Skip Downing

This book, "On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life" is for anyone who has sat in a classroom and wondered why they were there. I wish this book had been around when I was entering college, and that someone had made me read it or take the course. Like a lot of people, I had very little real idea of what I wanted, or even who I was at 18. I always looked with envy at those people who knew from the get go what they wanted to be. I stifled my true passion (art) because that critical voice in my head told me it was impractical, that I did not have the talent necessary, that I would never make it, and instead pursued several degrees in literature and language, which was something I loved and that I was good at (that is, I was good at writing literature papers), but was not my "bliss".
The main reason I continued for the MA and PHD was because my favorite professor told me I'd be good at it, and since this is the only encouragement or advice I got from anyone at university, and I had no idea what else I could do, I went ahead and continued my education. I was a decent student, that is I got the work done, mostly did well, but it all felt sort of haphazard. I realize now that it was not because the program was bad, or the university was lacking, but because I had no idea what direction I wanted to go or what I was working towards on a personal level.
What I see now after reading this book is how much I allowed chance to decide which way I was going, simply because I never questioned assumptions I had made about myself, about work, about life. I am making course corrections now (better late than never), and the journal exercises, other readings, and website are very helpful in this.… (mais)