Everyone makes a mistake now and then, but specific errors in college could impact a student’s grades, graduation timeline, stress levels, finances, and more. Thankfully, other college students have already made these mistakes, so you can learn from them! Here are 13 avoidable college student mistakes that can set you back – plus tips to getting on the right track.
1. Overcommitting
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Colleges and universities usually recommend 15 credits per semester, which is about five classes worth three credits each. To maintain full-time status, you have to take 12 credits. If you want to take over 18 credits, you usually have to get approval from your academic advisor.
However, these numbers don’t tell the whole story. Students absolutely make the mistake of overcommitting, even when they take the recommended number of college courses. That’s because they didn’t account for other factors including the difficulty of the courses (academic rigor), the class schedule, extracurriculars, social life, work, and more.
You might accidentally overcommit in a semester if:
- Your classes are all one after another with little or no time for breaks.
- You signed up for too many advanced courses.
- You join too many extracurriculars that it affects your availability, including time for sleep or study.
- You’ve accepted too many hours at work and you have little time for your coursework as a result.
- You took the maximum allowed amount of credits and didn’t plan ahead accordingly.
If you take on too much you could see significant negative impacts on your sleep, mental health, critical thinking, and grades.
How To Avoid Overcommitting
To avoid overcommitting with your college schedule, talk to your academic advisor before selecting classes each semester. They can give you valuable advice about academic rigor, year-to-year scheduling, and more.
If you are partway through a semester and realize you’ve taken on too much, you have options. If it’s early enough in the semester, you can drop a course. Later on, if you’re struggling, you might be able to choose “pass/fail.” If you’re not sure about your options, reach out to your academic advisor. The sooner you contact them, the better.
2. Not Completing the Homework
In most scenarios, skipping the assigned reading on occasion isn’t going to significantly hurt your grades. However, make skipping homework, assignments, and reading a habit and you could see your GPA drop like a rock.
The impact of not completing graded homework and assignments on grades is obvious. Miss too many and some professors will even fail you.
But, professors don’t assign ungraded reading and homework for fun – it’s designed to help your understanding of the subject matter. By failing to study outside of class, you’re creating gaps in your knowledge of the material. In turn, this can lead to you struggling on exams and assignments within the course.
However, skipping the assigned reading could even have larger implications. If you’re taking a prerequisite course and don’t understand the subject because you didn’t do the work, you’re setting yourself up for headaches when you take the advanced class.
Reading, homework, and assignments create a foundation for future knowledge. A weak foundation now will lead to poor understanding, stress, and a higher potential for low grades later on.
How To Complete Assignments On Time
To complete the reading and homework for your courses, give yourself a schedule. At the start of the semester, use the class syllabus and a planner to track assignments, test dates, study time, and more. You might also want to complete your work outside of your dorm room to minimize distractions. Head to the library or a quiet place on campus instead. For additional help, work with a study buddy or tutor.
3. Not Expanding Your Horizons
At many colleges and universities, when you sign up for courses, you’re following a set list of “approved courses” for your general education (GE), major, and minor requirements. However, it doesn’t mean you have to take extremely specific courses for every single one of your classes.
College requirements aren’t entirely rigid. For example, if you look at your GE requirements, you might be required to take one world history course. It doesn’t dictate which world history class you have to take. You’ll have plenty of options to choose from. You might be able to sign up for a class on Youth Culture in Europe, Ancient Greece, or Medieval Europe.
That said, many students make the mistake of not stepping out of their comfort zone while in college. It’s easy to sign up for courses that you already know a lot about; after all, it’s an easy pass. But keep in mind, you’re paying money to learn. If you know Ancient Greece like the back of your hand, is it really beneficial to pay for a class where you already know a majority of the material?
In addition, students tend to fall into a habit of thinking, “It doesn’t align with my goals after college, so I shouldn’t take it.” Taking courses that align with your major and career goals is fantastic, but that shouldn’t dictate your entire schedule. By selecting classes that call to you, even if they’re “weird,” you’re missing out on some exciting opportunities and a chance to broaden your horizons.
