Recently, I had the pleasure of going with my son to freshman orientation at MTSU. It was a fun and exciting day as he begins his next adventure in life and gets ready to head off to college. It also made me reflect on sitting in the same seat he did at another college and being just as excited for that adventure.
Then, in the middle of the orientation, an advisor gets up and talks about all that the school has to offer kids coming in. There is a lot and it is fantastic, far more than we did when we went. She then paused and said, “I have one important piece of advice for you. This will be the most important thing I will tell you.” She paused and everyone in the audience set up to listen.
Now before I tell you what she said, I need to give a little backstory. When I am fortunate enough to speak to high schools or college classes, I also offer the exact same advice as this advisor ended up giving. She is correct, it is the most important thing you can do when you get to school. In fact, I had I not done this, I am not sure I would have ever passed a class at Samford.
It was drilled into my head by my mother, by my football coach and also by my advisor as well. When the lady at MTSU said this, I almost fell out. Again, I say it all the time but to hear someone with credentials and who has been doing it over twenty five years, say the exact same thing, it just made it all hit home.
Here it is—-Go To Class!
Yes, three words that are powerful. Go to class. Whatever you do, just go to class. You will have classes with over a hundred people in there and chances are the professor won’t know you are or aren’t there. You know who will know? Your grades. They will know. I am telling you, as I tell all the classes I am grateful to speak with, go to class.
Parents, hammer this home in every way you can. Here is why it is important. I was a terrible student my first go around. Absolutely terrible. On the flip side, I will say I had the most fun of anyone who ever went to Samford. I was the Toastmaster General in my time there. Am I proud of it? Depends on what type of day I am having as a 56 year old man.
Now my first year I had a 1.25 GPA. Yes, terrible but back then all you had to do was get 24 hours in a year to be eligible. You know what classes I passed better than the others? Yes, all the ones I went to. I failed the ones I didn’t. Pretty simple.
Just going, you will learn by osmosis. Now I thought osmosis was a famous Greek philosopher but it turned out to be something completely different. Remember, there is no one there to tell you to get up and go to class. Going to class will solve 90% of your academic problems because you won’t be staying up all hours of the night studying and worrying because sitting in that room taking notes will be so beneficial to you.
The MTSU advisor was fantastic and at the end, she said it again for those in the back of the room—Go To Class! I will tell you that as well as you read this and get ready to send your kids off to college. Just do this one thing when you go to school.
Go. To. Class. And also, skip penny beer night at a bar close to UAB. Trust me on that.
