Keep it positive

You’ve made it this far. You got through the SATs and the admissions essays. You survived orientation and move-in day. Now all you bright-eyed freshmen can even say you’ve got one full day of college under your belt.

Congratulations. You made it through.

I’d love to tell you the hard part is over, that from here on out everything is all sparkles and bubbles. But I can’t forget what I learned from Louis Sachar in the fourth grade – the second hole is always the hardest. And so is the third. And also the fourth.

The sad truth is that sometimes college can be difficult – really difficult. From making new friends and trying to stay on top of your schoolwork, to navigating relationships and planning for the future, college will challenge you academically and socially in so many ways that sometimes you will wish you had stayed at home.

It’s because of this stress that handfuls of new students decide not to come back.
According to ACT in the 2007-08 academic year, the most recent year for which there is data, only 66 percent of college freshmen made it back to campus for Year 2. And of those students who start out at large research universities, on average only 29.4 percent will graduate in four years – and only 54.1 percent will leave with their degrees in less than six years.

IU fares better than most other American schools. The retention rate at the Bloomington campus is 88 percent. This means that of the 7,208  of you who started your college careers today, only about one in eight of you will decide not to return. Still, staying on track can prove difficult.

But the good news is, there is a little thing you can do to make sure you aren’t one of those 800-plus kids who fall victim to the first year – stay positive.

A new study out of the University of Kentucky suggests that the more optimistic a student is about his or her academic prospects in college, the more likely he or she is to return for sophomore year. 

According to an article published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, students who had positive attitudes about college at the beginning of the study were more motivated and had an easier time adjusting to college life.

The moral of the story: if you want to stick it out through college, start with a positive attitude.

If the thought of finishing still has you scared, keep in mind that you have a lot to be positive about.

You are a part of the smartest freshman class to ever step foot on IU’s campus. Those of you who started college yesterday have the highest collective SAT score in IU’s history and a whopping 2/3 of you were in the top 25 percent of your high school class. You, class of 2013, are certainly poised for success here at IU. 

So take a cue from the little engine that could, because when it comes to completing college, the odds are if you think you can, you probably will finish.