Primrose Road

By popular request. ;)

1. There is no such thing as "social promotion" in college; you can't pass a class simply by showing up on a regular basis. On the first day of class, your professor will likely distribute a syllabus that outlines exactly how (s)he will compute your grade. If you don't turn in assignments, you'll fail (or, in some schools, receive a "withdrawal" failure, which means that you didn't do enough to even earn a grade of F).

2. If you regularly show up 45 minutes after class has started, *everyone* will notice. The professor probably won't take time out of his or her teaching/lecture to address the issue, but it will be reflected in your grade.

3. Copy-and-paste plagiarism is not just unethical; it's dumb. If you don't understand why, then you need to read more and tweak your critical thinking skills a bit. Your professors have access to exactly the same Internet that you do.

4. Absences every once in a while are ok. Even I have accidentally set my alarm to "PM" instead of "AM" on occasion. Unless you're absent more than 10% of the time (i.e. more than three times for a class that meets two days a week for a 15-week semester), your professors probably don't want to hear -- or strain to believe -- your excuses. In college, it's ridiculous to make up high-school-style excuses. Know your audience.

5. If you have to go to the restroom, just go. Please, please, please don't raise your hand and ask if you can use the restroom.

6. If you have to leave your cell phone on in class (or during a meeting), turn it to silent, not vibrate. Never answer a call in class. (I hope that sounds ridiculous to most readers.)

7. Always think three steps ahead. Imagine the consequences of your actions three steps in advance; if, for example, you answer your cell phone in class, what will happen next? What actions might the professor or other students take? If you copy-and-paste an essay from a website, what will the professor likely do? When you're caught, what will happen next? Always think about how your actions will affect others (your classmates included).