How To Broaden Your Horizons
Broadening your horizons in college helps you learn different perspectives, facts, and more you hadn’t considered before. Some students even change their major after they’ve had the chance to explore new ideas and topics.
You have plenty of electives within your college “requirements.” Use them to explore your interests and go outside of your comfort zone. Read over and compare your options each semester. Try not to just take what your friends are taking. You might find some unusual courses in the school’s catalog you won’t find anywhere else.
Relatives may have input about your class selection, too, but keep in mind this is your education. They’re not the ones that have to sit in the class. Just because they find a subject “boring” doesn’t mean you will.
If you’re not sure what to take, talk over your options with your academic advisor.
4. Big Mistake: College Students Plagiarizing
This is a big one. Plagiarizing can get you kicked out of college without a second chance. Plagiarizing is when you use someone else’s work or ideas and present it as your own without giving the original creator credit. And it’s more than just essays – you can steal research, music, artwork, and more.
Students can commit plagiarism accidentally or intentionally. However, whether it’s an accident or intentional, getting caught will likely mean a visit to the dean’s office. In some cases, you might get expelled. If you’re given a second chance, your work will be heavily scrutinized moving forward.
While artificial intelligence (AI) can be helpful in select situations, most professors and even entire colleges also consider using AI for assignments plagiarism. After all, it’s taking work you didn’t complete and presenting it as your own. In addition, AI chat programs use existing data and writing to generate responses to the user’s prompts. The response came from somewhere – it might just be word for word from an original source.
How To Avoid Plagiarism
Plagiarism is more than just copy-pasting sentences or an entire essay and presenting it as your own. Paraphrasing or using synonyms for select words can absolutely get your paper flagged.
To avoid plagiarism with your essays:
- Track your sources as you work. Always cite them according to the professor’s instructions.
- If you’re summarizing someone else’s idea, don’t change just a word or two. Write it in your own words and reference the source.
- If you’re using someone’s exact words, quote the original author.
- Use a plagiarism checker to make sure your writing is original.
- Talk to your professor if you’re concerned or having trouble with the assignment.
5. Poor Time Management
In college, students are in charge of their own schedules (for the most part). They decide when they go to sleep, study, party, do laundry, eat out, and even choose to go to class. This shift in lifestyle can be liberating and fun, but it can also be scary and overwhelming. If you tack on poor time management skills or practices, it can lead to some serious consequences regarding grades.
How To Improve Your Time Management
Assignments and required study doesn’t mean you have to entirely skip hanging out with friends, video games, and downtime. Instead, you need to practice solid time management and work that “free time” into your schedule.
Here are a few tips:
- Use a planner. Whether it’s your phone, a white board, or a pen and paper planner, track your assignments, due dates, tests, and more.
- Prioritize your tasks. Start with the most important and essential assignments first, completing lower priority assignments last.
- Use time blocks. Block off specific times for study, homework, and free time.
- Stay organized. Use folders (online or off) to track notes from class for easy reference and studying.
- Account for sleep. Make sure you’re getting seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
6. Not Prioritizing Health
Students are so invested in their grades and college experience that they forget about their physical and emotional health. They might skip sleep to study for a test or complete an assignment. They forgo exercising, self care, or eating healthily for a myriad of reasons.
This isn’t just “a fact of college life.” You can attend college and prioritize both your grades and your health. After all, if you don’t take care of yourself, you could see your grades fall anyway as a result! For instance, poor sleep can impact critical thinking. If you take an exam with little sleep, you could find it difficult to answer those tough questions. Copious amounts of coffee isn’t a substitute for good sleep.
How To Prioritize Health in College
To prioritize your health in college, practice good habits. These are a few examples of things you can do:
- Get good sleep. Create a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Don’t look at your phone just before bed. Instead, create a routine that helps you get relaxed.
- Whether it’s walking around campus or hitting the school gym, exercise can impact your energy levels, stress levels, memory, attention, cognitive performance, sleep, mood, and overall health.
- Take time for you. Don’t always be on the go. Have time set aside where you can decompress and pursue your interests and hobbies.
