What Steps Can I Take to Ensure I Will Not Get on Academic Probation?

It's 3 AM, you're still up, and you're thinking about the psychology exam you took that morning. Your pretty sure you bombed it. That, along with the math exam you have the next day, has you worried and asking yourself:

What Steps Can I Take to Ensure I Will Not Get on Academic Probation?

There are 34 steps from Heritage Plaza to the Library doors. There are 55 steps from the first floor of the Library to the third. There are 52 steps between the top and bottom of the beautifully reconstructed Cardiac Hill. Though it may seem like a million when you are slogging your way around campus, it's actually not so many. I hate to be glib, but these are the steps that will keep you out of academic trouble.

Take those steps on Cardiac Hill: you go up and down them on your way to class, to eat, to work out, and to be involved with social activities on campus. Undoubtedly, if you don't go to class, you will end up on Academic Probation. Fact. But those other reasons to walk those steps are just as vital to your success. You need to get connected. Studies have shown that the more connected you are to your University, the more success you will experience academically. You also need to eat well and get exercise. Seriously. I know I sound like your mom, but it's just true. You also need to get more sleep, but that's another conversation.

Those Cardiac Hill steps will also take you to your professor's office. If you are struggling, if you have missed some classes and aren't sure how to make it up, if you made a bad grade on a test or assignment and don't know how to improve it, GO SEE YOUR PROFESSOR! If the office hours listed on your syllabus don't match times when you are available, email your professor and ask politely for another time. Most of us really want to help. The rest of us are just jerks.

Finally, the library: aaaaaah, the library. It is a mecca of intellectual growth. It is a quiet place to study, a place to get a small group study room, a place to ASK FOR HELP. The library staff (conveniently located in the center of the first floor - straight ahead as you go in the doors) are possibly the most helpful and hip people on campus. If you have a paper or an assignment that requires research, just walk right up and ask for help. Or "Ask a Librarian" from your dorm room or home. Or sit down in the middle of the library and cry. They will help. I promise.

Take these steps, and you are so much more likely to see success that it's ridiculous. Ridiculous, I tell you!

Cheers,

Dr. Y