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| Congratulations, Anthony Jesuit Preparatory School, 2016 |
Congratulations!
What a job you’ve done! And look what lies ahead! I am proud to know you and
your family.
I want to share some
things that were helpful to me in one way or another along the way toward
graduating magna cum laude from
Baylor.
Background: from
middle school through high school and into college I was a terrible student.
When I applied to Baylor, I had a 1.7 GPA – proof of my poor performance in
school. The Dean at Baylor gave me a list of prerequisites and told me to come
back if I could make straight A’s in those subjects. She was surprised when I
showed up a year later with all A’s in chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology,
and so on! What helped:
- Never missed a
class, was never late, always sat up front, and paid total attention in class.
I was unafraid to ask questions during or after class – or before the next class.
- As soon as possible after every class I recopied my notes (adding material from texts if needed to help me understand). In this manner, I heard the material, wrote the material, and rewrote and started integrating the material. It was like pre-studying for tests. I don’t know how I would interact with a computer or PowerPoint in this process – maybe read carefully back through notes and use text to add to them? I don’t know.
- Changed my handwriting from scrawlish to as neat as possible.
- Treated school
like a job – I worked at it from 8am to 5 or 6pm. I didn’t take long social
lunches, but I always ate lunch and didn’t study while eating. I also took
other breaks and changed my study locations during the day when I started
getting sleepy. In undergraduate school I took most of most weekends off; in graduate school I had to work harder – that was a 6-7 day/week job.
- Group projects are a fact of life. And there are always people who don’t do their part, are late, and are otherwise non-productive. Be assertive in identifying smart, motivated people (they’re often quiet people) and connecting with them to work together. This is an important skill.
- Often studied with other people – again, choosing carefully. You’ll make good study connections over time.
- Avoided situations and people who wouldn’t help in my journey. I don’t mean I didn’t help other people; I did. But I avoided people who were unmotivated, drinkers, stoners, gamers, and so on. I went out some on weekends, but it was not one big party. I actually had a very good time in school, and have been having a good time ever since.
- I recall seeing some legitimate research showing that students who worked part-time in college tended to do well – working apparently does not have an adverse effect on grades.
- Always bought used books. If it’s such a great book and worth the high price charged for new, you can always get one later.
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| Garden at Road's End, outside Fort Bragg |
School can be a
gateway to an amazing life.
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