Getting the Most Out of College

These days, most students attend college to receive training for a job – engineer, accountant, lawyer, teacher, journalist, social worker, scientist, IT, law enforcement, etc. They often resist the “need” for General Education requirements, seeing little relevance or practical application to their intended career path. The notion of the broader sense of education (or even the issue of “soft” skills) is foreign, rarely if ever mentioned.

But college needs to be more than just advanced job-preparation programs. They must serve to educate students, to give them the knowledge bases to be a learned person, a critical thinker, an effective citizen, and a productive person at work and at home. Here are a few tidbits to help maximize the effects of a college “education”:

* Understand and appreciate the need & importance of the General Education requirements. Though they are being pared down more and more by colleges, they are vitally important in providing foundational knowledge to become an educated person
* Use open electives to broaden exposure to a new discipline or deepen your understanding of a non-major Gen Ed field, thereby broadening your base of knowledge
* Seek out classes that require writing, presentations, collaboration, and/or challenging reading, as those activities will help fine-tune important skills
* Study seriously in the literature and history survey courses; avoid breezing through as easily and lazily as possible, but take to heart why the material in those courses is significant
* Take psychology, philosophy, sociology, logic, art, government — those courses were once the foundation of all study and have been relegated to the scrap heap, but they offer beneficial expansion in knowledge and perspective
* Join clubs other than those in your major department (e.g. debate, STUCO, Toastmasters, improv), for such activities help one to explore new paths, develop new skills, and establish friendships with new people of varied interests
* Attend lectures, visit museums, find a cause; explore the town, area, etc. Every college town has places to visit, things to do that will broaden one’s interests and knowledge
* Avoid pressure to choose major during freshman year. The percentage of students who change their major is astoundingly high, largely because parents and school urge students to choose a major as a freshman. Some schools even start courses in the major the 1st semester of freshman year. But good, professional programs often do not even formally accept students until the junior year.