Academics UG 001: College Success: God & You, Not High IQ
College Success: God & You, Not High IQ
When you enrolled in college to pursue your middle class dreams, you must have felt special, inspired and privileged. Like most, you perhaps rated your chances of academic success by your estimated IQ, as gauged by your past academic achievements in high school or on a college entrance examination. However, as a college professor, with over 35 years of classroom experience interacting with students, and 10 years as a college student—undergraduate and graduate, living on and off campus, at a mid-western research university, I can confidently tell you that high IQ is not the necessary ingredient for college success. You only need time, something God has given everyone alive equally.
I came to this conclusion by observing a study companion and others who were excelling academically. One day, I had the good fortune of sitting across him in the library studying for a test. We sat at the same table and across from each other for mutual support and encouragement. After about two hours I got up to stretch my legs, rest my eyes and get some fresh air, but he just sat there reading, taking notes and sometimes twirling his pen between his fingers in one hand. He looked up occasionally and perhaps wondered what I was doing getting up and roaming around often.
At other times, I went to study with a few international students from China, providing each other library-support companionship. In time, I realized that I had undervalued God’s liberal gift for college success and craved for other success factors we have glamorized and cannot easily acquire or change, such as high IQ or superior academic preparation.
My library companion outperformed most peers using something more basic and available to everyone, time and effort, and then more time and more effort, as necessary. When I followed his example, and put in the time and effort, I realized comparable results. The only cost to me was better time management and personal discipline. My observations of many cases where a humbly gifted or average student has excelled above his or her more endowed peers have led me to conclude, euphemistically, “You don’t need brains for college success!”
However, for a Christian, time and effort are not enough because God expects more. Committed Christians must use time like other students “but understanding what the will of the Lord is” for their lives (Ephesians 5:15-17). They must put in the effort to compete and succeed “as unto the Lord, and not to” simply acquire worldly goals and accolades (Ephesians 6:6-8).
If not, God will eventually throw them into special situations to cause them to revisit their spiritual goals and return to Him. One instance I remember vividly was when I had to take a graduate admission test. The first time I took it, I did not make the university’s cutoff. Strangely, one classmate whom I was tutoring made the cutoffs. He had taken an expensive prep course. The option was outside the financial resources that God provided for me. Finally, I approached another Christian friend who had taken the same tests and made the cutoff. “How did you prepare for the test?” I asked him. He chuckled and simply said, “Oh! That’s a Holy Ghost exam!” His statement touched my heart.
I quietly nodded at him and left because I realized that God had spoken through him to me, “God’s Wisdom and Power are the critical success factors in some circumstances.” A Christian who undervalues and shuns God’s involvement in his or her college career is bound for disappointments and disillusionments. With God, your time and effort can multiply to yield more and better results! Biblically, my friend was paraphrasing Zechariah 4:6, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
“Neglecting and shunning God’s involvement and engagement in our college lives” is the deadliest pitfall that you need to watch out for in college! Others may and get along “fine,” but if you are a committed Christian, you cannot do the same. To honor God with your life—both failures and successes—only college journeys that include Him can really glorify and honor His purposes and designs, and really satisfy.
You may wonder, what happened when I changed my attitude and reached out to God for the admission test? I scored above the desired cutoff! Unveiling this “Holy Ghost” strategy or “Christ-centered approach” to college success is the subject of articles in this series. Sure, if I had the money or the loan, I would have taken the pill—the prep course option. Since I could not, I had to use what was humanly available to me and what was spiritually available in God through Christ.
As you go through college, you would find, as I discovered, that there would be times when you will need God’s special guidance and help to excel through living out your faith. The articles in this series are to help college students attain and maintain their spiritual relationship and position in Christ.
The overriding theme is to be “hot” for Jesus (Revelations 3:15-16) on your campus, and that is the key to all healthy Christian lifestyles. Said differently, Daniel (11:32) will call it to be “strong” and do “exploits” for Jesus on your campus.
You might already know that putting God first will be very difficult and unpopular at any university, secular or religious. And it is impossible to remain “hot for Jesus” (humanly speaking) when college storms arrive: quizzes, tests and paper deadlines, with loan difficulties, tuition, boarding and medical bills, plus other life’s afflictions and youthful temptations. The battle (Joshua 24:15) to “Choose whom you will serve” under such conditions can hardly be won if your spiritual compass is misaligned. I know it both from good and bad experiences!
The good news is that you are reading these articles and tips to support your aspirations for “Making A’s for Jesus” at your university. The strategies and tips espoused have served many believers and me, and hopefully would guide and support you in your victorious Christian living.
May God keep and bless you on your college life’s journey.
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