There’s a common misconception among many people that you have to be “smart” to get into and succeed at college. Perhaps this misconception comes from what we were taught about college from kindergarten through 12th grade or it could be that many smart people have gone to school and succeeded in life, who knows, but one thing is certain, being smart is not the key to success or failure in higher education. There are plenty of college educated idiots out there; we all know at least one and many of us have the unfortunate blessing of knowing many.
As such I have seen in my time as a supervisor some very smart people get charged up and enroll in school only to fail or drop a class shortly after. Whenever asking them what happened I never get the answer “well I wasn’t smart enough” even though I’ve had several people tell me that this was the reason that they have never attempted school. The key to college isn’t brains, or what you know, but instead it is all about sticking with something, making sacrifices, being disciplined and working hard. After speaking with at least a half dozen very smart people who dropped out of or failed out of school the reasons are thus:
1.) Didn’t have time. These people often didn’t have any idea of how many hours a week it takes to be a student. It is pretty rational to go ahead and plan on 1 to 2 hours a day per 3 semester hour class. That’s about 7 to 14 hours being the norm per class per week but if you do not plan for this, it can be a bit overwhelming. By the way, this amount of time is not to include the time actually spent sitting in a classroom.
2.) Ran out of money. Financial aid is usually an option for people as is sometimes employer reimbursement, however at times acquiring financial aid without help can be a daunting and frustrating experience. Not every school provides adequate help in getting financial aid and thus many students do not realize that they qualify for it. As such many simply say “I can’t afford it” and drop out. There are other options available as well such as scholarships, working with an employer who reimburses you, the military GI Bills, etc.
3.) Too much work. I have had a couple of people tell me that it is simply too much work for too little benefit in their eyes. Too many research papers followed by too many tests. Suffice to say, school is work, lots of work, some of it hard, some of it easy but all of it work. Expect that.
4.) Didn’t want to take Math or Science or History or whatever subject that they feel weak in. Sad though it may be some people drop out of school because they are required to take a course that just flat out intimidates them. More often than not this is some kind of Math class like Quantitative Analysis or Calculus. Many people were not good at a particular subject in high school, or have heard enough bad things about a particular subject that they determine it is too hard before they even really attempt it. The reality is that many of these people are afraid of failure. Failure stings, it hurts and nobody likes to hurt, but it is part of life and part of learning. We have to accept that there is a possibility of failure but determine that we will give a best effort anyways. A fear of failure should not stop you.
5.) They failed a class. As mentioned in number 4, failure hurts and everyone (at least sane people) hates to fail. Some people fail for no other reason than they entered the class expecting to fail and thus gave an effort as if they would fail. This is a surefire way to guarantee failure. When you accept that there is the possibility of failure you have to move past that and give your very best effort. Guess what, nobody knows Calculus before being taught Calculus other wise the subject wouldn’t exist or we wouldn’t need the class because we are all born knowing Calculus. If you fail a class, learn from your mistakes, perhaps you can study up on the topic and retake it. Sometimes failure is a part of college and it is always a part of life. Don’t expect to fail, don’t accept it if you do, try again, work harder, learn more. With every failure comes an education, make sure you learn from it and keep plugging away.
6.) Intimidation. The belief that only smart people go to college or the mental image that is conjured up by such words as “university” or “college” or “graduate school”, etc. can be a bit intimidating. Some people believe that it is beyond them and so when they enter school they walk into it expecting to be chased out of the building by a mob of pitchfork welding “smarties”. When this occurs it has the same effect as expecting failure. Often times expecting failure do so from intimidation. Pushy professors don’t help much.
7.) They convince themselves that they don’t need school. Sometimes dropouts have convinced themselves that they do not need school to get ahead or be successful in life. They’ve already got things figured out. These people are often in their early twenties and almost as often wind up in their mid thirties trying to figure out how to get back into school. At times these people are correct, citing such people as Bill Gates who became the richest man in the world without being a college graduate, or they will cite someone like actor John Travolta (high school dropout) or some famous sports figure. More often than not though they cite their parents. Well here are the facts; first, this isn’t 1976 where a blue collar job with the local factory was supporting a family of 6 with only the dad working. Today a lot of those “local” factories have been outsourced overseas, the cost of living is higher, and the gap of income percentage vs. expenditure percentages is narrowing. In other words, this isn’t your mom and dad’s world anymore. Unless you can run a 40 yard dash in 4.2 seconds, catch a football, hit 500 home runs, revolutionize an industry with a brilliant idea, etcetera, you will likely need a higher education to get ahead in this economy. Are there exceptions? Sure, but there are many fewer people who are actually exceptions to the rule than who actually believe that they are. There’s a saying I once heard from an older cop I knew (I don’t know where he got it). He said “if I could buy most people for what they are worth and sell them for what they think they are worth, I’d be the richest man in the world”. This sarcastic quote has a point.
Well that’s about all for now. Hope this helps.
--Cajun