There are many choices students make when they start university or college, and many of them are made without even realizing them.  And any of them can sink all of your life’s aspirations in just a few semesters if you let them.  Have you made a few questionable decisions a few times too many?

The most common one is simply to perpetuate your high school study habits, which is, essentially, to try to do the least amount of work possible to get by.  This attitude is reinforced by many young people’s inclinations to prioritize their social lives or their sports interests over school most of the time.  Nothing wrong with developing social connections and sports interests, of course–they just need to be contained.

Other distractions are even more potent.  Developing a drug or alcohol dependency during the young adult years can ruin lives permanently in so many ways.  Having a significant health problem to deal with, whether of one’s own or of a loved one, on a daily basis can be devastating. Becoming an unplanned parent can change both partners lives forever as well.  And needing to work full-time to survive can create a significant roadblock as well. So it is pretty clear that both circumstances and decisions made in early adulthood can be major determinants of school, and ultimately life, success.