Chapter Introduction

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Building a
Foundation
for Success

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Why Go to College?

Learn about Yourself

Stay Positive, Even When It’s Tough

Embrace Your Strengths — and Learn from Your Weaknesses

College Success Leads to Career Success

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Welcome to college! Are you a recent high school graduate? Did you put your education on hold to raise a family, and now you’re returning to school? Are you a veteran beginning college after a tour of duty in the military? Did you take a gap year after high school to get some work experience or to travel, and now you’re ready for college? Regardless of your personal situation, congratulations! Starting college is a huge accomplishment that you can be proud of. And it’s a major step toward your future success — not only in your academic life but also in your personal and professional life.

We wrote this book to help you take that step. As educators and authors, we’ve worked with thousands of college students, and we’ve found that almost all of them want to succeed. We’ve met students who had a hard time defining their goals or who didn’t feel confident that they could achieve them. We’ve also met students who struggled to translate their goals into action and who had trouble finding help when they needed it. But no matter what their challenges, these students were all in school with one objective in mind: to improve their lives. We assume that you have this same objective, and we’re committed to helping you meet it.

But wanting to improve your life is only the beginning. Getting through college requires effort and persistence, and colleges and universities understand that. That’s why so many schools have developed courses like this one to equip you with the attitudes, skills, and resources you need to achieve your goals. Research from hundreds of experts over the last thirty years shows that students who complete these courses achieve higher grades, are more likely to stay in school, graduate faster, and make better decisions than students who don’t.1 So the good news is, you’re in the right place! With the help of your instructor, this book, and other resources available on your campus, you’ll develop the tools you’ll need to excel in college and embark on a satisfying career.

As you go through this course and this book, keep in mind that successful people don’t succeed on their own. Rather, they draw on connections to advance toward their goals — connections with other people, with new knowledge they encounter along the way, and with their own strengths and intentions. Now that you’re in college, a great way to set the stage for your success is to make similar connections. By doing so, you’ll gain a new understanding of yourself and help to maintain your motivation in school. For example, when you connect the skills you learn in college with those you’ll use in your career, every course you take will have more meaning and value to you. That means you’ll be more motivated to do well in these courses. And by making connections with the people around you — instructors, classmates, college staff — you’ll build a network of supporters who can help you through tough times and join you in celebrating your successes.

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Connections are a big theme in this book — and in this course. As you’ll discover, nothing you do or learn is isolated: The information you read about in one chapter relates to topics in other chapters; what you learn in this class will be useful in your other classes; and the skills you build here will be the same ones that will help you excel at work.

In this chapter you’ll learn about the critical components of your success: recognizing why college is important, deep thinking and personal reflection, the power of positivity, a detailed understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and connecting college and career. In fact, this chapter introduces all the big ideas you’ll learn more about as you go through this class. We’ll expand on those big ideas later in the book, and you’ll have plenty of time to get your head around the details. For now, as you read, ask yourself: How does the material in this chapter apply to my other classes? How does it relate to my current or future career? How can I use what I learn in this chapter to create my own success?

WRITING PROMPT: Have students respond to these questions in writing once they’ve completed the chapter. Prompt them to consider “the big picture”: how what they learn in your class will impact their lives outside of the classroom.