Closest Alligator to the Boat: How College Students Can Get an "A" in Class and Life

By Jennifer Epley Sanders

"Closest Alligator to the Boat" is a book about professional and personal development for college students. Think of it as a series of office hours sessions with a professor but in a short, written format. These "office hours" will address students' objectives, logistics, and morale for navigating college and life.

 

This book is for college students who want to learn about themselves, make a change in their lives, get somewhere, achieve a goal, improve themselves, help others, or just get some different perspectives about professional and personal development options. This book will be especially useful for students who are feeling overwhelmed, behind, confused, unsure, or scared about their classes, major, the "world of academics," interacting with professors, handling professional relationships, conflicts with individuals or institutions, and trying to "do it all."

 

The book's title "Closest Alligator to the Boat" comes from an old military saying that applies to a variety of situations. It refers to dealing with the most vital and urgent issue first. If you want to survive and thrive, you will need to "attack" whichever "alligator" is directly in front of you. It is important to tackle the things in life that are "mission critical," i.e., prioritize what matters most. This book will help students to prioritize certain ways of thinking and acting in order to achieve their short- and long-term goals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer Epley Sanders
• Release date: Mar 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393382393

Jennifer Epley Sanders

Dr. Jennifer Epley Sanders’s teaching, research, and service facilitate critical thinking, cross-cultural understanding, and productive learning experiences in the classroom, university, profession, and diverse communities in the United States and Southeast Asia. Dr. Epley Sanders currently works at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi as a professor in the Political Science Program. She graduated from the University of Michigan with an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science as well as a Certificate in Southeast Asian Studies and a Certificate in Survey Methodology. Her B.A. in Political Science is from Vassar College. As a political scientist, Dr. Epley Sanders uses qualitative and quantitative methods to study the politics of “identity” with the aim of deepening and advancing our existing knowledge about what constitutes “identity,” its influences in our lives, and why identity matters for us personally, professionally, and politically. Dr. Epley Sanders loves her family, friends, sweets, lumpia, traveling, asking questions, adventures, and South Texas.

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INTRODUCTION

Question: What is this book about?

Answer: This book is about professional and personal development for college students. Think of it as a series of office hours sessions with a professor but in a short, written format. These office hours will also address more than your courses such as how to determine what you want in life and how to go after it.

This book is for college students who want to learn about themselves, make a change in their lives, get somewhere, achieve a goal, improve themselves, help others, or just get some different perspectives about professional and personal development options. This book will be especially useful if you are feeling overwhelmed, behind, confused, unsure, or scared about your classes, major, the world of academics, interacting with professors, handling professional relationships, conflicts with individuals or institutions, and trying to do it all.  

I titled this book Closest Alligator to the Boat because it’s an old military saying that applies to a variety of situations. It refers to dealing with the most vital and urgent issue first. If you want to survive and thrive, you will need to attack whichever alligator is directly in front of you. It is important to tackle the things in life that are mission critical, i.e., prioritize what matters most. This book will help you to prioritize certain ways of thinking and acting in order to achieve your short- and long-term goals.

I have been a college professor since 2010. I have spent a lot of time getting to know my students inside the classroom, during office hours, and in the community. Many of my past and present students are amazing people! My students aren’t perfect, though, and they sometimes get lost or distracted while on their professional and personal paths. With some guidance and mentoring, I have found that they eventually figure things out and become successful in ways that are meaningful to them.

Besides holding office hours with my students, I typically place an online folder on my course websites titled How to get an A in class and in life! where I list a bunch of professional and personal development resources. My goal with this book is to reach even more students beyond my classrooms so that they, too, can get whatever literal and metaphorical grades that they need and want in academia or life in general.

Not everything in this book will apply to you directly, though, and that’s okay. Find what works for you. Perhaps you know someone else who could benefit from the other advice and you could pass it along to that person.

This book begins with a short personal narrative to give you a sense of my background. Next, there is a general summary of my office hours advice for the quickest, get-to-the-point kind of notes. Then, after a brief commentary on the basics, this book is structured into three major categories: Objectives, Logistics, and Morale. To be successful, you need to have a goal, you need to know practically how to meet that goal, and you need to have the enthusiasm and wherewithal to meet that goal. Thus, the first section titled Objectives is about students learning how to determine their goals. The second section concerning Logistics covers how to implement steps towards those goals. The third section on Morale focuses on how to stay motivated and balanced in the process.

Each section has a brief overview that is then followed by easily digestible advice about things to do and things to avoid. While I recommend reading the book in order by major category, students can skip around to locate whatever is most relevant to them under different circumstances.

See you later, alligator, and best wishes!

Regards,

Dr. Jennifer Epley Sanders

PERSONAL NARRATIVE AND GENERAL ADVICE

Question: Is Dr. Epley Sanders an expert on professional and personal development?

Answer: The answer depends on how you view my background and what I have to say.

My own story has its ups and downs. I’ll start with the downs and then shift gears into the ups. When I was younger, I mistakenly thought that universities were a kind of utopia for and made up of geeks. I believed in the existence of such a utopia three times in my life: when I was first admitted to college, when I entered my PhD program, and when I joined a department as a faculty member. If you catch me on a bad day, you will see that I still get surprised by the fact that higher education does not automatically mean mutual understanding, shared goals, or even good behavior for everyone all the time. I used to think that if you knew better, you would do better, which would mean that geeks would be the best of the best... and well, that is not the case as it turns out because not everyone shares the same definition of best.

My naïve idealism of academia has its roots in my identity. I am a biracial woman who grew up as a military brat, moving on a regular basis. My family did not have much money, so I learned to do without and work hard for any needs and wants. With an immigrant mother running the household and a father who was often deployed overseas, I did a lot of learning on my own and at school. Though I was the perpetual new kid in town, I adapted as best I could and found that academic success leads to opportunities. A handful of special teachers nurtured my love of reading, answered my inquisitive questions, and encouraged me to achieve. Although my mother did not have a lot of formal education beyond junior high school in the Philippines, she understood and pushed that the American Dream