Getting into college is an important task for high school seniors, but just as important as getting into college, is being able to complete four years of college and get a degree. There are a number of reasons why students drop out of college, and if you are aware of these reasons before you begin college then it can help you to make a success of your college years.

The first factor causing many students to drop out of college is lack of motivation. A lot of students enter college simply because that is the thing to do. All their friends are going to college and that is what their parents want them to do. If you are not really sure why you are going to college then you may be in for a difficult experience. That\’s why it is a good idea to understand why you are going to college and see how success in college fits in with your plans or vision of your life after college.

Another huge contributor to the college drop out rate is that many students just can\’t handle the amount of freedom that they have when they enter college. This is especially true for students who go to college away from home. In college no one will say anything if you don\’t go to class. It\’s not like in high school, where your truancy will result in a call to your mom or dad. If you are living in a dorm or an apartment you can stay up till all hours of the night and party (as long as you don\’t disturb your neighbors and room-mates). As might be expected, if you make a habit of skipping classes and can\’t maintain a proper routine then you are heading towards academic failure. Developing an inner sense of self-discipline is the best way to face this problem, and it could be one of the most important lessons that you learn in college.

Anther factor contributing to drop out rates that is related to the problem of handling freedom is the question of how to balance social life with academic life. Many students drop out because they get into a habit of excessive dating and partying and neglect their studies. This can go on for a short period but it will eventually spell disaster for their grades. If you can learn how to budget your time between work and fun then you can avoid this pitfall and avoid failing your courses and dropping out.

A huge factor in the inability to complete a college career is the fact that many freshmen do not have the study and academic skills to cope with the increased workload that comes in college. Reading and writing assignments in college are a lot heavier than in high school and classes and lectures are more complicated. Developing proper note-taking skills during or before you enter college could make a big difference. Similarly, perfecting your writing skills will also go a long way to ensuring your successful completion of college.

These are some of the main reasons why students face difficulty in college and why they drop out before completing their four year or two year course. There are, of course, other less common ones.

Esther Marshall has written on more than 30 education related subjects, including online degree programs, financial aid, online colleges and scholarships for adults.

Photo by John Millar

The mind map method is a way to activate recall of studied material. If you are having problems retaining study material after you have taken notes (btw, this is most of us), the mind map method is an effective tool to increase your retention. Read on to learn about this method of note taking that is probably very different from what you learned in school “back in the day.”

The main problem with taking notes the traditional way is that this is a very passive process. Simply taking notes does not get the brain very involved in interacting with the information. If you can get your brain to get more actively involved in organizing the new material you will remember it better.

If you are strong in visual learning, you can benefit from making notes that include lots of graphs and drawings, even cartoons! If you are very high in auditory skills and weak in the visual area you will do better by tape-recording all the notes you need to remember.

The following technique for note-taking is particularly effective for people who are highly visual. This method of making notes is sometimes called “mind-mapping” or making a “learning map”.

Although it takes some practice to use mind-mapping effectively, most people who use it find they can retain and remember far more information with a lot less work.

The essence of the learning-map (also known as “memory-map”, or “mind-map”) technique is quite simple. You will need a blank piece of paper, the larger the better. You will need at least one pen, more if you want to use a variety of colors.

You will be trying to fill the entire page with your notes, so it is important to keep the size of your writing quite small. With practice you should be better able to judge what size of writing will work effectively.

As you listen to the lecturer, or read the article you are studying, decide what you think the central theme is. For example, you might be listening to a lecture where you decide the central theme seems to be, “Conditions in Europe on the eve of World War 2”

Or you might be listening to a talk that has a central theme of “Strategies that plants use to survive winter”

Once you have decided what the central theme is, jot down the words in the center of the page, and draw a circle around the main theme. Don’t try to write down a sentence or a paragraph–just get down enough of the key words that will bring the ideas back into you mind.

Keep listening or reading, watching for the first main sub-theme.

When you come across the first major sub-theme, pick a spot on the page to jot down a few key words that sum up the sub-theme. Draw a circle around the sub-theme words, and then join your sub-theme circle to the main theme circle with a line.

