[Billfred]

It came to my attention today that I somehow made the Dean's List during robotics season. How?

1) Ease back on the coursework. According to the University of South Carolina, I took fifteen credit-hours this semester--par for the course. However, look a little closer and you find that MART 210 (Digital Media Arts Fundamentals) is just a wee bit easier than, say, FINA 363 (Principles of Finance) or MGMT 371 (Operations Management). Saving a relatively easy course for the spring makes things a lot easier.

2) Know what counts, and what "counts". There are things that have a significant impact on your grade, and there are things that have no impact on your grade. Being able to successfully discern the difference is a huge boost.

3) Don't be afraid to play the robot card. I had a professor this semester with a simple attendance policy: miss more than three classes, get an F. Well, I thought I had it figured out--Florida was spring break, miss for Palmetto, Championship, Discovery Day, and just don't get sick. Well, I somehow didn't realize that Florida was not spring break--it was the week before. I mentioned as such to my professor, and it turns out he's a fan of robots. Not only did the Friday before spring break turn into an optional day, the lab assignment for the week of Palmetto was to go see a robot and make a note of how it functioned. (Who'da thunk?)

4) When the chips are down, your back-burnering of any assignment for robotics came at the cost of your right to whine. Sometimes, you've just gotta grind until the job is done. It's not fun, it's not glamorous, it's nowhere near as fun as going to the Championship--but it's just gotta get done.