Ten Goals for College Freshman

Make Your First Year of College a Success

Amy Brantley
Your first year of college can be a success or can be the beginning of a long line of failures. How you spend your time as a college freshman will determine how the rest of your college life proceeds. For that reason, it's important to have goals that keep you on track. These goals not only save you time, but ensure that your first year, as well as your last year, of college is a success. The following are just ten goals that every college freshman should have.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #1: Do Not Fail Any Courses

Failing just one course during your first year can ruin your GPA. It is also hard to bring your GPA score back up, once you've failed a course. That's why your first goal as a college freshman is to pass all of your courses. Preferably you want to get at least a "C" in each course or the class may not count towards your degree.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #2: Get Hard Classes Out of the Way

Make it a goal to finish several harder courses during your freshman year. The longer you put these courses off, the harder college will become. For example, take a math and science course during the first semester of your freshman year and then take another math and science course during your second semester.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #3: Avoid Withdrawing from Courses

If you can avoid withdrawing from courses during your freshman year of college, it will really help you out in the long run. The more classes you withdraw from, the longer it will take to finish your degree. If you do find that you dislike a course, try to drop that course during the first week of the semester and add another course to take its place.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #4: Learn to Make a Proper Schedule

A proper schedule will not only help you during your freshman year of college, but throughout your entire life. While it may be hard to make a solid schedule during the first week of class, make sure you know how to make a proper schedule before the first year is over. This also means making sure you stick to your schedule as well.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #5: Meet with a Career Counselor

A career counselor will not only be able to talk to you about your future career goals, but they may also be able to help you find a job. This is an important goal to make because a career counselor will be able to find you a job that matches your career goals.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #6: Speak to Your Advisor

Before your freshman year of college is over, make it a goal to sit down and speak with your advisor. Your advisor will be able to tell you if they think you are on the right track or if you need to make changes in order to meet your other goals.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #7: Start Looking at Universities

If you are attending a community college, take time during your freshman year to start looking at universities. You can start requesting brochures, take campus tours, and even meet with professors and advisors. This will help you determine which university will be best for you.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #8: Reevaluate Your Career Goals

Shortly after speaking with your career counselor, reevaluate your career goals. Is this the career you want? Are the classes interesting enough to have a career that revolves around those subjects? If not, this is the time to make changes. This is also another reason why goal number two is so important. The harder classes will be useful in other degrees as well.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #9: Finish at Least 8 Courses

During your freshman year of college, make a goal to finish at least 8 courses. That would be full-time during both semesters. If you want to finish college early though, you will need to take several more courses than that.

Ten Goals for College Freshman #10: Join Groups That Will Look Good On Your University Application

One last goal college freshman should make, is to get involved at your college. Join groups and clubs that will look good on your university application. Also take time to volunteer and attend school functions that can improve your application.

Published by Amy Brantley - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle

A passionate writer who specializes in food-related content and has hopes of changing the way people think about cooking. Has published over a thousand pieces of food-related content. Amy is available for wr...  View profile

6 Comments

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  • Victoria Crockett5/24/2011

    OKAY!! This is what you really need to know.
    Never take extremely difficult classes your first year. EVER. Your first year is a year to adjust. You don't need to make it any more difficult.
    Also it is better to drop a course than to fail it. You can always make it up in the summer or online. Maybe it will take longer but it's better than getting rejected from every job you apply from because your GPA was crap in college.
    Anyway... That's just my opinion.

  • Tom4/16/2009

    Interesting and helpful list. It applies to the older people returning to college for retraining and career changes.

  • Raine1/9/2009

    This is actually smart advice. I'll be sure to tell my cousin!

  • Rebecca Haughn11/26/2007

    Have a daughter thinking of college and this is what I will share with her. Thank you!

  • Sheri Fresonke Harper9/3/2007

    Good article :-) Sheri

  • Pam Gaulin8/29/2007

    Good advice!

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