In the spirit of starting my spring semester today, I wanted to give some advice to students who maybe are just starting college, want to improve their experience at college or even students who are returning to finish or accomplish more of their education.
I am currently on track to graduate this year in the fall, nearly 2 years ahead of schedule. While I don’t know everything there is to know about college, I do know what helped me along the way, and I’m here to share it with you in hopes of helping out in any way I can.
1. Don’t procrastinate
As many times as you’ve heard this before, I know it never gets easier to put into practice.
However, if you are dedicated to making college both a rewarding and easier experience, then I highly suggest you put a system into place that assures you accomplish your work well before any deadlines.
The problem is that you think you will have the time to do something, but life starts to get in the way. By eliminating procrastination, you also eliminate your chances of failing a course due to missing too many assignments.
2. Get to know your professors
Meeting your professors and having them know who you are will greatly benefit you when it comes time to apply for internships, new jobs, or even pursue higher degrees of education.
I find that going to your instructor’s office hours or any other time where you can meet them personally in person will help them remember you when it comes time to write a character reference or letter of recommendation.
3. Set a schedule and stand by it
Just like anything else in life, schedules can be massively beneficial, but only if you actually apply it. Figure out when you will do homework each day, when you will study, and when you should take a break.
Even though people say you should spend twice as much time outside of class studying than you spend actually sitting in the classroom, I find that this isn’t always the case.
How much you need to study to learn the material is completely dependent on how you learn, so maybe that means you spend less or more time working on achieving your educational goals. Either way, you need to apply yourself to the schedule you set for yourself.
I hope that this helps a little bit! If you’re nervous about starting school, take a deep breath and realize that you’ve got this!
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