Letter to Incoming Freshman: "How Much Do You Know About HPU?"

Dear New HPU Student,
My name is Emily Foster and I am currently a Freshman at High Point this year and I just wanted to share some things about HPU that you may not already know, and some that I'm sure you will know. I believe that the following information will be useful and informative for you to know before arriving at HPU.

1. College is hard. Its hard to go from living at home with your parents reminding you of everything you need to do, to going to college where you are completely 100% responsible for yourself and your work. Statistics show that only 6 of 10 entering freshman nationally survive the first year of college and of those 6, 4 will earn their bachelor's degree.
2. You have to make the grade. At HPU you must have GPA of 2.0 or better to: 1) graduate, 2) avoid being put on academic probation, 3) take part in greek life, 4) play sports. So its's very important to maintain your grades and do your work.
3. There is always help. Whether you need help in French or Calculus, there will always be someone to help you. Tutoring services are accessible to all students. Getting a tutor is easy, all a student has to do is go to the Smith Library and go to the 4th floor. Where academic services is located.
4. If you need a tutor Greg is your guy. This one kind of goes with number 3, but if you are interested in getting a tutor you would need to go see Greg, who is in charge of tutoring at HPU.
5. Credits. To be considered a sophomore a student must have completed 28 hours before the opening of the sophomore year. The average amount of classes a student will take in one semester is 4 classes. There is limit to how many credits you may take in one semester. A student can be enrolled in a maximum of 18 credits per semester (without doing an "overload").
6. Grades. The grade of a WA on a transcript is given to a student who stops going to class in all. The WA stands for withdraw, meaning that the student has with drawn from the class.
7.  Grading System. In the HPU grading system an A is considered "superior" work, a B is considered "excellent" work, and a C is considered "average".
8. Graduation Requirements. A total of 128 credits/semester hours is required for graduation. Also, in order to graduate a student must have AT LEAST an average of a C (2.0) in their major and may not have more than 2 grades of a D in required courses in their major. As far as your minor goes, you may not have more than 2 D grades in any of the minor courses.
9. Class Times. The first class period on Tuesdays and Thursdays starts at 7:50 A.M.
10. Responsibility. The STUDENT is responsible for monitoring progress and assuring completion of ALL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS. Do not just rely on the help of your advisors or a faculty member, you must be responsible for yourself.
11. Professors. At HPU there are a total of 200 professors employed this year.
12. Adding Classes. There is a time limit on being able to add a class. No student is allowed to add courses later than 7 days after classes begin each semester.
13. Junior Marshals. At the beginning of your Junior year the top 20 students will be designated as the Junior Marshals for the academic year.
14. Minor. A minor is a short sequence of courses, normally requiring a minimum of 
15. Academic Probation. Freshman students who are on probation after the Fall semester must earn a cumulative GPA of 1.7 or higher at the end of the Spring semester in order to return to HPU.
16. Size. In the 2009-2010 High Point University had a student enrollment of approximately 3700 students. 
17. Dean's List. To make the Dean's List a student must be taking at least 12 credits in a semester and earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
18. Psychological counseling. We do offer psychological counseling to all students that is located on the 3rd floor of Slane. But hopefully you won't have to visit that floor.
19. Foreign Language. A student must earn 6 semester hours of the same foreign language at the 202 level as a General Education Requirement.
20. Making sure you get credit. If a student wants to take a summer source from another institution for a summer course, the student must earn a  grade of a C or higher

I know that this is a lot of information to take in at first, and that some is a bit intimidating when you first hear it, but with all the help and support that you receive at HPU your bound to succeed. I hope that after having read this you have learned something new about HPU. I can't wait to see you here in the fall and if you have any questions please feel free to call me.
                                                                                    
                                                                                               Respectfully, Emily Foster                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Time Management & Procrastination

1. We all procrastinate, even if you don't want to admit it, you know you do to. Although some people procrastinate more than others, the fact of the matter is that we all do it. I'll admit that I have been known to procrastinate a great deal and up until this course I never really wondered why I procrastinate so much. It wasn't until after being given this blog assignment that I think I have been able to identify why it is that I procrastinate. Here are my theories of why I think I procrastinate: 1.) I like being able to brag about how I completed something at the last minute. I love getting to brag about how I was able to complete an assignment (whether it be a paper, a project, an essay.  2.)  I don't want to give up my time to do other things (even though I have plenty of other chances to earlier in the day, but choose to put them off until later, as usual).  3.) I get distracted by other things VERY easily. Because of the fact that I cannot focus whatsoever, it makes getting my work done that much more difficult. There's no problem for me to be able to identify the "reasons" I put off doing academic related tasks. The common "reasons" or excuses that I tell myself are that "I have plenty of time", "I have so much other homework to do for the classes that I'm in", "it won't take me long to do it", etc. The problem for me is to be able to get out of this rut of procrastinating and get my work done well in advance.

