The Shorthorn - Your View January 21, 2010

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Your View January 21, 2010 - Academic Battle Plan

Written by Jacob Becker, The Shorthorn columnist

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 06:23 PM

The semester has arrived, the campus is back in swing and freshmen who survived their first tour find themselves back on the frontlines.

Freshmen remain at the bottom of the classification food chain, but they are not the new recruits they were last semester. In the battle for academic survival, they have earned their first stripes on their way to the Medal of Honor that is graduating.

While they are freshmen, they have been promoted to the rank of veteran freshmen.

Second semester students have been through the fog of orientation, they have felt the shell shock of first tests and they survived the trench warfare that is finals week. There are those who were not prepared for the stressful workload and others who excelled beyond their own expectations. But whether they hit the ground running or land on their face, a new semester offers a chance to learn from experience.

It is time to earn the upperclassmen’s respect and not to make the mistakes of the “green” freshmen that join you this semester.

Despite high school rumors, you have learned that you have to go to class. This is especially important to remember for those who walked tall when grades came out this last winter. Veteran freshmen cannot get caught in the trap of false confidence. It would be a shame to see GPAs feel the fall that follows pride.

Remember to manage your time. Although it may be a college cliché, few take it to heart until it is too late. Many may have gone into the fall with an itemized calendar of their time but quickly threw it out the window when the stress bullets started flying.

The key this semester is to be reasonable with yourself.

Do not make perfect goals and break them, rather set reasonable goals and achieve them.,It doesn’t matter if you slid by or aced your way through. Unlike entering freshmen, you know what worked and what didn’t.

The campus is no longer new, so talk with friends about studying and use the campus assets of tutoring, such as the Writing Center and Math Clinic, to your advantage. Additionally, you can seek personal mentoring services through the UTA Hosts peer mentoring program.

This semester brings you back to the fight with a little limp in your walk and a little salt in your talk. Keep your head up, soldier, and we might all make it out of here alive. Take up your textbooks and your pens and show the campus you belong.