Defining Student Success

It's easy to say that being successful in school is a measure of grades. This definition is a measurable, quantifiable description on how a student performs. It can be used to compare individual students, groups of students or institutions as a whole. Grades are the first step in getting into college. they're the first hurdle to get over in obtaining non-need based financial aid. Ok, but are they a true measure of your success?

The good news is that as soon as you are enrolled in college, your prior academic background is wiped clean. From that moment on, you get to define what success means to you. Yes, you have to achieve adequate academic progress and meet minimum GPA requirements, but that's not what I mean. Success can take many forms. Success can mean you identified your end goal and, at least in part, the path you take to get there. It could mean that during pursuit of a goal you stumbled onto something completely different that ignited a new passion. Success can also be found in the failure of not achieving a goal.

Let's take a couple of examples:

Student #1: You set your target (goal) as a degree in Marketing. You know that you have to take general education classes and, taking you're own strengths and weaknesses into account, you choose the ones that schedule around your business classes. The schedule allows you to focus larger blocks of time on what you are most interested in. You define your success in the business classes as devouring as much content as possible. You read every article, do every assignment, and engage your professors in positive discussions about their work experience. 

This practice will likely get you A's, but it may not. It will get you further toward your goal (degree) and may also yield some untangible benefits like internship opportunities or after class peer groups. In the gen ed courses, you define your success as learning as much as you can, knowing and accepting up front that you will likely get a C's. Your cumulative GPA on your transcript, the traditional measure of success, will likely be 2.5-3 out of 4. Not very successful quantitatively, but when you leverage your acquired business experience and connections you end up getting your dream job with a former classmate at a company run by a former colleague of your advisor.  

Example #2: You have the same goal as the previous example. You work just as hard in your business classes but instead of excelling you fall flat on your face in failure. No matter how much you study or network or plant yourself in your professors office it is just not clicking for you. You end up taking a semester off from business classes to get the gen eds out of the way (maybe at a community college). Turns out that one of the gen eds you take, let's say English 101, sparks your interest because of a great instructor or the opportunity to write a narrative about your experiences. 

You decide to fuel the spark by taking more courses in creative writing. That spark ignites into a full blown passionate fire for writing that you then use to constructively blog/review/critique the business community that didn't make sense to you (and likely others). You may even get the opportunity to help businesses communicate to others who share your perspective. Again in this example the traditional view of success would say that this student failed out of a career track and missed their goal. In reality this student is probably far happier and successful than a student who "stuck it out" in business school. 

The moral of the story is this: you define your success. Success may not come right away, but your ability to redifine what success means to you over time will always get you there.  

Why this matters....My Story

I alluded in my last post about hiring an independent academic advisor to help you navigate a path through selecting the right classes. Before that I posted about financial aid. I talked about taking responsibility for knowing what college costs and how you are going to pay for it. It struck me that you may be asking "ok, I need to look at all of these things but how do I do it?". More importantly (this may be parents talking) "how do I put it all together so it makes sense?".That's where an independent advisor comes in. I'll give you an example of the value of this in my own story.

I only applied to one college. I briefly looked at the brochures other colleges sent to my house but that was the extent of my search. I made two trips to visit schools. One with a friend to a school I hadn't thought of much and knew fairly quickly that I wasn't interested in. The other I visited with my then girlfriend who knew someone going there. We visited for a day in a car with 5 other random people (pretty sure someone was riding on a lap now that I think about it) and drove 3 hours there and back the same day. The campus was beautiful and so was the drive. I had good grades and extra curricular activities so I was bound to get in (it just made sense).

Turns out I did get in. I barely looked at the financial aid statement because I knew my family didn't have any money (so they have to give lots of aid right?). I went up to take a placement exam (maybe there was two) and ended up missing them entirely because I didn't account for the time zone change. I ended up registering for classes the next day after a campus tour with my parents and other freshman. I was the last one to leave the giant computer lab because I had to have the perfect schedule. I had heard in one of those college seminars they make you go to in high school that class schedule (including a discussion of nap timeframes, seriously) was critical to success in college. 

Freshman year goes by fast but uneventful. I recall spending long hours at the end of the year waiting in line for the best housing option with my new found friends. I spent a lot of time preparing for finals and did well. It's what I didn't do that sealed my demise. I neglected to follow up on my financial aid and a key scholarship was canceled. My mom then informed me that she was not able to take out another 401k loan to cover our expected family contribution. I was convinced it was over. Telling my new roommates that I wasn't going to be there after all was mortifying. They ended up getting a new roommate in a "housing lottery". I'm still friends with my former roommates but the "lottery replacement" ended up being a disaster that I still hear about. 

When I moved back home the light switch flipped in my mind. I knew it was my fault. I blew it big time because I was stupid and didn't pay attention. I didn't even know what I did wrong at the time but I knew it was me. I resolved to never let that happen ever again. I spent the next year in community college plotting my return. I planned every class. I only took courses that would transfer back to my school and that satisfied requirements for my major. I worked full time during school and two full time jobs over the summer. I ended up coming back to the 4-year school where I started and never looked back. I graduated in four years, went on to graduate school for a Masters (on full tuition waiver) and have been successfully working in my major career field for 8 years. What's better? I've had the privilege to teach the course that changed my life as a freshman for the last year and a half at a local community college. I'm humbled by it honestly. 

Here's the point. I've been through the ups and downs of the entire process. I've gotten aid, gone broke, made money, been an academic success/failure and seen others do the same. I've been fortunate to get back into the field through teaching and I see people struggling the way I did. I can help. Contact me at reachinghighered@gmail.com and let's have a conversation about how I can help you.