The Five Best Ways to Fail Out of College

As a university instructor, I have dozens of new freshmen who are having trouble acclimating themselves to the college environment. Not only are they struggling to find a balance between their social lives and the demands of college professors, some of them are continuing to act as if they are still in high school.

At this point in the semester, many are starting to feel the pinch of reality: university level work is not the same as high school and new habits need to be established. Following are five proven ways to fail out of college:

Study and produce work exactly as you did in high school.

Hey, high school was easy, right? You could finish that algebra homework while watching music videos, texting friends and updating your MySpace page. Your teachers loved your essays and you could B.S. with the best of them, right? How does this transfer into college? Not very well, unfortunately. The workload in college is going to be more difficult, the volume of work will be greater and the expectations of your abilities and output will be higher.

College professors are not the same as your high school teachers. Remember: high school ended your compulsory education (in the U.S.). In college, your presence is completely voluntary. You are not "owed" a college education, you are not going to be passed forward with your class if you are not meeting the expectations and actually EARNING your grades.

Buy your textbooks, but don't bother reading them.

One of the most expensive aspects of a university education will be your textbooks. However, if you were to read these books, they would also be one of the more rewarding features of your college experience.

Frankly, the knowledge contained in one college textbook amounts to dozens of years of higher education when you look at all the people and their backgrounds that went into producing ONE textbook. Why not use their experience and expertise to expand your own mind? You'd be surprised at how many freshmen do not read their textbooks and then fret about poor exam grades.

Always go to the lecture unprepared.

The only thing important about lecture classes is attending lecture, right? Well, if all you're doing is attending, you won't learn much and you won't excel in the course. To get the most out of a lecture course, you must keep ahead of the professor in the reading. The professor's lecture is intended to "fill in the blanks" of the textbook or other readings assigned. Most professors produce a syllabus at the beginning of a class with detailed descriptions of the topics covered each week and corresponding book chapters.

Your textbook reading should always be done in advance of the lecture for that material. That way, if during the lecture the professor isn't clear on a particular point, you can ask an intelligent question based upon your reading. Professor's love questions from students who are prepared.

Save all study for exams until the night before to keep the information "fresh."

Because of the volume of information you'll be responsible for, it is nearly impossible to save all your study until the night before a college exam. Your exam dates will usually be known well in advance and from there you can map out a schedule to tackle small chunks daily over the course of a week.

Some professors even schedule "study sessions" where they or their teaching assistants are available to answer questions prior to an exam. You do, however, need to study prior to the study sessions - these are not intended to "give you the answers" or as a beginning to your study, they are to clarify last-minute questions about concepts and issues.

You don't need to write essays, you can just copy good material off the Internet.

No one really sits down and writes an original, six-page essay on Mercantilism, right? Well, actually, they do. Those who don't will not last very long in a university environment. The worst thing you can do in academia is plagiarize.

What is plagiarism?

It is stealing other people's thoughts, ideas, words, and so on, and presenting them as your own. The Internet has made this type of dishonesty very easy and each day, some college student gets caught from turning in a paper without the proper citations, quote marks, and bibliography. There are many Web sites that go into great detail on how to reference other people's material and what constitutes plagiarism.

But what about borrowing another student's work? Is it OK to turn in a copy of someone else's essay if they give you permission? No. It's still plagiarism and it is the quickest route to being kicked out of your university and pretty much ruining your chances of ever getting into another.

Universities are research institutions. All researchers aim to publish their findings in the top journals. As writers, all professors have an interest in protecting their work and the work of others. The integrity of academic writing has an underlying assumption of honesty. Any dishonesty in an academic environment jeopardizes the reputation of everyone at that institution.

Fortunately, technology has made checking for plagiarism very easy and thorough. It isn't worth the consequences of getting caught, so do your own work, cite other people's work and don't cheat yourself out of a quality education by taking, what only appears to be, a viable shortcut.