- Use the health center. If you’re struggling with health issues, head to your campus health center. They have medical professionals on staff who can help you.
7. Skipping Classes
“Don’t skip classes,” might seem like a no-brainer, but many college students do it and it could be a big mistake. Now, you shouldn’t attend class if you have an emergency or you’re sick, but I’m talking about skipping classes just because you don’t feel like going.
If you have a professor who doesn’t take attendance or doesn’t take attendance into account for your grades, it’s even easier to talk yourself into skipping a day. It’s all too simple to fall into the habit of, “It’s just one!” If you have a professor who doesn’t take attendance or doesn’t take attendance into account for your grades, it’s even easier to talk yourself into skipping a day. One becomes two, and two becomes five before you know it.
Skipping even one day when you don’t have to cause you to miss out on information that could be important to a test. Missing several days could mean you fall behind on vast amounts of material and struggle to catch up. Even if you borrow someone else’s notes or watch the recorded class online, you miss out on the opportunity to ask questions and engage with your professor.
How To Improve Your Attendance
The best way to have solid attendance during college is to never get in the habit of skipping classes. Once you start, it’s a hard habit to break.
Try these tips:
- Get an accountability buddy. You and your buddy are responsible for each other going to your classes. Even if it’s just a friend who isn’t in the same course, it can really get your butt in gear!
- Set alarms. If you frequently forget to go to class because you lose track of time, set alarms on your phone or computer. For example, you can set them to remind you every Thursday at 12:15pm you have to get ready for chemistry.
- Move your alarm. Do you have trouble getting to your course because you have trouble waking up? Keep your alarm across the room from you so you have to get up to turn it off.
- Create your schedule with your needs in mind. Consider when you perform the best throughout the day. Do you struggle to be up before 10am? Do you tend to skip classes if it’s late in the evening? Do you have a hard time attending classes one after another or if there’s too large of a gap in between? While some class times are unavoidable and won’t fit within your ideal schedule, being aware of your needs can help you plan your days and improve your attendance.
8. Not Asking For Help
It can be difficult to ask for help, especially if you’re used to not needing it. You might be struggling with coursework, a situation with your roommate, or a health concern. Some college students make the mistake of thinking they can fix or handle everything on their own. While this might be true in some cases, in others the issue can keep growing until it reaches a crisis point.
How To Ask For Help
Colleges understand that you have a lot of coursework, stress, and other things going on in your life. There are campus resources to help.
If your grades have fallen, whether due to a family emergency, illness, or other situation, or you’re struggling with the subject matter, talk to your professors and academic advisor. They can help you find avenues to improve your grades and explore options to rectify the situation, such as tutoring.
For students who are experiencing problematic roommates, suitemates, or room situations, talk to your residential advisor (RA) first. They’re there to assist you with any conflicts or general problems. If they can’t help, talk to the student housing department.
Reach out to your college’s health services for health concerns, both physical and mental. For those dealing with mental health situations, the school has seen it before. They have resources to help you navigate whatever you’re dealing with.
Don’t wait until the end of the semester to bring up these concerns; it’s often too late to do anything about it at that point. Instead, bring it up as soon as you know there’s an issue. You might be granted a leave of absence, accommodations, a dorm room move, or something else depending on your circumstances.
9. Failing To Network
Sometimes, students become so invested in their academic life that they forget to forge relationships with their peers. Whether joining a club or just having friends, the interactions you have now can have significant impacts on your life after graduation, social skills, and even career options.
You should specifically network within your intended field, too, as these relationships could translate to job offers later on. Job shadowing and internships can also give you valuable experience and references.
How To Network in College
To network in college, start with orientation. Many students actually make their lifelong friends during college orientation.
Once you’re attending school, join clubs and make time for your friends. Sign up for extracurriculars that interest you or give you skills that are valuable to your intended career field. Be involved and engaged in your community. As you meet new people, add them to your social media, including LinkedIn, and make an effort to stay in touch.
10. Not Taking Advantage of College Resources
Students often forget that college is more than just classes. They miss out on resources available to them, such as the library, career center, professor office hours, and more. They’ll still graduate with a degree, but failing to take advantage of college resources can lead to lower grades, missed opportunities, and even boredom.
