1. Go to your professor and ask for assistance with your class assignments. You pay the school to teach you. Use them wisely.
2. Instead of working with the Teaching Assistant look in the syllabus to find out office times for your professor. Visit and converse often.
3. Go to the Department webpage and figure out the research interest of your professor then write papers on those topics. Publish with your professor.
4. Ask your professor about resources to pay for school: student projects, student assistantships, tuition reimbursement programs, fellowships, stipends, study abroad, rehabilitation workforce programs, paid internship programs, and student leadership programs.
5. Dress up for class and carry yourself as if you are working already.
6. Reciprocate with your professors as often as possible – energize the class, be the voice of the students, and ask quality questions.
7. Stop acting average, mediocre, and under-represented. BE THE STANDOUT and know your unique value in the classroom setting.
8. Practice your communication and leadership skills in class, on group assignments, and in student-led meetings.
9. Build your resume daily.
10. Connect with faculty, staff, and students as much as possible.
Bonus: Be adventurous