2. There are many ways to overcome procrastination. And I feel as if I exercised simple tasks to keep from doing it, I would be able to overcome procrastination. For instance, if I started an assignment the day that I'm given it (the first day that something is assigned) then I would be able to get some work done earlier on in the assignment deadline and have a portion of it already done. Or if I would just plan out my day...

3. In the “Overcoming Procrastination” article it stated that 90% of students procrastinate and of these students, 25% are chronic procrastinators – who usually end up dropping out of college. Although I do procrastinate a great deal I feel as though I'm not as bad as some people (or aka the chronic procrastinators). I think where I fit in to all of this is closer to the right end but not quite all the way to the right end (the left side being people who procrastinate rarely and the right side being people who procrastinate frequently). I believe that I procrastinate enough that I know that I'm not anywhere close to the left end of the spectrum, but I do know that I'm not in the middle either. Because when it comes down to completing a task/assignment on time, I can and always do, but I'm not one of those people who typically finish a project well before the due date.

4. The “Procrastination 101: Blame it on the Computer” article talked about how easy it is for college students to waste time on the computer. Which I definitely agree with. In the world today we have access to so many things through the internet that it's difficult not to be wasting too much time on the computer. I know that I am definitely wasting too much time on the computer each day. I fit into the cliche of teens that get sucked into the world of facebook and waste time. I'll get onto the computer initially planning on working on an assignment and next thing I know I'm on facebook and two hours have passed. It's beyond me how this happens and it makes me sick when I see how much time has passed from since when I said that "I'll just get on facebook real quick" and thinking of the number of hours that I spend wasting. I feel like the best way to minimize it would be to block certain websites, such as facebook, bluefly, failblog, etc. during certain parts of the day. Another way that I could minimize this is by not using my computer when I don't have to for an assignment.

Links:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se8Xncrpn24


http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/time-management/WL00048
http://www.newstime.co.za/column/JessicaDix/Examination_meet_Procrastination/96/2248/

"The 2010 Scholar"

1. Although at first the video is a bit overwhelming, with the guy talking super fast and ranting on about the education system and how he dropped out of college, there is also a good point to this video/ vlog, that I hope isn't being overlooked by viewers. Which is that because of the changes that are going on in our world, there are changes that need to be made to the educational system. I believe that in order for students to stay engaged in class you have to pull the students in by incorporating things from their everyday lives that they can relate to. After having watched this video this makes me greatly appreciate the university that I am currently attending as a freshman, (High Point University) because the school does everything differently from other schools, especially when it comes to facilities. The school is trying to create the best learning environment and trying to make sure that we have the best technology available to us.
2. In today's society everyone is connected to one another through technology, whether it's through social networking sites such as facebook and twitter, or whether it's through skyping someone on their iPhone, we are all constantly connected. Thanks to Apple we have all heard the phrase "there's an app for that". And with over 200,000 apps for iPhone alone there's bound to be one for just about everything. There's an app for everything from listening to Pandora to getting you out of a date. Apple even has a section within the app store devoted to "Back to School apps" making the transition of going from summer to the school year a little bit more fun. Technology is changing the way that we learn and is changing the things that we need to learn (depending on your major). The technology is so advanced that we are even able to things such as the smart pen to help us take notes or use an app on the iPad to make flash cards to study with. We are able to use our technology to learn and to make learning more fun, interesting, and interactive.
3. And with all these changes in our world and in the way that we communicate with one another it seems that it would go only hand-in-hand that our education system would change with it. It is important for today's educational system to change with us because if we just keep pushing it back then all we are allowing the system to remain antiquated . Everyday the world of technology is changing. New technology is changing the way the way that we live our lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P2PGGeTOA4