Photo credit: Mark Fromberg
As this is the first post on this new website, I wanted to make it pretty clear as to what the most important goal of this blog is: simply, to make you a better student!
And here is why: With better grades, not only will you be more likely to finish a degree, but if you do, you will be more likely to do something with it. And while college/university graduates have long been shown to have higher incomes, better jobs and careers, better health, and even longer lives than those who have only finished high school, doing a degree well opens even more doors, such as graduate school, or professional degrees–such as medicine, law, or engineering.
Being “good enough” as a student to pass all of your courses and finish a degree is definitely worth something–your resume will automatically look better, and it would show to a prospective employer that you have both sufficient intelligence and tenacity to stick with a drawn-out educational process. And it is interesting that no matter what your degree is in, your primary attribute in the workforce may simply be that you have learned how to use resources, to reason, and to coherently and cogently draw and act on reasonable conclusions. Given these incentives, it should make sense to perceive your schooling as one of your most valuable attributes, so it can serve you well for the rest of your life. After all, since you would be the one paying for your education, the quality of which only you can control, wouldn’t you want to get your money’s worth?
However, as Steve Jobs would say, there is one more thing. If you truly applied yourself to the singular goal of getting the very best grades possible, there is another potential pot of gold that awaits you: eligibility to a professional school, such as law, engineering, accounting, or medicine, or to higher education in a specialty field of your choosing. In all cases, these become true careers, for which job satisfaction, happiness, health, and income are commensurate.
Given that the 2020 pandemic is well underway, with 2nd and 3rd waves already recognized in almost every Western country in the world, life is, for many, completely upside down. For others who are hunkered down and waiting out the storm in their homes, one thought has surfaced often: If I can’t work, socialize, travel, or enjoy the opportunities in my community, then why not consider going back to school, even if it is remotely?
Getting educated is, of course, a pretty good idea just about anytime, but for many who have nowhere else to go, right now is a great time to invest in yourself while you are sheltered in place. With that opportunity in mind, we are here to help. The primary purpose of this site is to give you all the tools you need to get full value from the education that you invest in.
Over time, this blog will cover most of the important topics needed to succeed, and will generate comments and discussions to further enhance your insights to how to do well in school. Additive to that is another option: You can purchase a comprehensive guide, Get Straight A’s in College, for as little as the price of a cup of coffee. And which will serve your life better? Your call.
In the next post, I will explore some strategies that will improve your academic status right away.
