Every achievement in college isn’t academic. Throughout your college career you are also being evaluated on your success as a person and that evaluation is just as important as your academic performance. Every day you interact with people and in the process you are creating your personal reputation; how you manage yourself and your life establishes your level of integrity and forms a lasting impression of the person you are. You never know when someone’s opinion of you will help or hinder your success in college and in life. Once you show people who you are it is very difficult to change their minds so don’t put your integrity or honesty on the line by trying to cut corners, finesse or cheat your way to success. That behavior rarely, if ever, works to your advantage. Even when you think you’ve gamed the system, one way or the other, you lose.

Donna, a former student of mine, learned this important lesson in a computer programming class. Several of her classmates hired a developer to write a particularly difficult programming assignment for them and asked her if she wanted join them in purchasing the program and turning the solution in as her own. Even though she was having a difficult time with the assignment, she said no. When her classmates turned in the assignment, the instructor clearly identified the professional’s work and failed all of the students who turned it in as their work. Donna didn’t do all the programming correctly, but she was the only one who ended up passing the class!

Remember:

• When you cut corners to get through college, you only hurt yourself.
• You also miss gaining the knowledge you would have if you hadn’t cut corners. You can’t be sure when or if you’ll ever be presented with the opportunity to learn that critical information again.
• Cutting corners sends a strong message to anyone who knows what you did. One seemingly small decision can make people assume that you will lie, cheat or steal to get what you want, in any situation. Trust me, someone will know  what you did and that incident will be the basis for what they believe about you and share with other people.

If anyone asks you to lie, cheat, steal or do anything you’re uncomfortable doing, don’t do it!  Don’t convince yourself that what you’re going to do isn’t really that bad. If it’s not okay then it’s not okay, okay?

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week by Week page.
You can learn more about getting the help you need to do better in your classes in Chapter 6 of College in Four Years; Making Every Semester Count.