How You Can Avoid Failing College
By: John D. Moore, PhD
The decision to enroll in college is an important life event. Many people sign up for university courses with the hope of earning a degree and by extension, the chance at a better life.
Sadly, a good number of college students never reach their educational goals because they simply fail to do what is necessary to make their academic dreams come true. The current estimates are sobering, suggesting around 380,000.00 learners each year literally fail out of institutions of higher learning.
College Failure Reasons
While I understand there are a number of life events that can interfere with your ability to focus on earning your degree, it is important to say excuses will only get you so far. A careful assessment needs on your part needs to be made before registering for any college course to determine if you are ready to sign on the dotted line.
This brief post will explore 10 of the most common reasons students fail in college. I am giving you the straight deal here and not sugar coating anything.
Nearly off of what appears on this college failure list has come from personal observations as a college instructor, coupled with available higher education statistics. Because we tend to see a lot of college students here 2nd Story Counseling, I thought this post might be helpful to you as a reader.
Are you ready? Let’s jump right in!
5 Reasons Students Fail College
1. Unable to Assume Responsibility
There are a number of reasons that you may be unable to assume responsibility. I encourage you to think about what is currently on your plate and assess if you are simply too “full” at this moment in time. If so, think about what you can change to make your workload lighter.
2. Wrong Major or Specialty Area
Many new college students enroll themselves in a specific degree program without giving real thought to the choice they have made. When this happens, you run the risk of picking something that does not hold your interest, causing you to become disinterested and unmotivated.
I encourage you to take a mindful approach to the specialty area you choose and meditate on it before making a final decision.
3. Skills Aptitude
Yep – this is a very real reason many students fail college. Here, I am not talking about intelligence. Instead, I am pointing towards aptitude. Aptitude is a by-product of prior learning. If you have enrolled yourself into an engineering program at the undergraduate level but have only take a handful of math classes, it stands to reason that you may not have the aptitude to succeed in related course assignments.
If this is the case for you, it may be necessary to re-think a number of things, including the need to take foundational courses.
4. Wrong Priorities
This is perhaps one of the biggest reasons why well intentioned students who enroll in college end up failing later. Having the wrong priorities means placing more emphasis on activities that bring pleasure than focusing on a given set of assignments.
Examples include focusing on hobbies, sports, entertainment shows and endless hours on social media. The simple solution here is to accept the reality that when you are in college, there are some things that you will have to say no to in order to succeed.
5. Procrastination
This is another major reason why students struggle and may even fail while in college. Part of procrastination involves magical thinking, which is a 25 cent term borrowed from cognitive psychology to describe an irrational belief that things will somehow take care of themselves on their own.
The solution of course is to have a good time management plan and to focus on creating time for assignments well in advance of their due date. Having a solid time management plan will also help you avoid procrastination.
Failing College Final Thoughts
It is important to state here that the path to successful degree completion is not easy. It absolutely takes time, focus and energy in order to achieve your long held scholastic goals. And for every negative failure story, there are scores of positive ones. The trick of course is to learn the reasons why people typically fail and then make a conscious choice to avoid becoming another statistic.
Working with a counselor can sometimes help you identify your specific academic roadblocks and create a supportive environment for goal setting and behavior modification. Many students come to think of their therapist as a safe place to explore issues while also having elements of accountability.
I hope you watched the video above, created by a young man who explains why he failed college during his first year. Hopefully, you can learn from what appears in this article and from the video as you give thought to your own college career. I’m also including a book recommendation for additional tips on how to succeed in college so that success is part of your reality.
Finally, you will find a poll below so you can share what you feel is currently your biggest road block while in school.
Thanks for taking time to read this post. I hope you found this information useful. Please Like 2nd Story Counseling on Facebook, Circle us on Google Plus and share on Twitter!
