Get Ready For College

What is the best advice you can give me as I transition from high school to college?

First and foremost, go to class! Your attendance is a direct indicator of your success. Make studying your job! Remember, if you drop below a 2.0 GPA, you will lose your knoxAchieves funding.

Watch out for the first test! There are normally only a few tests per semester, so one test is often a large percentage of your final grade. And in college, professors rarely give extra credit assignments.

Get to know your professors. Introduce yourself. This lets them know that you are taking college and, in particular, their class seriously. Never be afraid to ask for help. Ask your classmates. Ask your professors!

Finally, don’t stress if you are still unsure of the perfect career path. Take classes that interest you. It is certainly reasonable to use the first two semesters to decide on a major. Also, this time of uncertainty gives you an opportunity to get your prerequisites out of the way!

What are some terms I need to know to prepare for college?

Add and drop deadlines: The latest date in an academic term when a course may be added or dropped from a student’s class schedule without approval of someone other than the student.

Co-requisite: A course to be taken or a requirement to be fulfilled at the same time as a particular course is being taken.

Credit Hour: The number of hours a class is scheduled to meet each week determines the value of a course or the number of credit hours you will receive for that course. For example, ENG 101 (College Composition) involves three class hours each week and is worth three credit hours.

Developmental courses: Courses that help students improve their reading, writing, and/or mathematics abilities for college-level study.

Electives: Electives are courses of your choice, which may be taken for credit toward a degree or certificate in your curriculum.

Major: The primary disciplinary interest or academic subject area of a student as represented by one of the curricula offered by the various academic departments. The undergraduate degree may or may not carry the same title as the major. Every student has one or more majors but may or may not have a minor or concentration.

Minor: A secondary subject area interest (to the major) represented by a specified set of hours and/or courses.

Prerequisite: A course a student must take before enrolling in another (usually more challenging) course.

Semester: Schools organize the academic year into two main periods-fall and spring semesters. A semester is roughly about 15 weeks in length.