Each time you come across a new major sub-theme, write down a few key words to summarize the new idea, and draw a circle around those words. Then draw a line to join the sub-theme circle to the main idea circle in the center of the page. Eventually you will have a circle in the center with several spokes radiating from it.

The lines or spokes don’t have to be straight, and they can be of any length required. The “circles” don’t have to be circles; they can be squares, triangles, or oval squiggles if you prefer. You can use different colors to help you organize the ideas better.

As the speaker or writer continues to present his ideas, you will find that some of the ideas being presented are additional supporting details that clarify or illustrate one of the sub-themes you have already identified. In this case you will write these “sub-sub-themes” down using just a few words, enclose them in a circle or squiggle, and link them to their sub-theme with a line.

Eventually your sub-theme circles may have many spokes radiating from them as the author or lecturer continues to present his ideas. At a glance you will be able to take in the dominant themes of the talk and the underlying organizational structure of the ideas.

If you happen to have any ideas of your own while you are reading or listening to the lecture, jot them down as well. This shows you have your brain actively interacting with the material.

When you make a mind map or a learning map of all your notes, you create a very visual document that differs a lot from traditional methods of making notes for class.

People who learn very well visually will particularly benefit from the way that learning maps clearly show the relationships between main themes, sub-themes and supporting facts and ideas.

Try this method and see if this note-taking technique works  for you!

Photo by Dheepak Ra

What guarantees you success in college? Excellent study habits, of course! Adult students with families need to be even more on top of their studies because,invariably, some kid-related disaster will arise to disrupt your study schedule. If you’ve been out of the classroom for a long time sitting down to study seems even more daunting. So how do you get excellent study habits?

Studying is an art, a science and a discipline. Firstly, you have to know what time of day you study most effectively. If you’re an early riser, as many moms are, don’t plan to catch up on your studies by pulling all-nighters. You will retain very little if you’re exhausted. If you’re just too beat to concentrate, go to bed. Even four or five hours of sleep will do you a lot more good than no sleep at all. I used to get up about 5:00 AM because I found I could get a lot done before my family rose and I wasn’t interrupted constantly. But, conversely, if you’re a night-hawk, don’t plan on getting up at dawn to study. It just doesn’t work if you’re fighting your body’s natural sleep rhythms. Secondly, it takes planning to study.

You need to review your notes and keep up on your class reading on a daily basis. This helps move the information you learned in class from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. You have to discipline yourself to study when you’d rather watch t.v.; fritter away time on Facebook or Twitter until your eyes cross. If you can’t easily turn off these distractions at home, try studying in the library with your Blackberry or i-Phone in the off position. There’s just something about being in a library that promotes wanting to study. As well, a daily study session quickly lets you know if you understood the information presented in class that day, or if you need to schedule a meeting with your instructor to go over the material. Don’t put off getting help if you need it; you’ll be sunk quickly in a college class if you can’t grasp a concept that is crucial for further understanding of the course material.

A way of taking notes that I found was really effective was to fold my notepaper in half vertically, then use the left side of the page for in-class notes, and the right hand side of the page for notes from the textbook. Implementing this little trick helped me to be sure that I wasn’t leaving out any vital information when I studied. This way, I quickly whether the prof had already covered the material in class or not when I was reading my textbooks. I found this method really worked well for science classes because you just have so much material to get through and retain.

Flash cards aren’t just for kids. Just the act of writing down information on notecards is a wonderful way to help move that information from your short-term memory to long-term memory. Flash cards are also a convenient way to sneak in a little studying if you are waiting in line, or don’t have easy access to your notebooks or textbooks. Flash cards are very helpful for studying for classes where you need to learn a lot of definitions and terminology. Using flash cards directly contributed to my success in my classes in chemistry, biology, microbiology and anatomy.

Lastly, practice makes perfect! If you struggle with math, the best way to get better at it is to practice by answering lots of problems. Check your answers in the back of your textbook to see if you’re on the right track. If your not, checking your answer can give you some clues where you went wrong. The same advice to practice holds true for math-intensive disciplines such as chemistry and physics.

Getting excellent study habits isn’t easy, or even very fun for most of us. But if you want the best grades possible, it’s in your very best interests to cultivate good study habits. Maintaining consistent study habits will put you up with the cream-of-the-crop in all of your classes.