scrub' your internet history of such images and references. Well, OK, there's that. It certainly is worthwhile considering especially if you are approaching graduation. Alternatively, it is certainly possible, that you, in one of your increasingly frequent sober moments might accomplish the same thing yourself.
So, there you go, out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new, give it some thought.
"Brand" is the common term now for most every product or service available in this consumer economy. Companies work earnestly to maintain, protect and improve their computer's, automobile's or soft drink's, i.e. their "Brand's" image, (the commonly held public perception of the product or service the brand represents.) Corporations are careful, vigilant and even jealous of how their brand or more exactly brand's image is used. This vigilance is eminently practical. They likely have spent millions establishing and maintaining this image and will spend just as much to protect it.
You too are a brand and your image also deserves care. Electronic communication, available now for years to students on Planet College, invites the distribution of images of you. You have likely responded to this opportunity with images of your student life. With a major part of college life at least supposedly dedicated to partying and other such pursuits it is not surprising that evidence of this behavior has found its way on to the internet. While useful for connection with other revelers some students, especially those approaching graduation - and by that Planet College means getting serious about looking for work beyond valet parking for tips- have found this evidence to be inhibiting to their job search. Employment screeners, the workers who initially review applications and resumes, are often younger, newer members of the hiring staff and not too far past college themselves. So, they know all the same sites you do. Their excuse for searching these cites maybe expediency, it may be security but for whatever reason, if your favorite social media page features a photo of you painted to look like that gekko with the annoying accent that sells insurance inhaling six beer bongs at the same time, - well - they may think twice before calling you in for an interview.
Planet College is aware that there are some enterprising individuals who offer to 'scrub' your internet history of such images and references. Well, OK, there's that. It certainly is worthwhile considering especially if you are approaching graduation. Alternatively, it is certainly possible, that you, in one of your increasingly frequent sober moments might accomplish the same thing yourself.
So, there you go, out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new, give it some thought.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Hey, Could You Watch My Stuff?
You're probably out of Finals by now and maybe even off campus for a while. If not and you are still in Finals this is a Planet College reminder about "your stuff". During finals students basically occupy the library24/7. Sleeping bags, microwaves and tiny tvs clutter some of the areas usually reserved for students actually studying. College librarians, tolerant and patient people that they are, usually over look this behavior during finals week despite the neatly lettered signs which clearly prohibit 'squatting".
If you have been or are a finals week squatter you have no doubt asked some other student or had another student ask you, "Hey would you watch my stuff?" This while they or you run to the rest room for the break that consuming buckets of coffee demands.
Here's the warning. It is about your stuff. College campuses attract large amounts of people, usually young but not always students. Some of these non-students, aware that students are friendly and tolerant, congregate on campuses for the opportunities that a large group of tolerant young people present. They are not on campus to learn. They are on campus to steal.
So when you find that rest room run is irresistible and you are tempted to ask anyone with a back pack, "Hey, could you watch my stuff?" make sure you actually know them. Rest room runs at 3 a.m. are not the best opportunity for clear thinking -BUT- that is just when students are vulnerable and career thieves know this. Even if they've been hanging around for a while, if you really don't know them ask someone you know to watch your stuff. Or at least grab the most valuable stuff you have, i.e. keys, room and car, phone and wallet or what ever with bank cards and cash. These easily transportable objects or the most likely to be stolen in your absence.
Good luck on finals from Planet College.
If you have been or are a finals week squatter you have no doubt asked some other student or had another student ask you, "Hey would you watch my stuff?" This while they or you run to the rest room for the break that consuming buckets of coffee demands.
Here's the warning. It is about your stuff. College campuses attract large amounts of people, usually young but not always students. Some of these non-students, aware that students are friendly and tolerant, congregate on campuses for the opportunities that a large group of tolerant young people present. They are not on campus to learn. They are on campus to steal.
So when you find that rest room run is irresistible and you are tempted to ask anyone with a back pack, "Hey, could you watch my stuff?" make sure you actually know them. Rest room runs at 3 a.m. are not the best opportunity for clear thinking -BUT- that is just when students are vulnerable and career thieves know this. Even if they've been hanging around for a while, if you really don't know them ask someone you know to watch your stuff. Or at least grab the most valuable stuff you have, i.e. keys, room and car, phone and wallet or what ever with bank cards and cash. These easily transportable objects or the most likely to be stolen in your absence.
Good luck on finals from Planet College.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Loan Review
This time of year Planet College usually presents a short reminder about student finances. You can read a couple here and here.
Here's this year's.
In case, you forgot, the money you get, if you get money for school, is mostly comprised of loans. Loans have to be re-paid. The lender wants the money back. Just that simple. Loans must be re-paid.
Just recently Bloomberg, a financial reporting publication, featured a story about a congressional representative from Wisconsin and his proposal concerning student loan re-payment. You can read the story here.
This story is indicative of several factors which have a direct bearing on any typical student's future. First the proposal is from a congressman, a duly elected representative. This means his proposal, should it make its way through the various committees and votes and procedures necessary to become a law will have just that. The force of law.
Secondly, this law could possibly directly affect your paycheck. Not exactly your ability to earn but your actual paycheck, the means by which you receive what you've earned. All experienced working students on Planet College know, the only thing that really, really counts is what is in your paycheck.
This representative has proposed a direct withholding system for student loan payback. You've experienced withholding since you've been earning paychecks.
The pros and cons, ins and outs, rights and wrongs and such of this proposal Planet College has not opinion about. But Planet College does care about accurate information being available to students who can then make informed decisions.
So, when you have time, read the story, think it over and then, possibly, take an action. What ever you decide, it is important because it is your money.
Just sayin' .
Here's this year's.
In case, you forgot, the money you get, if you get money for school, is mostly comprised of loans. Loans have to be re-paid. The lender wants the money back. Just that simple. Loans must be re-paid.
Just recently Bloomberg, a financial reporting publication, featured a story about a congressional representative from Wisconsin and his proposal concerning student loan re-payment. You can read the story here.
This story is indicative of several factors which have a direct bearing on any typical student's future. First the proposal is from a congressman, a duly elected representative. This means his proposal, should it make its way through the various committees and votes and procedures necessary to become a law will have just that. The force of law.
Secondly, this law could possibly directly affect your paycheck. Not exactly your ability to earn but your actual paycheck, the means by which you receive what you've earned. All experienced working students on Planet College know, the only thing that really, really counts is what is in your paycheck.
This representative has proposed a direct withholding system for student loan payback. You've experienced withholding since you've been earning paychecks.
The pros and cons, ins and outs, rights and wrongs and such of this proposal Planet College has not opinion about. But Planet College does care about accurate information being available to students who can then make informed decisions.
So, when you have time, read the story, think it over and then, possibly, take an action. What ever you decide, it is important because it is your money.
Just sayin' .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)