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officialmichaels · 7 years

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Ok y’all I’m about to start my second year of college so I made a list of things that I’ve learned and other miscellaneous things that have been super helpful to me!! (Note: this is a little bit longer than I intended it to be, but hopefully it will be helpful and beneficial to you guys!! Message me if you have any questions about this or any of your own questions!!)

Before Classes Start:

Before each semester starts, send each your professors a brief email just introducing yourself and telling them one or two reasons why you’re looking forward to their class (even if you’re not). It’s always good when the professor know who you are, or even recognize your name because they often have hundreds or thousands of students. If you can get your name on their good side, it’s a huge bonus, especially if you need an extension or an exception on an assignment in the future. (It’s okay to kiss ass sometimes tbh)

Walk around campus, get to know the campus before classes start. Walk through your schedule a few times so you can get a feel for your time slots. It’s important to know how much time you have between classes and how long it takes to get to each one before hand so you aren’t crazy stressed and confused on the first day.

DO NOT BUY TEXTBOOKS please please please do not do that to yourself you are already spending so much on tuition/rent/etc. Amazon is awesome because you can rent and it’s super easy to return. If you really do have to buy the book though, I suggest these websites:

thriftbooks is awesome

valorebooks is amazing I needed “The Help for my women and gender studies class and I bought it used for literally 32 cents I swear to you I’m not joking.

During the Semester:

I know in high school a lot of people can get away with not studying for tests and being fine. Not anymore. Literally start studying for tests and exams DAYS ahead of time, not the night before. Even a quick 5-10 minute review everyday will be so beneficial. That’s 5-10 minutes of more information saved in your brain. I can’t even express how important this is.

How to email your professor

Sleeping is hard in college, I’m not going to lie. There’s always going to be stuff going on late at night and parties and activities. Go to them! Enjoy them! Remember everything in moderation though. Don’t wear yourself down and lose motivation because you aren’t getting enough sleep and you aren’t taking care of your brain and your body. I do have a few tips for late nights and all nighters because they will happen, there is no avoiding them.

Whether it was a late night, or you just never went to sleep, getting ready for the next day is super difficult. The first thing I do is take a shower. (Sometimes i’m so exhausted I have to take a cold shower to wake my self up).

Don’t try to stay awake by eating sugar, or caffeine because you will crash. Try drinking tea instead of coffee or soda. Or even just having a water bottle with you in class to keep you a little more alert.

Good foods are things like fruit, (especially apples, oranges, and bananas), granola bars and protein (protein bars, wheat toast and peanut butter, smoothies, yogurt, etc.)

If you have time in between classes or before work, or whatever you have going on the rest of your day, it’s totally okay to take a power nap if you need it. The best time for a power nap is 15-20 minute long. I always set my timer for 17 minute and it’s perfect. Anything longer than 20 minutes can leave you a little bit droopy and not feeling very well. Even if you don’t sleep, just closing your eyes for that time will give you a real energy boost.

One of my biggest struggles in school so far is eating healthy and eating cheap. I always try to find where the cheap (sometimes free) food is on campus.

I don’t know about other schools but mine has a really active greek life and they are always promoting with food. Go on your schools website and look at the activities calendar and see what’s going on and if any of them will have food.

Also use coupons. I know they seem overrated sometimes but saving like 5 cents each time you buy milk adds up.

Download the “Hooked” app because there are always deals on free and discounted food it’s amazing.

Just a side thought, if you’re like me and don’t use a whole loaf of bread before it goes bad, freeze half of it. I know it’s a super simple solution but I didn’t ever do that until recently and I think it’s genius.

I’m actually a terrible cook and I don’t always have time to make myself a great meal anyway, but I’ve got my list of easy go-to meals and snacks.

But actually, the best thing I ever did was make a whole batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, rolled it up into balls, put 12 balls in a few sandwich bags and put them in my freezer. I had like 4 dozen cookie dough balls on hand for emergency cookie dough cravings it was amazing. 10/10 would recommend.

Bring a water bottle to class. Always.

Also a light jacket. The temperature in the buildings fluctuate and it’s hard to stay focused if your shivering.

