COLUMN: Earn more than a grade point average

With the first couple weeks of school in the books, and midterms about a month away, some students may find themselves starting to get worried about their courses.

First year students may feel that four years is a long time to worry about getting one’s GPA up, there is plenty of time to hit the books and pass courses. There’s more important things to do like attend parties and go to Sioux Falls for the weekend. These thoughts aren’t uncommon and to some extent I even encourage my fellow students to be a little more social — college is a time to gain social skills as well as an education.

However, take it from a guy at the end of his college career. Those college years are going to zoom by and before you know it, you are a senior. Suddenly, you find yourself scrambling to maintain or raise that GPA and get in those extracurricular activities as you scramble to find a job. Assuming you haven’t flunked half your classes in the first semester and been booted out of school ,which has happened to more friends than I care to admit.

Having been a freshman once, and having experienced the college life, I feel I can offer you a few words of wisdom in regards to passing your courses. This advice won’t get you an “A” in courses — that requires actual effort on your part — but if you follow these few tips, they pretty much guarantee you a solid passing grade.

First off, you need to attend most, if not all, of your classes on a regular basis. Yes, I understand the many reasons you might come up with to skip class. A hard night of drinking, your throat feels a little sore or maybe you’d really like to just sleep in another couple of minutes. These reasons are all understandable and almost all of them suck. The harsh truth is the only way you learn the material you need for tests and essays is by being in the class and listening.

Not to mention the majority of the professors attendance requirements, miss more than a few classes and you might be down 10 percent of your grade already. Consistently missing classes is the surest way to flunk out of school, so unless you’re coughing up blood or dealing with a family emergency, you should be in class, boring though it may be.

Next, you need to make the professor know who you are and for a good reason too. Professors have a limited number of time and ability in regards to being able to help you out, be one of the students they like. Introduce yourself, sit in the front of the class and ask a question every now and then. Professors may be intellectual, but they have egos and enjoy them being stroked like any other person. Come crunch time, professors are more likely to help the student they like than the one they don’t know.

My final piece of advice is a simple one, but one even I struggle with at times. Whenever you’re working on an essay or a project, don’t leave it to last minute. Rushed work is sloppy work, and if you think the professors won’t notice, you’re in for a rude awakening. Space your work out and you’ll do fine, procrastinate, and your grade will reflect this.

To sum it all up, be punctual, courteous and practical and at the very least, you’ll scrape by with a “C” average. Be lazy, distant and inefficient, and you won’t last long in college. Have fun, but remember, nobody will care or remember how hard you can rage on the weekends if you’re not here next year. Anyway, enjoy the school year and good luck, I hope you all make it.

Reach columnist Steven Campbell at Steven.Campbell@coyotes.