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    College Success 101: A Professor’s Insider Secrets to Help You Succeed in School
    College Success 101: A Professor’s Insider Secrets to Help You Succeed in School
    College Success 101: A Professor’s Insider Secrets to Help You Succeed in School
    Ebook179 pages3 hours

    College Success 101: A Professor’s Insider Secrets to Help You Succeed in School

    By David Wyld

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    About this ebook

    This book may be the most important investment you make this week, this month, this year - or perhaps in your whole life. Whether you are a student buying this book as you embark on your college career or you are a parent who found the title and thought it would be a good read for your son or daughter as he or she left for their freshman year, this book is a great investment (and certainly, a cheap one!). This investment of literally just a few dollars could yield a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars during the working career of a college student’s future career as it could help one succeed in college and not just graduate, but do well, learn more and earn a higher grade point average.

    The information in this book is literally the best kind of investment information out there, because it comes from an insider. This kind of information would literally be illegal in the world of stock investing, coming from an organizational insider with the institution you are about to invest tens - and over time - literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in - all in an attempt to secure a better future, either for yourself as a student or as the parent of a student. And college today is literally the second most costly investment, other than a home, that you will make in your lifetime (and for some of you lucky parents, like myself, that means making similar investments with multiple institutions of higher learning for your 2, 3, 4 or more children). So, from day one on campus, your college career is indeed an investment, and I’m one insider who wants to see you succeed.

    Let me introduce myself as your “inside source” on what it takes to succeed in college today. My name is David Wyld, and I am a Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana (just outside New Orleans). I’ve been teaching management - mostly business strategy and international business courses - at the college level since 1987 and at Southeastern since 1992. And so, with 25 years of experience, I dare say that I have seen it all. I’ve seen technology change the way we teach - both in the classroom and now in the online world. I’ve seen great changes in the nature and composition of the students in college classrooms - and in the professors who teach there. I’ve seen great changes in the learning resources available to college students. Finally, I’ve seen enough circumstances involving “questionable” student and instructor conduct - both in and outside of the classroom - to have an ability to predict how my colleagues and administrators will react in a given situation.

    What is the book about? Simply put, it is intended to be a guidebook for students on how to succeed in their college careers. Think of it as a short course in “College Success 101,” where the only real test is the ultimate one - will you live up to your personal potential and be as successful as possible in your college career. In short, will you graduate? Will you graduate on-time? Will you earn the best grades possible each class, each semester, and ultimately, over your college career to earn honors at graduation?

    This book is indeed a labor of love, as I want all students who read it to succeed. This is the information that I would want my own son to know as he heads-off to college. This book provides simple, straight-forward advice from an experienced college insider to answer questions such as: How should you pick your major? How should you choose classes to make your schedule? How should you approach your classes? How should you study for tests? What should your strategy be for doing your best on tests, research projects, and on the dreaded group project? How should you interact with other students in your classes and with your professors? And finally, what should you do when things go bad for you in a class or in an entire semester.

    So, I hope that you take a chance and make the investment to read College Success 101!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid Wyld
    Release dateJul 25, 2013
    ISBN9781301047260
    College Success 101: A Professor’s Insider Secrets to Help You Succeed in School
    Author

    David Wyld

    Professor David C. Wyld is a Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University, as well as a management consultant and renowned author and researcher. Professor Wyl thought he had seen and heard it all when it comes to student excuses before writing The Handbook of College Student Excuses. Now, he shares the “best” - well “worst” student excuses from professors all over the country, making for an interesting, informative and lively read!

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      Book preview

      College Success 101 - David Wyld

      College Success 101:

      A Professor’s Insider Secrets to Help You Succeed in School

      By David C. Wyld

      ~~~

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2013 by David C. Wyld.

