Graduate School: Overcoming Barriers to Success

My main obstacle that I have encountered every semester is financial costs. I have been working non-stop ever since 2015 to pay for mainly my book fees and other costs that my schools have said I owe. I have never taken out a loan, nor would I like to. The Kohl's Associate Scholarship will give me that extra boost I need in order to shift the focus of my mind from worrying about "how am I going to pay for my necessities this semester?" to "now I can worry less about money and focus more on my studies!" With room-and-board being a factor at California State University, Sacramento now, that is more money out of my

Prioritize. According to Carter, Bishop, and Kravits (2007), prioritizing helps you identify important tasks and to focus most of your time and energy on them. Since, I have all my activities identified in my planners it will make it easy to see what I have to do and I will be able to list and do those activities in order of importance. For example, if I have to write a paper for school, referee a game at eight o’clock pm and have a show for my home-based business at two o’clock pm. I will probably do my paper first to get that out of the way then go to the show and then referee the game.

College success and college world differ somewhat from real life where people confront with struggles to succeed those dreams and plans that motivate them initially to follow a college education. Planned steps that drive people where they seek to arrive, once they finish college, may seem easy to manage, but the truth is opposite; people become aware that the surrounding factors are extremely hostile when they try to achieve goals and make decisions. However, the success of those that have completed a college education and step into the real world, depends on several individual factors such as; motivation, self-confidence, personality, and perseverance are factors that can influence future decisions that are necessary to achieve their goals.

Although attending a brick and mortar college is an aspiration many people experience, others may encounter trepidations or anxieties about successfully negotiating the demanding requirements of a higher education. However, students paving the way in the new frontier of online learning face unprecedented challenges in completing equivalent fields of study. Admittedly, learning to navigate through the online course was not overly difficult; nevertheless, having experienced web browser compatibility issues, it appears that one may require a bit more computer savvy than the average brick and mortar college student. Despite these minor issues, the Online Writing Lab was not only easy to navigate but was exceedingly beneficial. Additionally, this

As a recent graduate from high school, I was naïve, immature and excited to be attending Western Illinois University; consequently, live on my own. Shortly thereafter, the demise of a personal relationship brought on severe depression. Unable to manage the magnitude of emotions, I acted out in inappropriate ways. Skipping classes together with frantically studying for exams left me barely passing classes. In an effort to not fall behind, I took summer courses at McHenry County College. Ultimately, I decided to drop out of school and pursue counseling. Equipped with methods to cope with my depression, I began to heal and through that tribulation, I gained control of my life and matured.

As a class the mean for life events stressors was about 323.5 which is very hazardous because previous research suggested that people that scored above 300 on the life events stressors survey are associated with greater risk of infectious diseases such as flu and other stress related psychological symptoms like anxiety. Also one other thing that grabbed my attention was that my scores compared to the class average were high. As we all know stress is a body 's method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body 's way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system activation which results in the fight or flight response. Stress is known to be one of the major causal factors of depression. Large stressors in life, such as divorce or death in the family, are all known to be related to the development of depression in people. Such traumatic or sudden events can place severe stress on a person that can lead to problems such as depression. College requires significantly more effort from students than high school. Once you enroll in a college you will probably find many students are more motivated, your instructors are more demanding, the work is more difficult, and you are expected to be more independent. These higher academic standards and expectations are even more obvious in graduate school. As a result of these new demands, it is common for college students to experience greater levels of stress related to academics. Many students find that

o At my children’s swimming and string instrument practices, I will use this opportunity to work on my team projects and to communicate with them.

Engaging in self-care can be especially important for those enrolled in graduate school. Graduate students are often required to balance heavy course loads, jobs or assistantships, as well as personal relationships. Not surprisingly, the current body of research on this subject indicates that many graduate students report experiencing psychological distress of some sort. As a result, further research has been conducted in order to

Graduate school enhances the opportunity for an individual to achieve his or her personal and professional goals. The skills and knowledge acquired from graduate school are instrumental in career development; hence, one should pay close attention to the lessons learned in the quest for a master’s degree. However, graduate school is never free of challenges. There are many challenges associated with the pursuit of a master’s degree, and they start at the school application process. The challenges that one faces in graduate school may be intellectual or emotional. This paper focuses on some of the challenges associated with going to graduate school, and how I plan to overcome them as I pursue success in graduate school.

These listening skills can be used in a classroom when speaking to a professor or student by keeping full eye contact with an attentive facial expression. This indicates you are listening to what they are saying and are serious about learning. Furthermore, I need to writing down everything the professor says because it can be essential for the exam. If I feel uncomfortable because of something the professor said I should address it after class in a respectful manner. Some of many benefits I can learn from improving my communication skill is empathy. This is because I need to be sensitive with the way I speak to someone because my words can be hurtful. This can also lead

In fact according to a study by the University of Colorado, “One area of communication where most people are worst at is listening” (Poor Listening). This is a cause for concern as, “Poor communication can be an inexorable cause of stress” (Canty). Of course listening are by far the most vital aspects of being an effective communicator and an effective leader, two essential things that I desired to develop over the course of this semester. I also have an issue with not responding to emails in a timely manner, this too was something I decided to work on here. In

Listening is the first thing we learn, something we use the most, but is taught the least. Maybe it’s because there is no such thing as an actual listening class (Week 5 of Journal). Communication is something that helps increase our listening skills. People often will act like they are listening to you, but in their mind, they are really thinking about what is for dinner that night. That is the difference between listening and hearing. In the beginning of the class, I would often look at the screen and just right down the words that were up there, but as time went on, I began listening more because I was finding I was missing out on valuable information that the professor was sharing. I would even do this with my friends. If I wasn’t interested in what they were talking about, I would zone out or start looking away. I am better at listening now and even my friends notice. This will help me in becoming an Occupational Therapist because listening is important in any job, but especially in OT. You are talking and working with mentally or physically ill people. This will also help me better understand the patient. This class has helped improve my listening and many other areas in my life.

Communication is something I’m sure everyone has heard a lot of. We are always told to communicate well with others but communicating and more specifically communication skills need more attention. I tend to communicate without using proper communication skills and it makes simple things harder than they need should be. To be successful in postsecondary education and beyond I must use effective communication skills as they create a solid foundation for learning and collaborating. Communication skills involve speaking, listening, writing and good body language. The most successful people will be well versed in each aspect. Many people forget that listening is a vital part of effective communication.

Many factors have been demonstrated and established as to why mental health problems are on a rise and those include such as being isolated in a new environment, distanced away from family and friends, having financial pressures, and the academic requirement from universities; these tend to create a significant pressure or impact on a student’s emotional well-being. Recent study has been conducted and states that Canadian students leaving from high school education into their first year of university have an increasing issue with their mental health but also

Good communication is a criterion that sets many students apart in terms of traits. This is useful when building any form of rapport between them and the lecture or tutor. A student that respectfully communicates has also come out as self-motivated and is more likely to get more help from the teacher since their problems are aired out effectively. Students that do not communicate can be misjudged and mistaken for lack of motivation and self-confidence. In addition, students who are good communicators are made, not born (Floyd, 2013). With good communication, it is possible to make effective and faster progress when in a learning environment. Students who communicate effectively are able to ask questions when they are doubtful and can get clarification which exemplifies them.