Week3- Cause&Effect- Erkan: Steps to My Essay-3

For many students, facing the challenges of university life may be hard to handle. And the scope of challenges at university is beyond the academic requirements. Think of a student who just got into university, left his family for the first time, and struggling to adapt a completely different social and academic environment; it is no surprise why many freshmen go under depression in their first year at university. Since many students fail to adapt university life, let alone the academic requirements, they experience failure in their courses and social life.
The second factor that may lead to failure is the students' misunderstanding of the concept of 'freedom'. After leaving their families and starting to live on their own, some students think taking responsibility of their own lives means 'no responsibility at all'. Complete freedom tempts such students to take it easy when it comes to planning their academic studies and managing their time; that is, due the involvement in non-academic activities there is not enough time left for academic responsibilites. Usually the beginning of the school semester is not very loaded and the students are not aware of the problem, and when they are it is too late to catch up.
Yet another factor contributing to failure is that the financial burden of university forces some students to work while studying. Having to work, in return, may make it difficult for the students to leave enough time for their academic studies. To illustrate, the results of a study (http://www.brockport.edu/career01/upromise.htm) reveals that full-time employment may impair student performance. The study shows that among college students in the U.S. 55 percent of those who work 35 or more hours per week experience the negative effect on their studies. As the students who work usually have less time to spend on their course related work, their performances in the lessons and exams decreases and this leads to failure.
To sum up, [to be continued...have to leave for the FB-Seville match!..]
Time spent: 1 hour [9 to 10 pm]