BEING A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT is about more than reading, writing, and ’rithmetic. It’s about being a skilled negotiator, a keen observer, and a master planner. It’s about figuring out what your courses require and how your teachers think—and let’s not forget about your TAs. It’s about avoiding the bad classes (and bad teachers) as much as possible, but also knowing how to deal when you can’t. In this regard, it helps to think of school as a game—and like any game, it can be won with enough practice, skill, and strategy.
If you’re in college, you probably have to plan your schedule every term. Choosing your classes can be exhilarating, but it’s also a big responsibility. The courses you choose can mean the difference between an A+ semester and the term from hell. To keep your schedule under control, start with the classes you need to fulfill your school’s graduation requirements and your major requirements, if you’ve declared one, and then round your schedule out with electives.
Aim for a good mix of subjects to keep the term interesting. Sign up for a few advanced classes if you’re qualified for them, along with some mid-level and intro ones. Unless you want to live in the library, don’t take more than two or three extremely reading-intensive or research-driven classes per term. And if you haven’t declared a major yet, this is the perfect time to try subjects you may have never considered—or even heard of—before.
One of the best things about college is that you get to test-drive your classes before you buy them. In this so-called “shopping period,” students sign up for way more classes than they actually need, sit in on them for a week or two, and then drop the ones they don’t like. Even if you think you know exactly what classes you want to take, it’s a good idea to check out a few extras. You may find that you can’t stand the professor of that English class you had your heart set on and need a replacement stat.
A lot depends on the decisions you make in this brief span of time, so you’ve got to play it smart during your shopping spree. Make sure you pay attention to pre-reqs—don’t waste your time checking out a course where you’ll be in over your head. You should attend the first and second meeting of every class you’re considering. On the first day, the teacher will probably distribute the syllabus, discuss grading policies, and go over the scope of the course; but he or she may not actually start lecturing until the second meeting. Knowing what the class will cover is one thing, but deciding whether you like the prof’s teaching style is a whole other ball game. Even if you’re not sure whether you’re going to keep a class, take notes as you normally would. If you do decide to stick with it, you’ll be grateful for those notes later.
In addition to sitting in on classes, read reviews of the teachers on www.ratemyprofessors.com, or see if students from your school have set up their own online forum. Take these reviews with many grains of salt, however, as students with a grudge against the teacher are more likely to submit comments. Also ask your friends what they know about the classes you’re considering. If there’s a cap on enrollment, drop the course or inform the teacher, or both, as soon as you decide not to take it, as other students may be waiting to sign up. That’s just good karma.
For each class you’re considering, ask yourself the following questions:
• Do you like the teacher?
• Is he or she easy to understand?
• Do the topics interest you?
• Can you handle the workload?
You’ve got to trust your instincts on this—no matter what the online reviews or your friends say, your views take precedence. Remember, though, that it’s not always as simple as dropping the classes you don’t like; you’ve got to make sure you’re fulfilling requirements, too. Sometimes, in order to do this, you may have to pick the least bad courses rather than the ones you like best.
As the shopping period comes to an end, plan your final schedule carefully. To preserve your sanity, try not to take more than two classes in a row. Make sure you have enough time to get from class to class—having to sprint every day to make that lecture all the way across campus gets old fast. In some schools, it’s possible to fit all your classes into four days and have Friday free. The beginning of your week may be jam-packed, but having a three-day weekend more than makes up for it. Finally, at the end of the shopping period, make sure you’ve officially dropped the classes you decide not to take! Otherwise you may be in for a very unpleasant surprise when your transcript arrives at the end of the semester.
How many classes should you take? Unless you’re determined to graduate early, it’s better not to overload your schedule. In general, the fewer courses you have, the more you’ll get out of them and the better you’ll do. You can spend more time reading the material, practicing problems, resolving issues, and getting to know your professors. When deciding your schedule in the beginning of the term, remember that you may be able to handle the workload initially, but once midterms roll around, you’ll regret having taken that extra class in twentieth-century Swedish film.
STEM has been in the news a lot these days—and no, I’m not talking about stem cells or the study of plants. In this case, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math—majors that are very much in demand in today’s job market, but which have serious trouble retaining students. More than 60 percent of entering college freshmen who plan to major in these fields wind up graduating with a non-STEM degree, according to Engage to Excel, a 2012 report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.49
This raises some big questions, such as: Why is it so hard to stick with STEM, and what can you do to improve your chances if you decide to go into one of these fields? Let’s take a closer look at what STEM is, what special challenges its students face, and how you can successfully navigate this maze of atoms, algorithms, and animal dissections.
