Tips #25

About 20% of the students who started college this fall won't return next year. This statistic, seen in a more positive way, reveals that Eastern retains about 80% of its first-year students, which is better than most comparable institutions. Within five years after having started at Eastern, over 60% of the students graduate. Again, this is a pretty good record. But what about the 40% of students who drop out?

Dropping out of college is rarely due to a lack of intelligence. True, many students leave because they lack basic skills in such crucial areas as reading, writing, or studying. However, most of the students in this category are smart enough to develop these skills if they understood what they needed to learn and if they engaged in the sometimes long process of improving their abilities. It is also true that some students leave college for very good reasons. They transfer to another school to pursue a degree in a field that Eastern does not have a major in or they encounter financial or health concerns that require them to attend school closer to home or put off college for a while. Intelligence, transferring, financial concerns and health issues are not the main causes of student departure.

The reason why the majority of students leave college can be summarized in a few words. They drop out because they allow themselves to be defeated by obstacles. There are two kinds experiences that can become obstacles: challenges and hoops.

Colleges are designed to provide students with many challenges, both academic and social. Final exams, for example, are an academic challenge. Those students who are well prepared, who plan and set goals, and who evaluate their "success strategies" generally thrive on meeting academic challenges. Aspects of living among others in residence halls are an example of a social challenge. These kinds of challenges are generally met by those students who learn how to take on the perspective of others, who consider the moral consequences of their actions, and who learn how to advocate responsibly for themselves. Generally, students whose personalities range from being extremely shy to being really obnoxious mature and adapt to life in the residence halls.

When successful students encounter an academic or social challenge that they do not possess the tools to resolve, they seek help. They talk with their professors; they visit the reading, writing or learning assistance centers; they form study groups; they ask their R.A.s for help; or they go to the counseling center. Students who leave college often let these challenges become major obstacles. They experience failure or anxiety, and this erodes their self-confidence. Deep down, they may come to believe that they are stupid or socially unattractive. They avoid the challenges that have turned into obstacles by escaping to an environment where they can regain their feelings of self-worth.

The second kind of experience that can become an obstacle are caused by the hoops one has to jump through in college. As one gets older, one realizes that there are quite a few hoops in life. College is merely the place where they are often first encountered. Following a prescribed course of studies, paying deposits and fees on time, meeting with an advisor, completing assessment activities, obtaining passwords, and (sometimes) satisfying the whims of professors are typical college hoops. Take heart, there are generally good reasons for many of the hoops that students have to jump through. Most of these reasons have to do with standardizing processes so that large numbers of people can be accommodated. That realization does not always make them feel better. Students will be asked to jump through a hoop, and they will sometimes get fed up with having to do something someone else's way. Students who stay in college realize that these hoops are demands that are similar to those that will be placed upon them by every organization that they work with. Hoops are a part of our social lives. Jumping through the hoops at any organization does not have to be terribly frustrating, however. Students can learn how to be "organizationally smart." By keeping track of what the college requires them to do, the hoops will not be a terribly big challenge. The hoops become major obstacles when students avoid them, put off working their way through them, or let them accumulate. If the difficulty passing through these hoops becomes great, the hoops can become major obstacles and then this becomes an excuse for leaving college.

Those who make it through college not only obtain a degree but learn valuable life lessons as well. Most of the challenges graduates encountered were merely challenges--opportunities for growth, not insurmountable obstacles. They came to realize as they were struggling to enhance their academic and social knowledge and improve their academic and social skills, that being challenged was the only way one could grow. They realize that they won't be totally successful in everything that they attempt, but they will keep trying and they learned from their mistakes. Not giving up is the key. Avoiding letting things become obstacles and staying focused on the truly important aspects of college life are also important. Students who are likely to graduate will take the hoops in stride. They understand that challenges are an essential element of the process of getting a degree.

Finals will be here shortly. And there will be papers due and presentations and last minute quizzes and tests during the last two weeks. At the same time, stress levels in the residence halls will be running high and the chances of conflict will thereby increase. There may also be some hoops to jump through before next semester. Try to see these things in a positive light--as challenges, not as major obstacles. Plan ahead, then keep plugging away a day at a time. Do not take the challenges too lightly, but don't take them too seriously either. Do your best work, and seek help when a challenge seems to be turning into an obstacle. Be among those 60% of the students who graduate from Eastern--not one of the 40% who let an obstacle grow too large. Persistence is the key to the degree.