The end of the semester is here—your professors will be calculating your grades very soon. Hopefully, you’re confident that you’ll be getting A’s in all of your classes. But, as anyone who has gone through college will tell you, that’s not very likely. What is likely is that you’re not too sure about some of your grades; and if you’re not doing so hot, you might be worrying about some of them. You only have a couple days (at the most) to convince your professor to kick your grade up a notch or two. What are you going to do?

This isn’t a useful strategy in this situation, but I have to say it. Next time, don’t let your grade fall throughout the semester! Work hard through your class, and you won’t have this problem.

But that’s not the case. You’re worried about your grade, so you’re trying to figure out what to do about it. One of the best ways to show your professor that you’re concerned about the class and working hard to improve your grade is to do really well on the final. Easier said than done, yes, but you have to work hard to get out of the hole you dug yourself into. Start early, and get some serious studying done. Use effective study strategies, get enough sleep, and get out there and slay the test. If you can get an A on the test, your professor might be willing to bump your grade up a bit. If you class has a final project instead of a final exam, do the same thing. You have to create a pretty strong impression, so don’t mess around.

If you’re not so confident in your abilities to impress your professor academically, you’ll have to take more direct measures. Go talk to your professor about the class. Don’t bring up the subject of your grade, but ask questions about the test or your project. Get some clarification on things you don’t understand. Show your professor that you want to turn your academics around and that you’re willing to work hard for the class.

Similarly, going to class-organized study groups is a great way to show your commitment. Your professor may show up to one of these sessions, or s/he might get a record of who attended. Even if the professor doesn’t find out that you were there, it’ll help you test-taking or project-completing.

An absolute worst-case scenario strategy is to directly approach your professor about your grade. This isn’t likely to work, and can be extremely awkward, so I don’t recommend it, but you might be able to get moved from an F to a D- if you make a really strong case. If you have to go this far, I wish you luck, because you’re going to have a tough time. But it could be worth it!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

Just like staying involved in your high school, staying connected with your college—both while you’re there and after you graduate—is both rewarding and important. And while the two have several things in common, there are different ways in which you can maintain your level of involvement in your college campus. Because of the great differences in how high schools and colleges are run, you’ll have to go about the process a little differently.

One of the more immediately obvious differences is the way in which you’ll find out about opportunities for involvement. Because universities are so much larger than high schools, there’s almost sure to be a volunteer coordinator or another similar person working there. A good way to go about finding this person is to contact your college’s office of alumni affairs or alumni council (both of which you should be able to find on the school’s website fairly easily). Someone in this group will be able to direct you to who you need to talk to.

After you talk to the correct university representative, you’ll probably start noticing another significant difference between high school and college in this respect: in college, it’s much more organized. In high school, it’s often pretty informal, and you can just walk in and start helping out somewhere. At the post-secondary level, you’ll probably be placed in a very specific place to do a more specific task. You’ll still have the choice of what you want to do, of course, but it’s likely that the options will be tailored to the needs of the school. It’s also fairly likely that you’ll be working in a group; groups of alumni often gather to do some sort of service project for their college.

Alumni organizations are also good ways to get involved. Many alumni groups organize regular volunteer sessions at their college, and you can hook up with them by contacting your alumni office and asking about organizations that stay involved with the school. It’s often easier to do it this way, because you might know a few of the people that you’re working with, and at the very least, you have something significant in common. A lot of these groups use Facebook or another online social networking tool to stay in touch, and this makes it really easy to find out about events that you can take part in.

However you get in contact with your school or an alumni group, it’s good to get out there and give back to your school. You’ll be working for a good cause, get to meet other alumni from your college, and have fun. So, whether you’ve graduated already or not, find out about doing some volunteer work around your campus. You’ll be glad you did.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

College students have varied opinions of their high schools. Some have a great deal of pride in them; others don’t look back at all. Some stay in contact with their high school friends and teachers; others cut their ties when they leave for college. However you feel about your high school, there are many ways in which you can stay involved and give back to it.

Why stay involved? There are many reasons, most of which have to do with helping the school and the faculty that have helped you out over the past four years. And while you may not think right now that they did anything to help you, it’s possible that you’ll change your mind in six months (or a few years). Try to imagine what it’s like to be a high school teacher or administrator. You get up every day and go to work, where hundreds, if not thousands, of teenagers are waiting for you. And they’re usually not very cooperative (and often not friendly). But you still do it every day, because you want to help them move on and improve their lives. Sound like a tough job? It is. It’s people like these that make big differences in lives, and it behooves every high school graduate to give back to their high school.

If nothing else, it’s good to stay involved in your high school so that you can help out the students there. They’re probably thinking the same thing you were—that they’d rather not be in class, that the teachers don’t like them, and that administrators exist to give them trouble. Wouldn’t it be nice if a former student could talk to them, even if just to sympathize? You, like the teachers, can make a difference in these students’ lives.

