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 Student Success Guide (prepared by Dr. Heidemarie Lundblad, PhD)

This section of the Student Success Guide begins by discussing the importance of developing a personal portfolio, it continues with suggestions for designing an efficient course schedule, and it concludes with a discussion of a realistic time budget.  The other two sections of the Student Success Guide address problems commonly encountered by students and some suggestions on how to deal with them, and a partial guide to resource available at CSUN to help you reach your fullest potential.

Successful individuals are well organized. Organization promotes efficiency, ensures that important tasks are not forgotten, and leaves more time to engage in fun! One step that will help you become organized is to develop a personal portfolio, a file folder that contains all important information related to your University career.

Your personal portfolio should include the following: (items in italics are further discussed below) 

• Your current class schedule
• Current course outlines and other information relating to the current semester
• Grade reports and transcripts (your personal copy of the infamous DARS report)
• Your proposed course schedule
• Your time budget
• Information about important dates, deadlines and requirements for graduation
• This guide to success
• The resource guide

At least once each semester review and update the material in your portfolio. Remember that rules, regulations, requirements and prerequisites may change and that it is your responsibility to be aware of and comply with current requirements.

 Getting Organized -Developing Your Proposed Course Schedule

 Students at CSUN are faced with a number of confounding factors in trying to construct an efficient course schedule. Complicated and restrictive General Education requirements, numerous prerequisites and a dysfunctional registration system conspire to make the path to graduation an exercise in frustration. This makes it that much more important to have (a) all necessary information and (b) a plan. Developing a carefully thought out schedule for the remainder of your college career will help you attain your goal with a minimum of frustration. You can identify areas where you can be flexible (substitute a different course if you cannot get your first choice) and critical courses that must be taken at a certain time. This will enable you to focus your energy on getting those critical courses, thus increasing your chances of success in your heroic struggle to graduate.

 To help you with developing your proposed course schedule, check out the sample schedule that can be accessed by clicking here (schedules are provided for several possible sets of circumstances/time seuqences) . Use this sample schedule in conjunction with the General Education Section of the current CSUN catalog to plan your own detailed proposed course schedule.

1. Carefully study the sample course sechdule that applies to your circumstances. .
2. Complete a similar worksheet, showing the courses you intend to take in the next four semesters.
3. Take into consideration your work schedule. Be realistic. If you work a significant number of hours per week, a full class schedule (six courses) may not be possible.
4. Make sure that your proposed schedule contains a "workable" mix of relatively easier classes and more time consuming classes. I.e., don’t cram all "hard" courses in one or two semesters.
5. Identify the GE courses you have yet to take, using the categories (e.g., C1 stands for Humanities - Literature) in the sample worksheet and the current catalog as your guide.
6. Identify those courses that are critical (prerequisites to other courses) and mark them.
7. Make sure to include some flexibility (i.e., courses that can be taken in different semesters without impeding progress toward graduation)
8. Keep in mind that you are an accounting major. This means that your accounting courses should take precedence over other classes.
9. Consider alternative course scheduling schemes - always have a "Plan B".

You should think of this work sheet as your master plan that will guide you when you register for classes from now on. Depending on how successful you are in obtaining the classes you want (need), you may have to reevaluate and update your master schedule periodically. We are aware of the difficulties the disfunctional CSUN registration system can cause. Please be aware that the Department and I are committed to do everything in our power to ensure that students in good standing will be able to enroll in the accounting classes required to enable you to complete your degree in a timely manner. I will provide you with more information about our "Enrollment Guarantee" later in the semester.

To be successful in your studies requires the willingness to apply one of the lessons you have learned in you Economics courses: you need to forgo current consumption (for example of leisure time) to invest in your future. It is important that you keep in mind that what you do in the next several semesters will have a significant impact on the rest of your life. Most of you work. We understand that this may be essential to pay for living expenses and University related costs. However, you must not lose sight of the reason why you are working now: To enable you to obtain a much better job in the future. This will only happen, if you devote sufficient time to studying. You must think of your course work as your primary job. If you work too many hours and if you have a complicated private life, you may not have enough time to do justice to your classes, especially if you enroll in too many courses. The result will be that you fall behind in your classes, perform poorly on assignments and exams and receive poor grades. The ultimate outcome will be that the sacrifices you made to attend this University have been in vain. It is therefore important for you, that you are realistic when you design your course program and that you do not sign up for more classes than you can adequately prepare for. Be aware that the "repeat option" has been severely curtailed and it is important that you ‘get it right" the first time. Preparation of a time budget will help you to evaluate your time commitments and ensure that you have adequate time for studying. Following the steps outlined below should help you in constructing a realistic time budget.

 Time Budget

1. Prepare a time budget for one week.
2. For each day block out the hours you are in class (including travel time and time between classes).
3. Block out the hours you are at work (including travel time).
4. Block out the time you have committed to other activities (family obligations, sports, clubs, hobbies, party time)
5. Determine the best times for you to study and mark a block of study time. Include some time for group meetings and research activities.
6. Evaluate your time commitments. Do your other commitments (work and leisure activities) force you to schedule study time into odd hours? Are there enough hours left for studying (remember the rule of thumb is that for each hour in class you should on average budget three hours of study time)? If you find that you cannot schedule enough study time you must reevaluate your commitments. Perhaps you can cut back on some of your activities, cut back on working hours or you may have to reduce your course load. Be honest with yourself. Do you have a record of having to scramble at the last minute to finish assignments? Do you have to "pull all nighters"? How many times have you hoped to "pull out a grade on the final"? How many times did it work?
7. Develop a study routine. Think of the study time blocks as if they were just another job. I.e., at this time I must study.
8. Periodically (at least twice during the semester) critically evaluate your time budget. Is it working? Did you allocate enough time to do justice to your classes? Are you sticking to it? Why not?
9. Make adjustments to your time budget, if necessary. If you realize that you are not sticking to your budget, try to determine why not. Do not "beat up on yourself". Don’t think "oh what’s the use, I can’t do it." or "there is so much I need to do, I’ll never be able to do it all". Nobody is perfect. Stuff happens. What is important is that you learn from your experience, make appropriate adjustments and promise yourself to stick to your budget one day at a time.

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 This site is prepared and maintained by Heidemarie.Lundblad@csun.edu