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If Only ...

By Marcy Kraus, dean of freshmen and director of the College Center for Advising Services

How did your student spend his or her winter break?  After fall semester grades are posted, many first-year students will spend some time in self-reflection.  Maybe there was one grade that was disappointing.  Perhaps finals week was almost unmanageably stressful.  Was there a course that didn’t live up to expectations? Following the first semester of college, students often spend some amount of time creating and reviewing a fall semester “If Only” list:

Students who thoughtfully articulate their “If Only” lists can then construct an action plan for the upcoming semester; students with action plans will be more successful than those who decide that they will just try harder. Consider the following action plans:

Winter break offers time to reflect and recharge, to develop action plans and to take advantage of the fresh start of the spring semester.  And while plans don’t always work out the way one predicts, the process of planning is an important part of learning and discovery.