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Tips for Success
Videos on learning skills, study skills, time management and stress management.
These are not the only ‘keys’ to success while you are at DePaul; however, these seem to be the ones that most frequently have helped students be successful. If you have any additions to this list, e-mail them to PLuS.
Locate all available resources
- Look at DePaul's and/or PLuS' web-site, and any other relevant sources and locate what resources are available to you while at DePaul.
- Make a list of people at DePaul who might be of help (professors, office assistants, academic advisors, PLuS staff, etc).
- Begin now determining who and where your resources are; this way, if you do run into a problem, you will know where to get assistance.
- Even if you think that you might not need a specific service and/or accommodation right now, make a note of it; you never know if you will need it in the future.
Understand Free Time
- College compared to high school might initially seem like tons of free time.
- In college you are more independent in how you allocate your time, however you do not have as much free time as you initially might think you do.
Understand the difference between
| Free time | vs. |
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Don't wait for a problem to become a crisis
- As soon as you suspect a problem, contact your professor and/or anyone else you have determined to be a resource.
- It is tempting not to face problems by running from them. Unfortunately, this only makes the problem worse. Plan on running to someone rather than running away from the situation.
Always ask when you are not sure
- Until you familiarize yourself with how a college runs, and what are your responsibilities and rights, ask if you are not sure what needs to be done. It might be a "how to" question, or a "when should I" question, but no matter what it is, always ask.
- If you are not sure whom to ask, contact your clinician or the PLuS director.
Go to class
Attending class in college is important for many reasons. Professors might:
- Lecture on information that is not in your textbook but will be on a test.
- Often highlight what is important to study for the next test in their lectures.
- Have attendance and/or class participation as a part of the final grade.
Not going to class sends the message that you are not interested or that you do not care about your education.
Buy and use your own books
- Having your own set of books for your classes is important because you don't want to depend on someone else bringing the books to you.
- With your own set of books, you can write notes or underline key points.
- You are ultimately responsible for your success or failure and one of the keys to success is having access to all the necessary materials you need.
Save a copy of your work
- You should always have a copy of any work you did; mistakes do happen and in case your work is misplaced or never received, you will need to provide it again.
- If you are using floppy disks, use a new disk every quarter, and keep the old ones as reference of your work you did.
- If possible, use a flash drive as a back-up to your computer files.
Save all course materials (notes, syllabus, etc)
- You will need to refer to your syllabus and your notes throughout the quarter and to prepare for final exams.
- In case you get an Incomplete Grade in a course, you will need the notes and syllabus to complete the course requirements.
- You can choose to throw them away once you have received your final grade; however, if you ever transfer to a different college, you might need to produce this information if you wish to transfer courses.