What’s that? When economics professor Kevin Rask analyzed the GPAs of approximately 5,000 graduates from an unnamed Northeast liberal arts college, he made some startling discoveries. Chief among them was the inequality of grades between STEM and non-STEM majors. According to Rask, “all the STEM departments fall below the college mean,” with five of the six lowest-grading departments belonging to STEM. Plus, intro courses in science, technology, engineering, and math are “among the lowest grading courses on campus.”50
In the school Rask studied, chemistry (with an average grade of 2.78), math (2.90), economics (2.95), psychology (2.98), and biology (3.02) are the lowest-graded subjects, while religion (3.22), music (3.30), English (3.33), language (3.34), and education (3.36) make up the top five. (Economics is the only non-STEM major in the sub-3.0 category, although there’s some debate over whether psychology should be considered STEM.)
Some people claim this is because science, tech, engineering, and math are harder than the humanities, but I think it’s more accurate to say that the STEM majors are graded harder. The humanities aren’t innately easier; they just have more grade inflation than STEM. I’ve known plenty of students who were extraordinary in math and science, but who couldn’t write a paper or analyze a book to save their life. And I had more overall work as a history student than as a computer science major because of the endless amounts of reading, writing, and research required by the former.
One of the reasons for STEM’s lower GPAs is a practice that has inspired fear and loathing among generations of college students. I’m talking about The Curve. Not all STEM classes have it, but it’s much more common there than in the humanities. According to this philosophy, only a certain percentage of the class is allowed to get As, Bs, Cs, and so on. Teachers may decide that a set number will fail before the term has even started!
In effect, a student’s grade is based more on how he or she does compared to everyone else than on any objective measure of performance. In some classes, students may get decent grades on tests but still find themselves barely scraping by on their report card. Others may make huge improvements over the course of the term, only to wind up with a dismal grade because their overall performance didn’t match up to that of their peers. Not surprisingly, this can make for an extremely tense, competitive, and cut-throat environment.
Having a curve isn’t all bad, though. For example, an abysmal test score doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the road. I’ve had some computer science tests where the average was in the 30s or 40s (yes, that’s out of 100), which meant that a 50 might put you in the A range. In most cases, your teacher will tell you what the average is so you know how you’re doing. The scariest classes are those where you’re kept in the dark until report-card time. Here are some tips for how to deal with a major where curving is a way of life:
• Make sure your teacher gets to know you. Go to his or her office hours, volunteer in class, send emails, and so on. If you’re on the fence between grades at the end of the semester, this will often help push you over the edge.
• Go to your TA’s help sessions as often as possible. The teaching assistant may give away advice and insider information that will mean the difference between beating the curve and getting crushed under it.
• Plan your schedule carefully. Some classes appeal to geniuses and grad students who will set the bar very high. Others attract students with a wider range of backgrounds and abilities, making it much easier to beat the curve. You can’t always avoid the super-hard classes, but you should try to arrange your schedule so you get a good mix.
• For each exam, always write down the average test score and any other information your teacher gives you, so you don’t lose track of how you’re really doing.
• Do all extra credit assignments, unless they interfere with your regular schoolwork.
• Accept the fact that you might not do as well as you’d like and try not to stress out about it too much. If STEM is really what you want to do, don’t worry if your GPA is lower than that of your English major roommate. The best advice I can give you is not to pick your major based on GPA.
Unfortunately, some STEM programs are guilty of a “sink or swim” mentality, in which students from all different educational backgrounds are thrown into a sea of challenging courses with little or no support from the faculty. Many students, feeling in over their heads, will change majors or even drop out of school. On the bright side, some schools are trying to welcome more students into STEM. For example, Harvey Mudd’s computer science program has taken steps to attract and retain female students, who normally steer clear of the subject (currently only 18 percent of CS undergrads are women), and the school now has an intro course for students with no prior programming experience. No matter what kind of program you’re in, the following tips will help you stay afloat in STEM:
• Try to find at least one faculty member in the department who will serve as a mentor. This should be a person you feel comfortable with and who can give you lots of advice and encouragement.
• A key indicator of success in STEM is preparation in high school—so if you’re in the pre-college crowd, take lots of advanced classes in science and math. That will help you decide whether you like one of these fields, and you’ll enter college with a big advantage.
• If you’re deciding where to go to college, speak with faculty and students in the department(s) you’re interested in. Feel them out on how competitive the classes are, whether students are happy, and whether the profs are supportive of the students.
• Have a backup plan. If your intended major turns out not to be a good fit, know what your options are. Could you do a minor instead of a major? Does the department offer a related major that would allow you to take a wider variety of courses? When is the latest you could switch your major and still graduate on time? Keep in mind that some schools offer a BA and a BS in STEM disciplines, and going for the BA version may give you more flexibility.