How To Take Advantage of College Resources
To learn more about your college resources, visit your school’s website. They’ll have a list of amenities, clubs, and more. Here are some common resources and what they can do for you:
- Gym: Depending on your college, your gym might have a track, pool, or basketball court. Go to it often to exercise.
- Career center: Your college’s career center can help you explore jobs and internships, create resumes, practice for interviews, and more. Plus, if you’re not quite sure what to major in or what job to pursue after college, they have tools to help you decide!
- Library: Every student knows the library exists, but are you using it to its full potential? It’s more than just books. Libraries often have online tools, audiobooks, records, artwork, and more for you to explore and expand your knowledge.
- Museum: Many colleges have museums right on campus. Even if you’re not an art student, it’s a perfect way to spend a few hours or even the day.
- Theater: Colleges’ music and drama courses and clubs will often showcase performances and plays. Students are more than welcome to attend; just make sure you get tickets!
- Professor office hours: All professors have office hours where students can come to them for assistance. If you’re struggling with a topic or assignment, you can go to them during these windows.
11. Skipping the FAFSA and Scholarships
FAFSA requirements change year-to-year. Even if you didn’t qualify for anything last year, that doesn’t mean you don’t qualify this year. Most colleges also use the Student Aid Index (SAI) to determine whether a student receives institutional grants. If you don’t complete the FAFSA, you won’t be in the running for federal aid. Some schools even have scholarships specifically designed for upperclassmen.
The same goes with scholarships. Many students don’t even realize there are awards for upperclassmen! Even if you didn’t win any scholarships last year, it doesn’t mean you won’t this time around.
How To Get Free Money* for College
Complete the FAFSA each year as soon as you can when it releases on October 1. If your college requests the CSS Profile, fill that out, too. Find scholarships you qualify for by using databases, including College Raptor’s Scholarship Search Tool.
12. Poor Budgeting
It’s not uncommon for a student to head to college with little budgeting experience or education. After all, most haven’t had to balance a budget or track their finances. As a result, the expensiveness of it all can be eye-opening. With poor budgeting skills, it’s all too easy to order delivery, overspend at the store, or run out of money halfway through the semester when it was supposed to last you until finals.
College is already expensive, but lacking financial awareness can equate to overspending and additional stress.
How To Budget
The best way to learn budgeting is to ask your parents or another adult you know that is good with finances for a few lessons. You can also use an app that tracks your spending for you, letting you know how much you’re spending where and gives you advice on how to best spend your money.
Check your bank accounts once a week to see where you are financially so you can plan ahead.
13. Packing Too Much or Too Little
This is a big one for incoming first year college students. New college students often make the mistake of packing too much or too little as they head to their dorm room for the first time.
If you bring too much stuff, you’re creating very cramped conditions in a likely already cramped dorm. Too little and you’ll have to spend money to buy the items you’re missing.
How To Pack Just the Right Amount
To pack the right amount of stuff for your college experience:
Start with the essentials, such as towels, bedding, toiletries, and clothing. Keep in mind that you won’t need five bedsheets! Consider how often you want to do laundry.
RELATED >> Complete College Packing Guide with Printable Checklist
Next, what are your “must haves?” You might have favorite books or items related to your hobbies that you can’t do without. Remember: if you miss something, you can always grab it on your next trip home or ask your parents to send it to you.
You can also discuss who is bringing what with your roommate. For example, the two of you don’t have to bring a bottle of bleach for the bathroom and a bottle of glass cleaner for the window each. One of you can bring the bleach while the other brings the glass cleaner!
Some mistakes can have a lasting impact on your education, college experience, graduation, and career options. If you’re ever struggling with something in school, whether it’s a difficult class or time management skills, talk to your college. There are individuals and even entire departments there to help you!
One mistake you don’t want to make as a college student is failing to apply for scholarships. Scholarships can save you thousands of dollars in interest from student loans. Explore what’s available to you through our Scholarship Search Tool.
*While a scholarship does not have to be repaid, there may be other obligations associated with the scholarship.
