He Said

   

Isn’t college great? Living away from home, surrounded by thousands of people your own age with similar interests and lifestyles, and let’s not forget the scores of clubs and organizations to throw yourself into. After four years of high school it’s like you were chained down, and now you’re finally free.
Oh wait, isn’t there something you missed? That’s right: it’s the whole COLLEGE part of the college experience. It’s so easy to get caught up in all the exciting parts of WPI and neglect the whole reason you’re here (the above-average education). Or then again, you probably skipped class to play World of Warcraft, or didn’t study so you could catch up on the past three seasons of “Heroes” (here’s a spoiler for you, everyone they meet has super powers, and the ones who don’t are bad guys). So what can you do about it? In a word: nothing.
It’s not that you couldn’t work your tail off and pull off a few C’s, it’s more that you’ve already learned the bad habits. As long as you keep waiting until week 5 of the term to do any work, you’ll never develop the necessary sense of urgency. Why write an essay on Tuesday, when you can do it at 3:00 am Monday?
There’s a chance that you could retrain yourself, but it’s remarkably slim. There’s a good chance you’re one of the people who never had to work hard in high school, and just skated by on pure talent. Well congratulations buddy, you’ve doomed yourself to four years of late nights, wasted weekends, and groggy mornings. Buy a coffee maker and get a crazy good alarm clock, because there’s no way you’re of any use before 11:00 am.

   

She Said

   

Studying and working hard is the only way to avoid snowflaking if you’re on the edge. Because we’re getting so close to the end of the term, it’s going to be difficult to make sure you don’t NR your classes.
The first thing you need to do is go speak with your professor. Professors like to see students in their office, especially when a student needs help. They don’t want to hand out NR’s. They’ll help you if they can. Ask how they suggest that you study the material—sometimes they might have a method to learning the material you may not have thought about.
Another great resource is your faculty advisor. They signed up to be part of the insight program and they really do want to help you. They can also give you advice about how to study, maybe manage your time better, and just give general academic advice.
One of the best resources on campus for students who are struggling with a concept or class is the MASH and tutoring sessions. The schedule is available online and the sessions are great. The people who run the sessions have taken already taken the course they’re helping you with, and did well in it.
Study groups are another option, but they can be beneficial or detrimental. If you can find a group of your peers within the same class that you can study with (and I mean study, not talk and pretend to study) then that’s a great resource. On the same line, if you’ve got a study group going, and you notice that you’re having difficulty staying focused on the material, then either study alone or find new people to study with.
This is your first term in college, it takes a little adjusting, but if you’re worried about academics don’t just shrug it off. The first time you don’t understand a concept, talk to your peers or your professor. It’s the only way that you can make sure that you succeed at WPI.