College Success (UNST 199/399)

College Success is a comprehensive course designed to enhance student success and retention. In this course, you will learn many proven strategies for creating greater academic, professional, and personal success. We will use guided journal writings to explore these strategies, and as a bonus, you will learn to express yourself more effectively using reflective writing techniques. The most important part about the course, however, is learning more about empowering yourself... learning more about who you are as a college student, learning who you are as a human being, and learning what it takes to keep yourself balanced and on course to success.   

We created a custom textbook for PSU students in an effort to reduce cost and include additional information. It is now available in the PSU Bookstore:  "College Success at PSU: On Course: Creating Success in College and in Life." Downing/Ellis (2011).

1. Accept personal responsibility. You will learn how to take greater personal responsibility, gaining more control over the outcomes and experiences that you create both in college and in life.

2. Increase self-motivation. You will learn to create greater inner motivation by, among other things, discovering your own personally meaningful goals and dreams.

3. Improve personal self-management. You will learn numerous strategies for taking control of your time and energy, allowing you to move more effectively and efficiently toward the accomplishment of your goals and dreams.

4. Develop interdependence. You will learn how to develop mutually supportive relationships with people who will help you achieve your goals and dreams as you assist them to achieve theirs.

5. Increase self-awareness. You will learn how to understand and revise your self-defeating patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion as well as your unconscious limiting beliefs.

6. Maximize your learning. You will learn key research on how the human brain learns. You will apply this knowledge to develop your own learning system, giving you the keys to learning important course content in college as well as becoming a more effective lifelong learner.

7. Develop emotional intelligence. You will learn effective strategies for managing your emotional life, decreasing stress while increasing your inner sense of well-being.

8. Raise your self-esteem. You will learn how to develop self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-respect.

9. Engage in reflective writing experiences. You will grow more comfortable with expressing yourself in writing and begin to use writing as a reflective practice.

10. Improve creative and critical thinking skills. You will learn how to enhance the thinking skills essential for analyzing and solving problems in your academic, professional, and personal lives. You will also develop reasoning skills that will help you both construct persuasive arguments and deconstruct illogical arguments intended to persuade you to think or act against your own best interest.

11. Develop effective study skills. You will learn how to raise your grades in college by improving essential skills such as reading, taking notes, studying, memorizing, taking tests and conquering test anxiety.

12.  Appreciate diversity and raise cultural awareness.  We will create a classroom community with people who have ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that are different from our own and learn about how our own beliefs impact our interactions with other in college.

13. Learn how to access your resources at PSU and increase your engagement inside and outside the classroom.  You will know where to go when you are having difficult and the many resources PSU offers for your success both inside and outside the classroom, including becoming an engaged member of the PSU community.

"You are in luck with this class, every assignment is designed to help you succeed at PSU!" - Jenn, Junior

"This class leads you down the path of self-knowledge." - Bre, Senior

"You are so lucky if you take this class! I had a good experience. I learned about how to organize my school work, as well as knowing more about myself." - Nasser, Freshman

"This class not only builds your skills as an individual who can get things done on time, but it also builds your trust and interdependency on others. You are not Batman; sometimes you just can't do things alone." - Ronald, Freshman

"I would recommend this class to anyone that is willing to put effort in and that can be responsible for their own assignments. I hope you will enjoy this class as much as I did." - Aubrey, Freshman

"ROCK ON COLLEGE SUCCESS!!" - Tommy, Freshman

Cat McGraw, M,A,; Liane O'Banion, M.S.; Shoshana Zeisman, Ed.D.; Gina Senarighi, M.A., M.S.; M.Ed.; S. Tokarski, Bridge D'Urso, M.S., Jim Looney, Courtney Sandler, M.Ed.

Teaching Assistants: Gabe Feit

Interested in becoming a College Success Teaching Assistant?  APPLY NOW! Click here for more information.