“Go for variety, especially early on.” [1. Roberts, Andrew. The Thinking Student’s Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print. Pg 49.] To me personally, tip number twelve was the most valuable piece of advice that I had read in The Thinking Student’s Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. As the title states, this book is a collection of a total of seventy-five “tips” that the author Andrew Roberts has collected. He believes that the entirety of these “tips” along with other advice are what students should adhere to in order to maximize their learning experience during college. The author has tips from how to choose a college, choosing classes, a major/s, to learning outside the classroom. Among those categories and others unmentioned, as explained earlier Robert’s twelfth tip was what really helped me.
During this first semester at Trinity College, I arrived at the College like many other students with a set idea for the range of classes that I would be taking at Trinity College. As an incoming college freshmen from my senior year at my High school, I came believing that certain classes would be absent from my studies at the college. However, at the beginning of the year due to unfulfilled requirements, I was required to change those same classes that I was so set on taking during my first semester. Learning this fact only during the first week of school when the majority of students filled up various classes, I was forced to enroll in a variety of classes in a range of subjects as well as having to prepare myself for other classes. In the end, I ended up enrolling in entirely different classes than the ones that I had originally chosen other than my seminar class. For example, my choices had me taking Introduction to Ethics, one such class that I did not think that I would be taking in college. That class in association with Introduction to Creative Writing and Physics, has exposed me to subjects, techniques of learning and ways of thought which have had a significant influence on my choices. In my experiences in my classes I was not angered at the situation that I was in, but at the conclusion of my first semester at Trinity College I felt encouraged to take more classes in those subjects I had not given much thought to before. However, my first semester was not all sunshine and no rain. There were mistakes that I made coming into Trinity College, that I feel other students could possibly learn from.
In the same situation where I took classes that I was not expecting to take, as soon as I was enrolled in those classes I was set. I convinced myself that no matter what, I would stick through these classes and take them until the end of the semester. Even when I started to experience trouble in one of my enrolled classes, I was steadfast and said that I would “stay the course.” That was the mistake that I made this semester. In all colleges, less so in high School there is a period of time called the Add/ Drop Period. This is when during this time students can drop classes and enroll in new ones if their chosen class isn’t compatible or it just isn’t working. I however, made no use of this time period, too stubborn to drop out of the class. Waiting for a break of some sort. If I was able to add a new “tip” to Andrew Roberts list of seventy-five, I wold add one about the Add/ Drop period. My tip would state, Utilize the Add/ Drop Period. This is because this period is during a optimal time because at the time that it starts, students usually have a inkling of an understanding of how a class suits them. Me however, possessed a stubbornness that would allow me to take this route.
In the end of my first semester of learning at Trinity College, I have learned many things academically. This comes from the four classes that I have taken this semester and the subject matter that accompanies them. However, as I have enjoyed what I have learned, I have also experience things I did not desire. This is because I did not utilize the opportunities available to me to facilitate my learning experience. As a result, at times it has been a difficult semester because of an avoidable problem. I advise students who can be stubborn, to not ignore to level of difficulty that a certain class will give them. Unlike me I experienced troubles in both High School and this first Semester when I did not use this opportunity. The Add/ Drop Period is there to ease certain stresses while learing and should be used by students when there is a need.