Another reason why many students fear STEM is that it’s cumulative. Everything is built on what comes before it, so if you get stuck or lost on a topic, your grades can go downhill fast. Cognitive science expert Donald Norman put it best when he said that the typical mathematics curriculum “continues relentlessly on its way, each new lesson assuming full knowledge and understanding of all that has passed before. Even though each point may be simple, once you fall behind, it is hard to catch up. The result: mathematics phobia.”51
That’s why, if you’re having trouble with a topic in STEM, you’d better get help quickly—from a teacher, a TA, a tutor, or even a study group. The sooner you clear up your difficulty, the less trouble you’ll have down the road. Non-STEM courses are very different in that you can jump in at pretty much any point and figure out what’s going on. That’s not to say there’s no progress in majors like English and history—you will gain knowledge and become a better writer, reader, researcher, critical thinker, and so on. But if you join a math or science class without the necessary prerequisites, you may wonder why people are suddenly speaking in a foreign language!
Yet another reason why STEM can be intimidating is its lack of leeway. While most humanities classes welcome interpretation, opinion, and debate, in math the answer is either right or wrong. In computer science the code either works or it doesn’t, and so on. How you react to this state of things largely depends on your personality. If you’re a stickler for certainty, you might be a good candidate for STEM. If you prefer subjectivity and differing points of view, you may be a humanities person at heart. Keep in mind, though, that you can get partial credit in most math and science classes, and creativity and imagination are valued in STEM, just in a different way.
Throughout college, I saw the same three types of classes again and again. These categories have little to do with the subject or level of the class; they’re based on what you’re being graded on and how to prepare for each one. Of course, not every class will fall into one of these three groups, but the majority will. Sometimes you’ll realize what kind of class it is after a few exams; other times your teacher will tell you what to expect or spell it out in the syllabus.
1. Classes where you can pretty much ignore the readings. Your teacher is testing you exclusively on what he or she says in class; if it’s not in the lecture, it won’t be on the exam.
How to handle it—Go to every class, take extremely good notes, and make sure you know those notes forward and backward. But guess what: for the most part, you don’t have to do the readings! The main exceptions are if you’re expected to discuss them in class or write something about them. This kind of class can be a lifesaver in semesters when you’re up to your eyeballs in work.
2. Classes where you can pretty much ignore the lecture. You won’t be tested at all on what happens in class. This isn’t as common as the previous one, but it can happen—for example, if your grade is based exclusively on one or two research papers.
How to handle it—Go to class every day if attendance is taken, if you have to participate, or if it’s a small class where you will be missed. Otherwise, feel free to skip it once in a while, just not so much that you lose touch with what’s going on. (Yes, that’s right. I said you can skip class—under certain conditions!) Pay attention in class, but keep your notes short and sweet. If you have to do research papers, you should be listening for ideas on what to write about and your teacher’s expectations.
3. Classes where you must know both the readings and the lecture extremely well. There’s not a lot of overlap and you’ll be tested on both, so pretty much everything you see or hear is fair game.
How to handle it—These killer classes can really eat up your time, so try not to take too many of them per semester. There’s no way to cut corners: to succeed, you’ve got to have near-perfect attendance, take excellent notes, and do all the required readings. These classes are often the ones that you’ll look back on with the greatest sense of accomplishment—although you may not feel this way at the time!
Besides getting to know your classes, you’ve got to know your teachers! More often than not, they’ll fit into one of these five categories.
1. The perfect teacher who gives interesting lectures, easy homework, and fair tests, and is a generous grader to boot.
2. The teacher who gives interesting lectures but unfair tests, and who has apparently never heard of grade inflation. You like this teacher at first—until the grading begins.
3. The teacher who gives painfully dry or confusing lectures but easy tests. You initially can’t stand him or her, but your feelings turn to love, or at least forgiveness, when you see your grades.
4. The all-around terrible teacher who presents boring or confusing lectures, gives unfair or extremely difficult tests, and is a merciless grader.
5. The misunderstood teacher. They may be tough on the outside, but deep down they’re all soft and mushy. You’ve heard horror stories about this person, but you find they’re mostly untrue when you take the class. As long as you do the work, this prof is actually pretty fair.
Getting to know your teachers—understanding what they think, how they grade, and what their expectations are—is crucial to academic success. One of the best ways to do this is by paying close attention in the classroom. But you should also make an effort to get to know teachers after class. Go to their office hours, send them emails, and talk to them after class if there’s time. Of course you shouldn’t make a nuisance of yourself, but if you have legitimate questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to make them known.
This interaction has two main purposes: (1) you gain insight into how your teachers think and what might show up on exams, as well as getting your questions answered; and (2) teachers get to know you, which can often lead to them raising your final grade, giving you a letter of recommendation, and lots of other good stuff.
