When George Sullivan transferred from Tuskegee University in Alabama to VCU, he failed the majority of his classes, putting him on academic warning right away. Sullivan didn?t go to his classes and just didn?t care about his college career at that point.
"It was a mistake not taking college serious," said Sullivan, a broadcast journalism major. "But I learned from it and it helped me get back on the right track. The threat of getting kicked out of school is very frightening and can make anyone straighten up. Also, the fear of letting my mom down kept me motivated."
Quickly, Sullivan changed his attitude about school and worked hard to get himself off academic probation. He became responsible for his classes and his path to graduation.
"As advisors, the number one challenge that we see students face when they enter the university is that of time management," said Shaun McCracken, an academic advisor at VCU, in an email interview. "The high school structure encourages students to be passive, at least as it relates to time management."
According to McCracken, in high school, students get on a bus in the morning and it takes them to their school. Most high schools have a bell that tells students when a class period is starting and ending. Students have teachers who remind them daily of assignments and tests. But in college, it?s different as students are responsible for themselves.
"College workloads are vastly different from high school workloads," McCracken said. "There is an enormous difference between high school algebra courses and college algebra courses. Students will be overconfident during registration and assume that they will be able to handle 17 credits of math and science courses and then fall into academic jeopardy by midterms."
"Usually there is a rude awakening after the first semester for many students," said Marcus Hubbard, an advisor at John Tyler Community College.
Most universities and colleges like VCU and John Tyler put students on academic warning after the first semester a student?s GPA falls below a 2.0, said Hubbard. If a student fails to get above a 2.0 GPA after the warning semester, the student is put on academic probation. The student has two semesters of academic probation to bring the GPA above 2.0 before a suspension.
VCU offers a class for incoming freshmen, UNIV 101, which teaches students about campus life and the university in general. It also offers a class that teaches students about choosing the right career and major. John Tyler Community College offers a similar class.
"We teach a one-credit SDV 100 that covers time management, test taking and money," Hubbard said. "It is an eight-week class that meets once a week. It is required to graduate, though."
John Tyler also offers workshops on time management, critical thinking and networking. Advisors and faculty want incoming freshmen to understand just how critical time management is in order to be successful in college, said Hubbard.
"Time management is extremely important," said VCU student Sarah Simms, who studies broadcast journalism. "Because you have to plan weeks ahead of time to pick out a topic, do the interviews, check out the camera equipment and then edit the story."
Some undergraduate majors also require more devotion and time than other majors. Time management can be extremely critical for students whose majors are time-consuming and require a lot of work.
"Students in performing arts disciplines will often spend 20 hours or more a week in rehearsal with rehearsals lasting 6-8 weeks," McCracken said. "Bear in mind that all of this work is done in addition to 13 to16 credit hours of class work. We ask all of this because the sad truth is that people in arts disciplines have to be better at time management than the average 9 to 5 worker."
Time management allows students to be more responsible, driven and structured. Incoming freshmen learn at different rates and different speeds about college education. Without the understanding of time management, however, there can be dire consequences for students who don?t seek help.
