Before the Syllabus: A Professor’s Advice to College Freshmen

Here we are—the beginning of July. Incoming college freshmen have roughly 8 weeks before they enter the college classroom. I teach at a community college in upstate New York, where we welcome both right-out-of-high-school students (sometimes called “traditional”) as well as returning-adult students (sometimes called “nontraditional”). I see the same needs, however, in both groups, and these needs aren’t ones that I see covered much in college prep materials, so here are some notes from a college English professor as you prepare for fall semester:

1. READ.

I mean it. Just read. College professors are seeing alarmingly low literacy rates, and this forgotten (abandoned?) skill is resulting in many students failing coursework. But reading is like the light warm-up athletes do before more intense workouts.

Don’t like to read? That’s okay. You’ve just not found your path yet. Think about the types of shows, movies, or just general topics you enjoy, and literally do an internet search for “books like _____”—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, doesn’t matter. For the extroverted souls out there, ask a librarian or bookseller. They’ll enjoy the prompt, and you’ll have an armful of possibilities within minutes. And when I say the genre doesn’t matter, I mean it. Romance? Thriller? Horror? Crime? Manga? IT ALL COUNTS.

Find one? Good. Here’s what you do with it: read it for just 5 minutes a day for 1 week. Did you find an audiobook? Still counts. Listen to it for 5 minutes a day. That’s it (I mean, by all means, read more if you’re up for it, but for those struggling, shoot for just 5 minutes.)

After a week, increase the time to 10 minutes a day, and at week 3, 15 minutes. Try to get to about 20-30 minutes a day.

“But, professor, those books are for fun! They’re not ‘real’ books!” They’re not academic texts, no. But the simple act of putting your attention on words and thinking about those words will help get you ready for the academic reading. Trust me.

Not only will just the act of reading help you prep for academic texts, it will help you be more ready for other critical thinking challenges (it has to do with the way the human brain processes language both internally in solo thinking and then externally to an audience).

This activity is especially useful for returning adult students who often feel as they are “behind” simply for being returning adult students. You’re not, but this activity will help you “warm up”, so to speak, if it’s been awhile since you were avid reader.

2. Reflect over your goals—and be honest with yourself about your own abilities.

College coursework is not usually a hobby for students. You’re there for a reason—now, what is that reason? Do you want to own a business one day? Go on to grad studies eventually? Be a teacher?

Identify your goals as best you can. Maybe you don’t know yet—in which case, a community college is a great place to figure it out.

Once you have an idea, though, do a little research. What skills do you need for that job? What things will you need to be able to read/write/create? And then reflect over the current state of your own skills.

Is there a massive gap between your goals and where you are right now? Sure. That’s to be expected—but now you know where you’re trying to go, and with this knowledge, you and your professors can work together to get you as far down that road as possible. This exercise is literally creating a map for how to reach your goals.

3. It’s a job—so treat it like that.

You wouldn’t jumpstart a new job by being late on the first day—or skipping it altogether. You wouldn’t submit documents to your boss weeks late with no explanation, and you wouldn’t complain about the work. If you did, you would expect to be fired.

Now, your professor can’t fire you, but they read those kinds of actions as “I do not care about this class or my progress in it”, and they then devote their finite amount of time to the students who DO. They’ll pass on their letters of recommendation and personal networks/connections—which can be far-reaching well beyond their own departments, institutions, towns, states, and even countries—to those students who took the job seriously. The students who wouldn’t embarrass them to endorse—the person who is ready. If you’re enrolled in college, you have surpassed the “it’s only school” phase and entered into “it’s a profession” phase. Treat it that way.

That means being prepared to start this new job. Give it the priority it needs and deserves in your life and schedule. Plan time now—and block it off. This time doesn’t end at just class time, either. Plan out a few hours of prep time for every single class—”Well, I have Bio on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so I’ll block off two hours on Fridays and Sundays to prep, that way if I need help or extra time, there’s time to get it before Tuesday.”

Reading, reflecting, and planning—all things you can do now to help Future You succeed.

Now, go get started. Find a book, think about things, and get planning.