      All rights reserved.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter 1: Choosing - and Changing - Your Major

      Chapter 2: Choosing Your Classes to Make a Schedule

      Chapter 3: Why You Should Definitely Try and Avoid Dr. Staff

      Chapter 4: Keeping Up Appearances

      Chapter 5: Studying Today - The Challenge of Learning How to Learn

      Chapter 6: The Massive Technology Shift Taking Place in College Today

      Chapter 7: How to be Tech Smart

      Chapter 8: The Importance of Attitude

      Chapter 9: Being Late for Class

      Chapter 10: The Perils of Seeking Attention

      Chapter 11: How to Score Your Best on Tests

      Chapter 12: The Matter of Make-up Tests

      Chapter 13: About Group Projects - They May Not be All Sunshine and Rainbows, But You Can Learn From Them

      Chapter 14: Making Presentations and Developing Presentation Skills for Your Career

      Chapter 15: Understanding Subjective Grading - for Good and for Bad

      Chapter 16: What to Do When The Crisis Hits

      Chapter 17: The Case of Grade Inflation

      Chapter 18: The Real Truth About Deadlines

      Chapter 19: The Hard Truth About Your Grade Point Average

      Chapter 20: Can I Get Extra Credit for That?

      Chapter 21: Why Students Should Not See How The Sausage Gets Made

      Chapter 22: Love and The College Classroom

      Chapter 23: What to Do When Things Don't Go Right for You in College

      Chapter 24: Good Night and Good Luck!

      About the Author

      Introduction: Ready, Set, Go!

      Overview

      This book may be the most important investment you make this week, this month, this year - or perhaps in your whole life. Whether you are a student buying this book as you embark on your college career or you are a parent who found the title and thought it would be a good read for your son or daughter as he or she left for their freshman year, this book is a great investment (and certainly, a cheap one!). This investment of literally just a few dollars could yield a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars during the working career of a college student’s future career as it could help one succeed in college and not just graduate, but do well, learn more and earn a higher grade point average.

      The information in this book is literally the best kind of investment information out there, because it comes from an insider. This kind of information would literally be illegal in the world of stock investing, coming from an organizational insider with the institution you are about to invest tens - and over time - literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in - all in an attempt to secure a better future, either for yourself as a student or as the parent of a student. And college today is literally the second most costly investment, other than a home, that you will make in your lifetime (and for some of you lucky parents, like myself, that means making similar investments with multiple institutions of higher learning for your 2, 3, 4 or more children). So, from day one on campus, your college career is indeed an investment, and I’m one insider who wants to see you succeed.

      A Bit of Background on Your Insider

      Let me introduce myself as your inside source on what it takes to succeed in college today. My name is David Wyld, and I am a Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana (just outside New Orleans). I’ve been teaching management - mostly business strategy and international business courses - at the college level since 1987 and at Southeastern since 1992. And so, with 25 years of experience, I dare say that I have seen it all. I’ve seen technology change the way we teach - both in the classroom and now in the online world. I’ve seen great changes in the nature and composition of the students in college classrooms - and in the professors who teach there. I’ve seen great changes in the learning resources available to college students. Finally, I’ve seen enough circumstances involving questionable student and instructor conduct - both in and outside of the classroom - to have an ability to predict how my colleagues and administrators will react in a given situation.

      What This Book Is?

      So, this book is intended to be a guidebook for students on how to succeed in their college careers. Think of it as a short course in College Success 101 - where the only real test is the ultimate one - will you live up to your personal potential and be as successful as possible in your college career. In short, will you graduate? Will you graduate on-time? Will you earn the best grades possible each class, each semester, and ultimately, over your college career to earn honors at graduation?

      This book is indeed a labor of love. I want all students who read it to succeed, but I have chosen to write it at this time and at this moment because my wife and I are sending our oldest son off to college ourselves this fall (so, if you see Spencer Wyld at Louisiana Tech or on Facebook or Twitter, do say hey!). This is the information that I would want my own son to know as he heads-off to study engineering this fall. This book then provides simple, straight-forward advice from an experienced college insider to answer questions such as: How should you pick your major? How should you choose classes to make your schedule? How should you approach your classes? How should you study for tests? What should your strategy be for doing your best on tests, research projects, and on the dreaded group project? How should you interact with other students in your classes and with your professors? And finally, what should you do when things go bad for you in a class or in an entire semester.

