| College students are directed to many resources on study skills, time management, and organization. Conventional resources focus on schedules, order, and outcomes, and educators promote this emphasis as ideal---the best way to be successful. However, unconventionally time-flexible and process-oriented approaches are employed by many successful students, including those with the Myers-Briggs psychological type preference for Perceiving who comprise close to 50% of U.S. college students. The idealization of conventional college success and study methods contributes to a sense of otherness in students whose effective practices are judged to be inferior. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of successful college students whose approaches diverge from the conventional ideal, through an examination of Perceiving students' patterns of academic behavior and perceptions of their own competence, autonomy, and self-esteem.;This qualitative, grounded theory study focused on 19 academically successful college students of traditional age with confirmed Myers-Briggs psychological types of ISTP, ISFP, INFP, INTP, ESTP, ESFP, ENFP, or ENTP. In-depth, open-ended individual interviews provided descriptions of participants' academic behaviors, cognitive processes, feelings, and self-concepts. A theory was developed to further explain the theoretical dimension Perceiving and its effects on the use of time and space. Finally, the discourse of college success and study skills texts was evaluated through comparison with the student narratives and the theory.;Interview findings demonstrated participant competence in all academic skills. The students valued learning, considered themselves capable, and worked to meet their own standards. It was important for participants to be free to use their own approaches. Most had positive feelings about working unconventionally in a conventional environment but a few were less confident due to faculty or institutional disapproval of their methods. Theory-related findings supported the dimensions of Unconstrained Time, Entirety, Continuity, Awareness, Augmentation, and Momentum. The core dimension, Momentum, explained (a) the challenge of getting started , (b) the value of working all at once, (c) the energy of working at the last minute, and (d) the surprising significance of not going back. Analysis of college success and study skills texts identified opposition to Perceiving students' academic practices. |
