Life Lesson Number Four: Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help

It seems pretty self explanatory, when you're confused or uncertain about something you should ask for help.  I mean what do you really have to lose?  In middle school and high school this was a pretty simple task.  After all, you knew all your classmates and teachers.  Then you get to college and all that changes.  No longer are you surrounded by your best friends, nor does the professor know your name half the time.  So in college when you need help, you have to step out of your comfort zone and open your mouth.

When I first arrived at Penn State, I found myself asking for help often.  Some of my questions were: Which way does which bus go?  How do I even work the buses?  What is the difference between Lion Cash and meal points?  Can I put colored clothes in with white clothes or will all my white clothes turn different colors?  Do you know where the Walker Building is?  As silly as these question sound, I would have never learned how to take the bus or separate my clothes before I washed them. Also, I probably would of thought that Lion Cash and meal points were the same thing.  All of this would not have occurred if I didn't ask for help.

These were the little things in life that caused minor dilemmas and were pretty simple to ask for help about.  As we have all learned pretty fast, college happens to be much harder than middle school.  I remember sitting in freshmen orientation and our leader explaining  how our high school GPA would be nothing like our college one.  She then explained that a 3.0 in college was good and my jaw dropped.  She was right.  The point is that the classes in college are challenging.  So when you don't fully understand a topic, first read the book, then if the book can't answer your questions, ask for help.

We all have that one class each semester that no matter how hard we try, our best just isn't good enough.  This happened to me last semester with my Political Science class.  I went to every single class and read the book, but at the end of the day I just couldn't grasp the material.  When it came time to complete our third homework assignment, I happened to get a 32 percent.  This was a major problem and I found myself in tears.  The saddest part was that I had to get this grade to realize that maybe I needed help.  So, I sent the TA an email, met with her in office hours and I can say that after asking for her help I became an expert on game theory (I don't recommend trying to learn how to solve games for fun, because they are not fun).  Anyway, it only took a quick email and a half hour session for me to learn the material, all because I asked for help.  This semester when I truly don't understand a concept, I don't wait till I fail a homework assignment to go into office hours, I just go right away. After all, TA's and professors are there to help you, they're human after all you know.

It may seem scary at first, being in a new place and asking strangers for help, but that's life.  In college what suffers is your GPA when it comes to grades.  Asking for help doesn't make you stupid, the reality is that it can only benefit you.  So the next time your confused or lost looking for a building around Penn State, don't be afraid to ask for help, you really have nothing to lose.




Link Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/Help_poster.jpg