Personal Responsibility

Albert Schweitzer once said, “Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals” (Schweitzer). People are naturally unable to take responsibility for their actions or lack thereof. Personal responsibility has a direct impact on college success because using time management strategies, planning, goal setting the student is ensuring their success, and once your educational goals are set, a person is more focused and motivated on completing his or her degree. To me, personal responsibility is defined as there being only one person responsible for your life and the path you have chosen. It is the person that stares judgingly back at you in the mirror every morning. You cannot hold responsible anyone but yourself for the actions you chose or do not chose to do. You must take responsibility and accept the consequences. You are up all night cramming for a test you completely forgot about. It is 2 am and class starts at seven. Finally, the reading material is starting to make sense right as you start to fall asleep. Crap! You overslept and missed the test you spent all night studying. Who is to blame? YOU! Personal responsibility has such a huge correlation with being successful in college. Had you chosen to study throughout the semester instead of attempting to cram last minute, chances are you would have passed the test and not have the failed the class. All it takes is holding yourself accountable for the actions you chose. Let us back up to the last day of high school. Graduation has come and gone. In your hands, you are holding that coveted admission letter to your dream school. You show up that fall for orientation and the academic advisor asks what you want to major in. Blank…your mind goes blank! According to U.S. News, 80% of college students will change their majors at least once (Ralph Figueroa, 2011). Most college advisors recommend that a student