Do you do something extraordinarily well? If you do, I want to interview you for this blog.
For the first “peak performance interview” you’re going to hear from a superstar student.
I’ve been a professor for the last 27 years at Montclair State University. I’ve had thousands of students in my classes. Only one graduated with a perfect 4.0 average — Melissa Sapio.
Here are her strategies for success . . .
Ever get an A in a course? Ever get all A’s for a semester? Can you imagine getting straight A’s in every course you take for your entire college career?
Melissa Sapio did just that! She graduated from Montclair State in May 2001 with a degree in psychology and a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. Melissa earned an A in all 44 courses she took as an undergraduate. Now she’s a doctoral student at Fordham University in school psychology.
Rob Gilbert: Did you start out your first semester here thinking that you wanted to graduate with a perfect 4.0?
Melissa Sapio: Oh, no. Graduation was way too far away to think about that. I took it semester-by-semester and actually test-by-test. I would take each course week-by-week and do whatever I could to try to surpass the professor’s expectations for each assignment, quiz or test.
RG: Were you competitive with the other students?
MS: No, not at all.
RG: What was your secret?
MS: I always over-learned and I always over-studied. But any student could do what I did. Just work hard. I wasn’t smarter than anyone else — I just worked harder.
RG: Did you ever get nervous before exams?
MS: I got nervous all the time. If you care, you get nervous. I’d even get nervous when I’d look at the syllabus on the first day of class and see some huge project I’d have to do in two months.
RG: Did you ever overcome the nervousness?
MS: I don’t think you do. You just learn to accept it and use it.
RG: Where did you sit in class?
MS: In the middle of the front row.
RG: Did all your professors know who you were?
MS: Yes. I was quite shy and didn’t want attention, but somewhere along the way they’d take an interest in me or I’d take an interest in the material. That happens at Montclair State. It doesn’t happen at every university especially where they have hundreds of students in a large lecture.
RG: Did you get all A’s in graduate school?
MS: Yes . . . except for one course. I got a B+ in “Introduction to Counseling.”
RG: Did that devastate you?
MS: Yes and no. In a way, I think it took a burden off my shoulders.
RG: When you look back, who were your favorite Montclair State professors?
MS: Dr. Benediktsson really made me love literature more than I already did. I would leave his class feeling changed because of the new ideas he exposed me to. In psychology, Dr. Friedman was really dynamic during his lectures and I still remember some of the great examples he used.
RG: What final advice would you give the students reading this?
MS: You have to set priorities each day, manage your time, and be willing to disregard anything that would distract you from staying focused. If you care about how you do in school, this will be demonstrated by all the decisions you make throughout the semester.
Would like to meet Melissa? Hopefully, she will joining me at the FREE College Success Seminar this Thursday (May 3) at 7:00 p.m. at Watchung Booksellers (54 Fairfield St., Montclair, NJ).
If you want to read more about Melissa and learn how you can be outrageously successful in college, get my new book: How to Have Fun Without Failing Out: 430 Tips from a College Professor.
Thanks Melissa . . .
Rob Gilbert
P.S. If you’re interested in being interviewed, email me at: sendmeastory@aol.com.
