I belong to a Facebook group where a woman in her late 20s said she’s going to college for the first time as an adult and asked for advice and/or encouragement. One of her concerns was not feeling smart enough. The following is what I told her.

Community college professor here. Congratulations! You are smart enough, period. The most important thing is that you are invested in your education. Most of college is about time management, not capability, so here’s my advice for someone who doesn’t feel smart enough, grouped by category:

Tips for What to Do in Class

1. Be on time. Attend every class that you can. You miss things when you aren’t there.

2. Read all directions of assignments. Read them more than once, then read them again.

3. Follow all of the directions.

4. If you don’t understand something or are unsure of anything, ASK. Smart people ask questions.

5. Ask questions DURING class. If you have a question, someone else probably has the same question. When you ask a question, you help everyone in class. Try not to rush the professor after class with all the questions you didn’t ask. Also, do not ask questions that are answered in the assignment directions (see #2), but DO ask for clarification if needed.

6. Participate even if it’s just a guess. When you share what you think, that helps the professor know what concepts people are or are not getting. Your professors don’t expect you to know everything. If you did, we wouldn’t have jobs.

7. There’s always at least one person in a class who knows what’s going on. Connect with that person.

8. Most colleges and universities follow the Carnegie rule. For every credit hour, you are generally expected to spend two hours on homework. So a three-credit class is six hours of homework per week plus the three hours you spend in class. A lot of the learning is done outside of the classroom in that homework.

9. Go to/use office hours. Go to/use the support centers (writing, math, etc) for tutoring.

10. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Turn in your work even if you think it isn’t your best. Some credit is better than no credit, and you probably did better than you thought you did anyway.

11. Relatedly, Cs get degrees.

Tips for Picking Classes

12. If you use Rate My Professor, read for teaching style, not for amount of work (tip from my daughter). Many students are lazy so any work is too much work. So, if a teacher’s style isn’t a good fit for the way you learn, their class may feel harder for you.

(Also, I’m aware that I probably should link to the site, but I just can’t on GP.)

13. Follow your interests whenever possible. Classes/assignments are easier if you’re interested. If you’re given a topic choice for an assignment, always pick something you want to know more about or actually do, not what you think will impress the professor or be “easy.” Easy is hard when you’re uninterested.

14. That said, double check all classes that are listed for General Education requirements. For her science credit, my daughter took an Ethics of Biology class. I just signed up for 101 classes because I didn’t know better (first gen student), but there are often more interesting classes/classes that align with your interests that hit the same requirements. Again, classes you have a genuine interest in often feel easier.

And, finally, and perhaps most importantly:

15. Being in college is a learning process. If you are unsuccessful in a class/have to withdraw, it doesn’t mean that you are not smart or capable. It may mean that you overfilled your schedule or took a class at a time that doesn’t work for you or [insert some other thing that has nothing to do with your intelligence level] Part of being a student is learning WHAT kind of student you are and what works or doesn’t work for you. This may take more than one semester.

Have a great semester/school year, everyone!