As the first semester comes to a close, I look back and reflect on the first three months. During this short time my knowledge about Trinity College has grown. I have become more accustomed to the every day life of a college student. Trinity College, located in Connecticut, is a small liberal arts school with a rigorous curriculum. Trinity pushes its students to strive for excellence while balancing the thriving social life. Andrew Roberts, a professor at Northwestern University, in his book The Thinking Student’s Guide to College provides readers with insightful tips on how to better your education at colleges like Trinity (Roberts back cover). Roberts’ provides readers with a list of 75 tips that cover topics from choosing a college to learning outside of the classroom (Roberts Index), in hopes of preventing students from falling into the trap of receiving an average education. Roberts’ tips, provided in this book, apply well to Trinity College. Trinity College can be a place where you can definitely get the most out of your education, if you follow some of Roberts’ tips. Many tips that are presented in this book I found overwhelmingly interesting, and helpful to my personal experiences here at Trinity College. Although there are tips that are undeniably useful for Trinity College, I feel that I could include tip number 76 to better Roberts’ guide to Trinity College.
Although the majority of tips in Roberts’ guide apply well to Trinity, there is one tip in particular, I feel, is the most valuable, tip number 48, which reads, “Ask for Help.” Trinity provides its students with so many opportunities to seek out help. Some of these programs include, the Supplemental Instruction Program (S.I.), Teachers Assistant Program, Writing Center, and varieties of teacher’s office hours are available to the entire student body. These programs are run by upperclassmen that, as a credit, hold tutoring sessions for any student who wished to attend. The help needed is available and all students have to do is ask for it. From my experiences here at Trinity students should just “go to their office house when you have a problem and even before” (Roberts 99). In this quote by Roberts’, office can be used as a variable for any form of help being providing, but the biggest emphasis I would like to put on this small excerpt is “even before.” I started of my Chemistry 101 class with a 95 on my first test, but that did not stop me from going to my S.I. sessions. It is not just about going to get help when you are struggling. Through my S.I. sessions I have learned new ways of solving Chemistry that the professor did not teach. Going to these sessions has expanded my education because; I am not only learning methods from one educated professor, but also many other individuals. The grades increase is probably one of the last reason’s why asking for help is important. Although my grades have gone up since attending these sessions, I feel that I have grasped the material better than ever before. On top of this, if a student is struggling in a class, why would they not use these resources? I have watched friends pay hundreds of dollars for tutors in high school, and now you get to a college that offers you “free” tutoring you must take them up on that offer. There is no point to waste opportunities to get the most out of your education, and with the resources provided here at Trinity, I feel this tip is the most valuable for this college.
Roberts’ does a great job in providing successful tips for Trinity; however I have come up with a tip that I feel would significantly help an incoming student. When it comes to choosing classes I feel students should choose classes that are challenging, yet not overwhelming. When students choose classes that are too difficult, and they struggle just to pass that class their hopes of getting a better education dwindles. Students become aggravated with their schoolwork and shut themselves off from learning. Students who struggle mightily with a class that is too advanced, they begin to focus on just that particular class. This prevents them from gaining the best education possible because they are so caught up on passing this class, that is out of their reach, they block themselves from getting a better education. This has happened to me in my first semester at Trinity College. As of now I am struggling to maintain a C- average in my current Calculus class. On the days that I have gotten back tests and quizzes from Calculus that have low grades; I do not feel any motivation to learn the rest of the day. This prevents me from getting the most out of my education from my three other classes. In order to pass my Calculus course, I have to spend hours studying for one quiz. This prohibits me from learning new things outside of my four classes because I have to devote my extra time in order to pass one class. In order to get help for my Calculus class, I am forced to sacrifice review session in my Psychology course. Alternating once a week would be suitable, but if I don’t go to these review sessions for Calculus I am in danger of failing. My experience shows that picking class that you are struggling to pass is going to lessen your education. If I had picked an easier mathematics course I feel I could have definitely gotten more out of Trinity College in my first semester.
The Thinking Student’s Guide to College, by Andrew Roberts provides many tips that fit into bettering a student’s education at Trinity College. College is quite expensive, and it is advised that you do not go through the motions just to earn a degree. By following the majority of Roberts’ tips, students at Trinity College can strive to gain the best education possible. “Ask for Help” is just one of many tips that apply here at Trinity College. Through my experiences in my first semester there are many ways that students can strive for a better education at Trinity College. Roberts’ book, on top of other tips such as choosing challenging, yet not overbearing classes, are just some ways in which a student can get the most out of their education at Trinity College.
Works Cited
Roberts, Andrew Lawrence. The Thinking Student’s Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2010. Print.
About the author: Sean Meekins is a first year student at Trinity College and is writing this for Jack Dougherty’s first year seminar Color and Money