These are just a few important things I learned that really helped me get through college and keep sane.
- Have an everything notebook
I have a pink notebook covered with owl cartoons and flowers that is about half the size of a five-subject notebook. It’s filled with everything that’s not class-related: grocery lists, to do lists, fraternity meeting notes, interview notes for the newspaper and class assignments, speeches I had to present, book ideas, article ideas, random thoughts I had during the day, and class notes for when I forgot my actual class notebooks.
It is small enough to fit in my purse and I highly suggest having one. - Don’t over-schedule yourself
Seriously. It will nearly kill you. My last spring semester, I scheduled my entire Tuesday/Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with classes on top of homework, fraternity events, pep band events, articles to be written, work schedules, and other stuff. I had no lunch break and ended up skipping the better part of my geography classes to go eat. My grades suffered, and I learned my lesson.
Also, unless you are one of those magical, up-at-5-a.m.-ready-to-go people, do not schedule 8 a.m. classes. Walking to an 8 a.m. class on a Monday morning in -10-degree weather is the absolute worst. - Do homework with your classmates
Some of my favorite memories in college are of me and some other classmates getting together and doing homework together.
I had a class that required one-page summaries of 30 different chapters in our textbooks. Two to three were due every week, but there was a grace period that lasted until the last Wednesday of the semester.
So, what did half the class do? Yep; we waited until right before the due date. It was the worst. My classmates all met in Young Hall that Tuesday night with computers, popcorn, caffeine, and regret. We finished at 6:30 a.m. the next morning (after screaming, giving up, doodling on the white boards, procrastinating, and finally getting some work done), went to McDonald’s to get food, and had to be in our seats at 8 a.m. While it was fun, we all wished we had done this WAY earlier.
Another group I did homework with (on time this time) was my summer-term physics class. It was a two-hour-class/three-hour-lab-a-day summer course. If that wasn’t excessive enough, we also had homework that took about two hours each night.
There were about six of us that met in another classroom afterwards and worked on the homework together. It was fun to see the different perspectives, compare notes, and figure out the homework together rather than mentally break down over it at home. - Research how many years of experience your future company needs
…and plan your college career around it. This one is more official and not as fun. One person in my undergrad told me I would regret getting my journalism degree in 1.5 years and, while I did save myself a ton of tuition money, that person was right. It is very difficult to find a job that requires three years of experience when I can only say I have a year and a half.
Please take my advice and look into your dream job’s experience criteria. - Have fun
College is supposed to challenge you and push you to your limits. It will change you and force you to work your hardest just for a grade. It will overwork you and underpay you. It will tear down your high horse and tell you that you are just as average as anyone else.
Through this, you need to remind yourself that you can have fun and still get those high grades. I’m not talking about vandalism or committing a crime or underage drinking. I’m talking about going to Wal-Mart at 2 a.m. to explore or having all-nighters just watching your favorite television show or playing sardines in one of the buildings with a big group of people before finals week.
Getting your mind off school every now and then can really be refreshing.
