Initial Success

Personal Experiences and Observations*

    In order to successfully complete my master's degree in Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in only five and a half years, there were some keys to my success that I feel helped many of my peers as well.  The reason I'm willing to share some these tips is partially because I have a certain amount of sympathy for the college students of today partially due to fact that I shared a similar experience myself.  I also still have a small amount of bitter feelings towards some of the professors and advisors I had while attending one of the best Engineering Schools in the country.  I believe this combination of success and bitterness that I experienced as a result of attending a major university will help me to better prepare any students reading my articles.

Initial Concerns*     
    I attended Middleton High School in Middleton, WI.  I was told as a student and later confirmed through my own research that Middleton has consistently been recognized as not only one of the top places to live in the country, but that it has one of the best High Schools in the country as well.  You may think that this would be nothing but a blessing.  However, there was a downside to it as well.  As a student, I had a certain amount of pressure put on me to succeed, due to the fact that this was such a prestigious school.  This can make it harder to accomplish your goals.  When you are so busy worrying about your success, you can't concentrate on actually achieving that success.  I had similar feelings when I was accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  

Overcoming Initial Concerns*
    In order to overcome the concern of not living up to the expectations put on me as a student of such well recognized schools, I took advantage of recommendations given to me by my family, teachers, and other role models in the community.  I believe this is a key to succeeding that many people don't realize or take advantage of.  Part of the reason for this is that many teenagers and young adults are going through a phase where they feel it is necessary to rebel against authority figures.  However, after experiencing educational success throughout grade school all the way to high school, I realized that I could not have done so well without the helpful suggestions of these role models.  So, I continued to seek out these role models' advice once I entered the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Social Pressures*
    One of the best advice that I got from many role models was suggestions on how to overcome social pressures.  These pressures start at an early age for most people.  They can start out as direct suggestions coming from your childhood friends as well as subtle suggestions from your observations of television and other forms of media.  They can be as seemingly risk free as doing something like disobeying your parents or other authority figures. Then they can grow into something very serious; such as consuming drugs and alcohol, or other activities which could end with your winding up in jail.

Overcoming Social Pressures*
    As I said, the way I was able to overcome some of these social pressures was to take the advice of role models in my life.  This isn't always easy to do, especially if you don't have many positive role models in your life.  I was lucky enough to have a large family living within driving distance to my house.  I also believe one of the reasons that Middleton is such a well recognized school district is because the teachers are good role models as well.  So, if you are someone who maybe can't get the best advice from home, I would recommend seeking out advice from other sources; such as teachers, advisors, and even church members.  

*Views expressed are based on author's experiences and opinions only.