Advice to College Students

Advice to College Students

I am 21, and a recent university graduate. Now, many people believe that succeeding in getting a degree is relatively simple. There are those who believe that university life is all parties, fun and games. But when it comes to the crunch, to the essays and papers and exams, these people get stuck. They panic, realising they have not worked hard enough, and could drop out of university and leave with nothing. I am one of these people.

I thought that university was going to involve work, but I was so ill-prepared for just how much. I managed to work my way through my first two years, but then came the crunch time: the final year of my degree. I would have to do a 10,000 word thesis in addition to 3 regular classes. I thought I could handle it. I didn't think I would need any help. I have never been more wrong.

We have all done it at least once, some more than others. We procrastinate. We leave things until the last minute, and then get it done. I would always leave my work until the last minute to do, and I would somehow pull it off. This was the case when it came to the end of the first semester: we had essays to hand in before December. I left them until the final week, and worked nearly constantly, without sleep, for 72 hours to complete 3 essays. I was a wreck afterwards: I was suffering from flu, stress-headaches, fatigue and sleep-deprivation. I had only once felt that bad before: when I had a terrible case of Fresher's Flu in the first year, and was violently ill for a week. I slept for nearly 2 straight days.

I went home for the christmas holidays, and had a happy 4 weeks away from university. I was itching to get back there, though, and went back with high hopes. I was sorely disappointed, then, to find that 2 out of the 3 essays came back with the lowest marks I had ever recieved. The first essay I submitted was fine, because I had written it when I was alert and prepared. The two that failed were because I was tired and wrote an incoherent argument that confused the examiner. So I was very disappointed.

The rest of that term, thought, passed much the same as the first. When Easter began to approach, I began working on my thesis. Which I should have started the previous summer. Then I realised I had 3 essays to do again on top of the thesis work, and I snapped. I suffered from reccurring migraine headaches that would plague me for days. But I refused to accept that I needed help: I kept it quiet from my course tutor, my teachers, even my friends had no idea what a mess I was becoming. No one had any idea what I was going through, and so no one offered to help. I became more and more ill, turning up to 1 in every 3 classes. I failed to turn in any essaysby Easter, having not managed to complete any of them.

I was terrified. I went home for the Easter holidays, and my parents never suspected what was happening to me at university. In the previous year, I had already told them I didn't like my course anymore and wanted to leave, but they told me to stay and that I would be so happy once I got my degree. I was so terrified of disappointing them that I didn't dare say a thing: I kept quiet, and prayed I could make up my lost credits after Easter.

I returned to the university. I failed to get my thesis turned in. I had by this point degenerated into an anti-social, angry, tired mess. I finally went and spoke to my tutor and broke down, blurting out why everything had gone wrong, how I was disillusioned with the course, how I couldn't seem to motivate myself to do anything, and now that I was so scared that i was going to fail and my parents would be angry, and that I had become terribly ill over the last year without anyone even noticing. He sighed, tutted and 'hmmd,' and then said he would help me as much as he could.

And so it was that he went through the otpions with me: first things first, he sent me to the doctors to get checked out for my migraine headaches. They gave me painkillers which actually worked, and sent a note to the faculty office to inform them that the stress related headazhes had had a detrimental effect on my work and was the prevailing reason for my lack of work and results. As such, the doctor suggested that I either be given the opportunity to resubmit my work over the summer, or repeat the year. Secondly, my tutor discussed that it would be likely that I would have to resubmit my coursework, or even repeat the year, so he discussed what would happen there. Finally, he also suggested enquiring at other universities: I could transfer the credits I had succesfully achieve, and take my final year at a different university, giving me a fresh start for that year free from preconceptions and fears of the establishment.

I studied for my exams. My friends noticed a huge change in me: I wasn't spending days ata a time locked in my room. I remember that one of my friends commented that he had never seen me work so hard as I had in those weeks. My girlfriend offered me a huge amount of support. My parents, after speaking to my tutor, understood exactly what I was going through: my dad, being the principal of a college, had seen this kind of thing happen before, and rather than the angry chastisment I feared, he gave me nothing but firm ecouragement. Even now, months after that difficult time, I feel on the brink of tears, knowing how much love and support my parents gave me, even when I had given up on myself.

And so it was I went through my exams, with little hope of succeeding in anything. Weeks passed after I had finished: every day I waited with trepidition for the post to arrive, for a red-marked letter to inform me I had failed. The day finally came: I opened the letter, terrified of what it may contain.

I was informed that I had passed a module, and that the university had decided that I would be given the opportunity to resubmit my outstanding coursework for the other modules. I was delighted: this, combined with an email from my tutor, gave me new hope: I had apparently done very well on my exams, enough so that, even with only bare minimum 'pass' marks on the resubmitted coursework, I could still attain a degree. And so I set to work, using every second of free time of my summer to write the essays that should have been completed months ago.

I finally submitted them, and waited. I heard back from the university: I had passed my degree. I was now Owain David, Bachelor of the Arts in Ancient History. And that feeling, knowing that even with my screw ups and lies, I had still managed to pull myself together and get enough support and help to earn a degree.

And so I say to you, the college student, the university student, the fearful and scared and terrified: do not suffer in silence. If you are having problems, tell someone. No one can help you if you stay silent. Tell your friends, they will understand: tell your teachers or tutor, they will support you and tell you where to go to get assistance within the college: and above all, tell your parents. They love you and want you to be happy, and will do anything they can to help you achieve that.

You can get a degree, an HND, a diploma, anything you want. You just have to know when to get help.