Unfortunately, you will encounter some terrible teachers in your academic career. Some will be boring or unclear; others may be downright mean. If they’re boring, you usually just have to suck it up. If they’re unclear, your textbook has just become your new best friend—and if that’s not enough, consider joining a study group. If teachers are mean, treat them like a bomb that could go off at any second and take extra care not to get on their bad side.
The worst teachers are those who are downright unfair. They don’t test you on what they say they will, or they’re too harsh on your papers, or their test questions are about twenty times harder than anything you did in class or for homework. In these situations, you should raise your concerns with the teacher—politely, of course—and ask your classmates if they feel the same way. They may open your eyes to something you’ve been missing or give you advice on how to do better. If it’s still not enough, consider getting a tutor.
In college, never underestimate the power of teaching assistants. They can make your class a wonderful experience or lead you to vow never to take that subject again. This is especially true in STEM, where they’re often the first people you go to for help. In some classes, they will be the ones giving you your grade, not the professor. If you have a discussion section, you’ll probably get to know your TA far better than you know your prof. So it’s important to know how to handle these individuals caught in that awkward stage between student and teacher.
If you can choose your TA, shop around in the beginning of the semester. Go to their office hours or discussion sections and feel them out. Trust your instincts: a good TA will try to help instead of treating you like a pest, and he or she will be clear and easy to understand. Sometimes your TA will be a student who took the class last term and did really well. If that’s the case, ask if they have any tips about the class or the teacher. They may be bursting with good advice.
This should go without saying, but make sure you treat your teaching assistant with respect. For example, if you schedule a meeting with your TA to go over a test, don’t stand him or her up like a bad date! At the same time, remember that TAs are far from infallible. I’ve had several who were flat-out wrong about subject matter and requirements. Don’t expect their mistakes to save your butt come grading season. If you suspect your TA is wrong, proceed up the chain of command to your professor.
You may think you’re done when you hand in an exam or homework assignment. You did your best, and it’s out of your hands. What you get, you get. But actually, there’s one thing left to do: when you get your work back, it’s your responsibility to make sure it was graded correctly. (I know this may be hard to believe, but teachers and TAs have been known to make mistakes!) You should never be afraid to challenge a grade if you have good reason, such as:
• Something was misgraded or miscalculated. Your teacher will have to give it to you on this one.
• You find something in your books or notes that contradicts the test-maker’s answer.
• You explain how the question can be misinterpreted. This one’s iffy, but it’s worth a shot.
• The question asked you about something that the syllabus or your teacher expressly stated would not be on the exam.
• The grader didn’t understand what you were trying to say on an essay question. You’ll have to show that’s the case.
The term’s finally over, and you’re about to start a much-needed vacation. You get your report card, expecting some pretty great marks, and suddenly your jaw drops. “That can’t be right,” you think. “There must be some mistake.” One of your grades is the wrong letter of the alphabet! So what should you do? Disputing a score on a test or assignment is one thing; challenging a final grade is another.
But take heart! The marks on your transcript are not set in stone. If you’re convinced your final grade is not what it should be, act fast, because most schools have a time limit on when you can appeal your grade. Schedule an appointment with your teacher if you’re not sure how he or she came up with the final grades. If the class is curved, this could make it awfully confusing.
A lot of teachers won’t return your final exam to you, but you typically will be allowed to see it if you make an appointment. (Think of this as visitation rights for your final.) After all, how do you know something was graded properly if you don’t even look at it? Bring a calculator so you can quickly add up the points, and review your answers with the teacher. If you’re lucky, you’ll find something was misgraded or misinterpreted. Sometimes, your teacher will agree to give you a few extra points if you verbally explain how to answer a question, even if you got it wrong on the exam. (This happened to me once in college, and I did get my final grade changed!)
One time in high school, I averaged my test and project scores and realized that my final grade was much lower than it should have been. When I raised this point with the teacher, he found that one of my grades hadn’t been recorded—an honest mistake, but one that could have cost me the valedictorian spot if I hadn’t caught it! (In case you were wondering, you should always hold on to your tests, projects, and homework assignments until the end of the semester.)
If things aren’t going your way when you’re appealing a grade, don’t get angry—and definitely do not accuse the professor of disliking you or being a bad teacher. This will just put him or her on the defensive. Be courteous and respectful, and chances are your teacher will do the same.
If, after discussing your grade with your teacher, you still believe that your work was not graded fairly—or if you attribute your low grade to racism or sexism or some other form of discrimination—you may be able to submit an appeal to the department or school officials. Speak with a dean or guidance counselor about your options, and look up your school’s policy on the Web. Do not take this lightly, however. It’s a serious step that could get your teacher in trouble, and it might not give you the best reputation among the faculty.