It’s a tale as old as time. A new college freshman gets to campus and the first semester doesn’t go so hot. There could be a variety of factors that led to this outcome. Maybe they were pledging a fraternity and that became the top priority. Maybe the student was swept up in the social scene at a large state school. Perhaps their high school was so easy that the jump to college proved to be more challenging than expected. Or maybe they were overwhelmed by the amount of free time and independence that comes with being in class for only 10ish hours each week. The list could go on and on. Poor sleep habits, lack of exercise, underestimating classes, losing track of deadlines, etc, etc. Regardless of the reasons, it’s important to know that students can turn it around in 2nd semester. And, from a GPA standpoint, there’s no better time to have a big bounce back, than right away.
Here are some key steps to take:
- Dissect the previous semester. This has to be the first step. I think the introduction of this blog summarized it nice. Let’s pinpoint the areas that led to the struggles. More often than not, there are some academic takeaways to ascertain. Perhaps changing the way a student is studying, using their resources, or prioritizing work. There’s usually some time management takeaways, specifically how a student is using their time throughout the day. And generally, there are some lifestyle factors that come into play. First things first, identify where it went wrong first semester.
- Set new goals. Next, let’s set some goals. This should build off of what we identified in section 1. I find that students will set goals around library time, studying for tests, or utilizing office hours. I see a lot of sleep goals and exercise goals. Sometimes students tell me that they only want to go out 2 nights per week because they know that is getting in the way of their academics. Whatever the goals are, I encourage students to set these on a weekly basis so they are short, measurable, and realistic.
- Create accountability. In order to make progress towards a goal, it takes attention, work, and accountability. Sharing the goals with someone else, whether it’s a mentor, coach, parent, friend, or whoever, is a helpful step to let someone else in on the plan. This makes it more real and creates accountability.
- Weekly Check-Ins. It’s important to have a once/week check-in. Students should schedule a time each week (ex: Sunday at 3 PM) where they can review the previous week’s goals and create goals for the next week. Students can do this on their own, or in our case, they work with their coach to set their weekly goals. It’s important that students monitor, adapt, and reset as the semester goes along.
Second semester is such an important time to bounce back in a major way for those students who didn’t perform the way they wanted to during first semester. Working with an Academic Coach can certainly help students excel as they work through these steps.