I have a few important backpack things:

Make sure you have 2-3 phone chargers. (One to keep at home, one to keep in your school bag, and one to keep in your car if you have one.)

Same with headphones!!! Make sure you have a pair in your backpack AT ALL TIMES

Have a pencil bag that you keep in your backpack and then a separate stash of pens/pencils/highlighters/etc at home so you never have to take your in class writing utensils out of your backpack and accidentally forget to put them back. It’s awful getting to class and realizing you have nothing to write with. I hate being unprepared and I have to ask someone to borrow a pencil I feel like I’m in middle school.

Make sure you have like $5-10 in your backpack (and in your car) at all times because you never know when you’re gonna need a little emergency cash.

Other backpack essentials

hairties

gum/mints (not only to they keep your breath minty fresh, they also help me stay awake if I’m feeling a little drowsy in class)

extra cash

tampons/pads

chapstick

extra pair of contacts, contacts are bound to malfunction sometimes.

nail clippers

travel pack of tissues

Studying/Staying Organized

Keep up with a planner. For the love of all that is good keep a freaking planner. And use it!!!!! Even though most professors keep their assignments and stuff online, it’s so much better to have all your assignments in one place and when you write it down, you’re more likely to remember to do it.

Here is my studying playlist :)

Index your written notes on the first page of your notebook. It’s crazy useful.

If you can find the time, once a week type up your notes in a word document or google doc so it’s easy to search your notes by key words.

To-do lists save my life. Every time I think of something that I need to do the next day or during the week I write it down. Then I make a mental note of what needs priority. A lot of the times I tape these lists to my wall in my room. I’m a lot more productive that way.

Go to study sessions/SI’s. They are so helpful and a lot of times whoever is leading the session will literally give you questions and answers directly form the up coming exam.

Please study and the library. There are no distractions it’s amazing.

Also it’s 100% okay to take a nap at the library. I had 7 roommates my first year and I have 9 roommates this year the library is the only place I can get a little peace and quiet during the day.

Smart Saving/Spending

Keep an empty jar in your room to put loose change in. Last time I filled my jar there was like $80 in it. Loose change adds up.

Buy a hammock. If the weather is nice most of the time where you are, a hammock is the best investment I promise. It’s awesome when you have some reading to do for a class or you just want to chill, or go camping. (Pro-tip: it’s also a really cute date idea)

Planner.

Keep track of your income and output. It’s great to see what you spend money on an how much dough you have coming in vs. going out.

You can get anything from thrift stores. And they have super cute and unique things. Half my wardrobe is from a thrift store and also I got some really cute dishes too.

I bought a bookshelf at a thrift store for $8 and 3 paint samples from Home Depot for $11 and had a super cute bookshelf for less than $20 it was super awesome

You probably need a raincoat or umbrella or both because it sucks walking 10 minutes to class in the rain.

You can get spotify premium for $5/month as a student. I don’t remember exactly how you do it but all I know is I pay $5/mo.

Social Life:

Say “Hi” to people and ask them how their day is. If you recognize someone or if you don’t. I don’t know why but it gives me confidence? And I really love it when strangers on campus are smiling and being super nice, it’s the best.

Date ideas :)

Take tons of pictures of you and your friends and don’t be afraid to ask people to take pictures of you guys!! People are almost always willing to do it and it’s so fun to look back through the school year and see all the fun stuff you did.

Do things outside of your comfort zone!! Hang out with new people, go to parties!! (in moderation though. Be safe and don’t go too crazy. Don’t let your school work suffer!!

Other:

When I was having some troubles with my mental health, I kept a health tracker. In a journal or notebook, I would write down everyday what food I ate, how much sleep I got the night before, that days activities, and who I spent time with. It was really helpful because a lot of the times I was able to pin point what triggered some mental problems for me. The App Daylio is good for that too if you would prefer it be digitally documented.

Other back to school/studying master posts

feel free to add anything of your own that you found useful!!

#honestly I have so many college stories like my freshman year was lowkey wild and imma take all these a lot more seriously this year lol #college #college ref #college tips #school tips #school #freshman #senior #summer #personal #my post

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