      My Wish for You…and for All Students

      And so, I hope that you will learn a great deal from this book that will help you - or your son or daughter - to have the most successful college experience possible (this book does make a great gift for someone going off to college!). If you find this information helpful, please do contact me directly, either by email at dwyld@southeastern.edu or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/david.wyld. I’d especially like to hear from you with stories of how this book might have helped you in your college career and share your story in a future book and website project that I am currently developing (and in the final chapter, this is your homework assignment).

      There’s no substitute for hard work, and you will no doubt be challenged on many occasions in your college career. However, this book will help give you - or someone you know - an edge in being successful. Now, let’s get busy on learning in this short course to being a success in college!

      Chapter 1: Choosing - and Changing - Your Major

      In this chapter, Professor Wyld talks about one of the biggest decisions a student will ever make - choosing their college major.

      - Introduction -

      Today at most universities, freshmen do not have to choose a major. And that may be a very good thing, as choosing a major is one of the most important decisions you will ever make in college - let alone in life. So, it should be made carefully. Yes, there are countless interest inventories and many influences - some credible, some incredible - that will make students choose one major over another (money, relative ease, girls in the classes, etc.). And while college administrators and parents would like to think every student goes through a rational decision process in selecting what they want to major in, more often than not, it is irrational - based on family influences, peers, misperceptions, etc.

      So, this chapter speaks to how to choose a major - and what to do if you find yourself in the wrong major at some point in your college career. For some, students, the realization comes very early that they have made the right decision. If you feel at home in your first class in your major - whether that be business, engineering, education, etc. - then that can be a very reassuring feeling. Yet, sometimes, students know that they’ve made the wrong decision in terms of their major.

      If you felt - for whatever reason - that you should be an accounting major - and yet the whole debits and credits thing in your first Principles of Accounting course forces you into dreamland in each class meeting - then you should likely reassess your major and your choice of profession (unless it is truly an issue of a boring professor - and yes, as this book has highlighted, I can readily admit that they do exist!). Likewise, if you enter college wanting to be a nurse or a doctor, and yet the first dissection in your freshman biology course makes you faint, this may give you pause on your major choice and career aspirations (maybe health care management or a pharmacy career is more your thing, rather than hands on health care).

      Changing Your Major

      No when it comes to actually changing your major, I have strong opinions in this regard. An early change of major - say in your freshman or even your sophomore year, can definitely be a positive move. Yes, it can be life-changing, putting you on the path to a new career - and it can be the right decision in most cases. However, as they say, timing is indeed everything. So, never, ever, ever, ever change your major late in your college career - say past the first semester of your junior year. This may seem arbitrary, but it is borne out of seeing countless numbers of students jump between majors within the business school (say accounting to finance, management to marketing, etc.).

      My advice would be that after this point in your college career - jumping between majors will likely add significantly to your required coursework - and thus to your time spend in your undergraduate degree program. In some cases today, we’re not talking about just adding six, nine or twelve hours to what it will take for you to graduate. More than likely, a decision to switch majors may cost you a semester or even a year or more of course work. This is especially true in the case of radical major switches - say between business and the sciences or between say the liberal arts and medical fields. While there may be some creative ways to use the hours you accumulated in your prior field of study - like turning them into a minor are for your degree, more often than not, there may be no choice but to simply abandon a large chunk of your college work thus far.

      So, when it comes to making a late change of major - in your junior or even your senior year, I have advice that may be somewhat radical - namely, don’t! After you do the number crunching - either alone or with your advisor - you will need to assess how much the change in major will really cost you in hours (and the time, money, and effort you put into earning them). My guess is that you will be sticker shocked with how much the cost is. So, my advice has been consistent to students in this situation. Namely two words: Finish It! The value in getting your degree (a.) sooner and (b.) for sure - in whatever major - offsets the value of getting the degree you are thinking about changing to - and causing a semester, a year or even more delay in your graduation. It’s the perfect illustration of the classic old saying - "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!

      Now this is not to say that you abandon the new major and new degree - hardly! Just follow this simple decision criteria - finish the degree that you started once you reach the point where a change of major would

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