Successful college experience

1. Five tips to a
successful college
experience
Edward Perry, MBA
Professor, George Brown College
Toronto, Canada

2. Learn how you learn
College can be a lot of work and you will be juggling work,
school, and life. To keep your priorities in check, know how you
learn. Do you learn when you’re in a noisy room? Or it’s really
quiet? Do you learn at night? Or first thing in the morning?
When are you most productive and leverage that time.
Personally I still follow the 1990’s-developed Pomodoro model.
I divide my learning time in chunks of 20 minute increments. I
was able to complete my degrees using this model.
Edward Perry

3. Don’t read every word on the page of your text book
Tara Kuther suggest six tips on reading for college:
1. Scholarly reading requires a different approach than leisure
reading
2. Read in multiple passes
3. Start small, with the abstract
4. Read in more depth
5. Remember that you don’t have to finish
6. Adopt a problem-solving mindset
Edward Perry

4. Are you focusing on the right thing?
Learning not grades!
You’ve made it. You’re now in college. This is not the time to
be worrying about grades but about learning more thoroughly
about your chosen field of study.
College is more than just completing that paper or ensuring
you ace that exam. This is the time to hone your critical
thinking skills, your ability to research correctly, to work well
with others, and enhance your competency in evidence-based
decision making.
Edward Perry

5. Everyday is an interview day
Connecting with your Classmates: This is the time to connect with classmates who will
be your colleagues in the field. Don’t just work with one team, get to know your whole
class. You never know who will be on the other side of the interview table when it’s time to
look for a job. And it doesn’t have to be this immediate job, it can be the next one or the
next one after that.
Knowing your Professors: Each of your professors have a wide professional network in
the industry you are trying to get into. Your professors can provide good or even great
references but it is all up to you to show them, every time you’re in class, that you will be
a great asset to the organizations you are going to apply to after school.
“Treat every time you’re school as if it’s an interview and you will be successful.”
Edward Perry

6. Get a mentor and a coach
An academic coach will assist you in adopting approaches by employing a set of activities
to increase your performance or strengthen your capability from a specific set of behaviours
and attitudes.
A mentor has a more long-term focus and will not get into the minutiae of the day-to-day.
Your mentor will assist in widening your views on your decision-making thinking and how
your decisions impact others and yourself.
Both are incredibly valuable for one’s professional development and work best in tandem.
There are academic coaches and mentors provided by schools and also available as an
external party. Just make sure they have the right credentials and training before
embarking on a professional relationship with them.
Edward Perry

7. Too smart to fail
Guide to understanding the role of a mentor
Student success: Focus on learning not grades
Students need to focus on learning, not grades
Difference between academic coaching and tutoring
How coaching can impact teachers, principals and schools
4 Tips for Post-College Graduation Success
Road to post-grad success
Edward Perry
Additional References