A LETTER TO NEXT SEMESTER’S NEW STUDENT

Part of your final examination in this course will be to write a letter to next semester’s new student following the guidelines below:

1) The letter must be dated.

2) It must begin with “Dear 2007 (or appropriate year) Student”.

3) It may not exceed two typed pages.

4) It must be signed by you.

5) It is due: ______

6) It must include a discussion of the following items:

a) Introduction: Introduce yourself to the student, explaining briefly where you

are from and what high school you attended. To get started, you might include

what you liked best about high school, why you chose this campus, and/or what

you are planning to study or major in on our campus. In addition, explain one

or two new things that you have discovered about yourself during this class.

b) Transitions: Explain what, for you, were the most difficult transitions in your

move to college. You might want to focus on meeting new people, adjusting to college course expectations, managing your time, family pressures, elevated stress levels, or money management. In the process, note ways in which the college, fellow students, COL 101, parents, or faculty have helped you make these transitions.

c) Discovering Our Campus: Another goal of this course has been to

discover the full range of educational opportunities and support services. Briefly describe the most important things that you have learned about our campus in these categories. Explain why these are important.

d) Learning Strategies: Explain which learning strategies have helped you the most (no more than three). Also explain how you plan to make use of them in your classes.

e) Becoming an Independent Learner: Explain three or four ways

in which you have changed or risked change over this past month. For example, this could be personally, academically, socially, in your attitude toward college, feelings toward your family, or in understanding what it means to be an educated person. Have you become an independent learner in the process? Why or why not?

Please write your letter in an easy, friendly style, paying attention to correct spelling, grammar, and so on. Illustrate your general statements with examples whenever possible, utilize logical transitions from one topic to another, keep the entire letter in essay form, and try to be as concise and clear in your comments as possible.

Remember, the Writing Center is available for assistance.