You should feel the same about your ability to adjust. Traditionally, school years are usually broken into semesters (two) or quarters (three) and after final exams there is a point when you know your GPA for the grading period and therefore for your academic career so far. You know whether you are meeting NCAA academic progress requirements, are eligible, are likely to get announced as having made the Dean’s List, or maybe have a shot at making an All-Conference Academic list.
If your grades aren’t what you want, then adjustments must be made. Perhaps your adjustments include one or more of the following:
• Paying more attention to course details
• Skipping fewer classes
• Changing studying habits
• Working with different tutors
• Studying with different friends
• Allowing more time for homework and test prep
• Making more time to meet professors and getting to know them
• Asking for help earlier in the semester
• Making a commitment to do better by working harder
• Allocating more time to studying
Perhaps, as you read this, you have never had, nor expect to have, grades that fall below your expectations. If that’s the case, you can move on to any of the other items listed above in “What I Want Out of My Four Years at _______ University.”
The second bullet point is getting a job at Nike, and while we randomly selected that particular company, the goal can be evaluated just like grades. If you want to work in athletic apparel and equipment when you graduate (or technology, media, medicine, or music), the same approach to accomplishment can be evaluated regularly (and often with the help of a list that is focused on the goal):
• Whom did I meet from my desired industry this term?
• What did I read about my desired company this month?
• Who at my school knows someone working in the field I want to enter?
• How can I get networked to an employee at my dream company?
• What more did I learn about the field I want to work in?
• Will I be ready for a job interview (or internship opportunity) if one suddenly materializes?
Interim measurable goals could be a class project opportunity, a consulting project, a practicum, or an internship with that company or one in its field.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
One of the most important secrets to learn during your time in college is how to create a plan for success that that leads to a desirable outcome. It is not as simple as creating random lists (although that can certainly help) or banking on the hope that things will fall into place for you. An essential element is establishing concrete goals and having a true desire to accomplish those goals and “check them off.” This is what will lay the foundation for you to position yourself for career success.
. . .
ERIK PRICE
(Associate Commissioner at the Pac-12 Conference)
I think it’s very important to have an academic plan, do internships, and travel during the summer. Traveling exposes you to new perspectives and provides you with new experiences. You don’t necessarily have to have a plan that is divorced from being an athlete, such as coaching, training, or strength and conditioning. I have seen a lot of student-athletes be successful and go into ancillary careers such as those. Every student-athlete should have two paths that they want to follow that are not “playing sports” related, so that the last time you suit up, you are not in a crisis afterwards. For example, one of the most important parts of your plan is graduating, and having a graduate school plan because advanced degrees are what help you get the jobs that you can sit in for life, generally speaking.
. . .
Goals may change and dreams may get upended . . . but failing to plan is planning to fail. Why let that happen when a little effort can set anyone on a path to a much more fulfilling future?
Secret 2
Understand Who a Student-Athlete Is
. . .
Author Viewpoint—DR. NORM O’REILLY
I was fortunate enough to be a student-athlete during both my undergraduate degree (Nordic skiing at the University of Waterloo) and master degrees (swimming at the University of Ottawa). Although they are two major Canadian universities, Waterloo and Ottawa would be the equivalent of Division II colleges in the United States (from an athletics perspective). Both have formal and resourced athletic departments and a full slate of sports, but scholarships are low, facilities sufficient (but not great), and ticket sales for events low or nonexistent in some sports.
I believe I was successful as a student-athlete: getting named an Academic All-Canadian, requiring both academic and athletic success. Life as a student-athlete was challenging, to say the least, and full of sacrifices, mostly on the social front. Parties missed, events declined, hanging-out with my roommates at a minimum.
As an undergraduate student, in a challenging science program, I was very focused on individual learning (lots of studying) and a large amount of class time: 15 hours in class and 15 hours in labs. Five days a week of classes, including Friday afternoon labs. As a graduate student, less class time but enormous responsibilities as teaching assistant, research assistant, and reading.
As an athlete, I focused efforts on competing and performing at a high level. My sports were both individual but with training and competition as part of a team. Between 15 and 25 hours per week training and at least 10 weekends away each academic year for competition, sometimes more. 5 a.m. practices regularly. Friday night practice. Saturday/Sunday morning practice. Team meetings. Coach consultations. All on top of challenging academic schedules.
I don’t believe my experience is atypical for most student-athletes.
. . .
THE SECRET IN A FEW WORDS
Secret 1 told you to follow a plan. This is vital to the student-athlete or really to anyone with any objective at all. This leads us to Secret 2, which will give context to your plan. You are a student-athlete. Being a student-athlete is a special experience, and a privileged one. Yes, a small percentage of student-athletes are super-privileged and may go professional, but this book is not for them. It is for you, someone who will live four years of your life in a unique way. Like Spider-Man and Peter Parker, you’ve got a double role, even a double personality.1 And, you need to be very good at and focused on each.
On one hand, you are a high-performance athlete. Respected by other students, under massive pressure from your coach and teammates, fortunate to have a scholarship (in many cases), and surrounded by support structures that few athletes of your level outside of the NCAA can even dream about. On the other hand, you’re a student, one of more than sixteen million college students in the USA, a learner making your way in the world, trying to get ahead, and seeking a job one day. You have to approach each role separately, find time for each, and be successful in each. Get poor grades and you are off the team. Bad performance on the field, no more scholarship. Yes, your privileged role is coupled with a lot of pressure. And, wow, you get to do this for four amazing years. Many of those sixteen million would change spots with you in a heartbeat. So, the secret is simple: know who you are, relish it, and leverage it to the max. It will be, for many if not most of you, the best