So giving back to your high school sounds like a good idea. How do you get started? Different schools allow different levels of involvement, so it’s important to talk to someone at the school first. Call up the principal or another high-level administrator (if your high school is large enough, you might even have a volunteer coordinator or some other such person to talk to) and ask them how you can help out. Maybe you can be a chaperone at a dance, or stop into a classroom once a week to help out one of the teachers that you liked a lot. Or you could be a gym monitor over a lunch period. Some athletically inclined alumni will get involved in a high school sports program that they participated in as a student. I know people who have gone back to help coach a team that they were on many years before.

Regardless of how you give back, you will be greatly appreciated, and you will make a positive difference in the lives of the students, the teachers, and the faculty at your high school. And isn’t that reason enough? Call up your high school today and see what you can do to help out.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

One of the most valuable things that you can receive as a student is good advice. There are many places that you can receive this advice—from teachers and professors, academic advisors, coaches, your parents, your friends, even this blog. But one of the best places to get good advice is from a mentor, someone dedicated to helping you out.

A mentor, really, is anyone older than you who takes you under their wing. Mentoring is about giving advice and offering guidance. This can be socially, academically, spiritually, or any other number of ways. Mentoring relationships are found between friends and family members as well as in other places. There are many formal mentoring programs, but there are just as many informal mentoring relationships. How you find one is up to you.

My alma mater has a great example of a college-level mentoring program. Alumni can sign up to be part of this program, and if they do, they are paired with an undergraduate student. Every so often, the mentor and the student meet for lunch and talk. It’s very informal and relaxed, and students can gain a great deal of useful information from the alumni. Sometimes it’s serious things, like how to make the right decision when it comes to declaring a major. Other times, it’s things like the best bars at which to find cute guys. It depends completely on the mentor and the student.

Whether you choose to engage in a formal mentoring program or just meet up with someone you look up to every once in a while, I highly recommend finding a mentor. You can use online directories, such as can be found through statewide mentoring partnerships, or talk to someone in at your school (usually academic counselors and career development services have good ideas on this topic). Mentoring is great for everybody, but it can be especially helpful for college students, so many campuses provide resources for making these connections. You can also find useful information on finding a mentor at Goal-Setting-College.com.

Once you’ve found a mentoring relationship, it’s important to be willing to put time and effort into it. This can be difficult if you’re not a socially outgoing person, but it’s crucial to the effectiveness of the relationship. And because there is so much that you can get out of it, it’s essential to be willing to step out of your comfort zone just a little bit to make the most of it. Ask questions, share stories, and get to know your mentor. It may be a little awkward at first, but most relationships are—so take some time, be patient, and you’ll be rewarded. Remember this experience, too, because you may find yourself on the other side of the table in a few years!

Mentoring is a very fulfilling experience, and I hope that you’re able to find a mentor that can help you throughout your college years. I also hope that you’ll step up as a mentor yourself one day!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

Whether or not you were excited about your high school or hometown, you probably know some people who were. Just about every high school has students that display their school pride very outwardly and very often. Well, it’s the same in college—but the intensity is taken up several steps. And so is the popularity. In high school, it’s often a pretty small crew of kids that’s really into supporting the school or the city. In college, that’s not so much the case.

First of all, the number of people that are really stoked on the school is greatly increased. Why? It’s hard to say. Maybe because very few people get to choose which high school they go to, and they feel a stronger sense of ownership of their college. Or because college sports are a much bigger deal than high school sports. Whatever the reason, you’ll find out pretty quickly (especially if you go to big sports games, like football, basketball, or hockey) that school spirit is a pretty serious thing in college. You’ll see people with their faces and bodies painted, wearing all kinds of clothing of your school’s color, and a range of other crazy things. You also might be surprised at just how loud a crowd of students can get (especially if the game is later in the day and people have had a chance to have a few drinks).

Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? And you want to get involved? Fortunately, it’s easy. Showing your school pride is as simple as wearing a school shirt around campus. You can even find free clothes with your school’s logo on it if you look around enough. Many on-campus events include giveaways where you can pick up lanyards, water bottles, t-shirts, bandanas, and other things. If not, go to your book or clothing store and pick up a shirt. Simple.

If you want to take it up a notch, it’s time to get creative. What can you wear that’s your school color? Where I went to school, Mardi Gras-like beads were very popular at my school. Scarves are great, too, unless it’s really hot out. Wearing shoes in your school’s color is another good way to add some color, too.

Once you’ve adorned yourself with as many crazy, school-colored things as possible, there’s only one thing left to do. Get a group of your friends together, get to the game, and get loud!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com