From someone who was in your position last year.
Morning classes? Maybe. Take it from someone who had to wake up for a 7:45AM class for two out of the three terms of my first year; they were the worst parts of my day and incredibly stressful because I would end up sleeping through them when I was particularly sleep-deprived. However, they were nice in that they kind of made me a little more self-disciplined; I had to finish my work by midnight cause I would be dead the next morning if I wasn’t. If you’re a night owl, try to schedule classes post 9AM; your life will just be a lot less miserable.Â
Make sure you have a break for lunch. I usually try to have an hour of downtime between classes early afternoon, so that I can fit in the gym and lunch. My reasoning is that you’re probably not going to be very productive during that hour unless you have immediate work due the next period, so just use it to take care of yourself. Eat, exercise, and take a moment to breathe between lectures.
Don’t do all the readings. This sounds bad, but I have taken (so many) reading intensive courses where I would have 200 pages due the next day. This is impossible to do if I want to be a healthy human being. A lot of the times, professors will have a main idea they want you to take away from a reading and will just add a lot of supplemental material. If your reading material is particularly dry, it’s going to be the worst and most time-consuming struggle to get through because your eyes will glaze over and you’ll find yourself rereading the same sentence over and over to fully comprehend what it means. Instead of doing that, first grasp what the main idea is by reading the headers, find the key details associated with the idea that links it to other main topics of the course, and store a few examples of what’s been mentioned. All of this can be done by a mixture of skimming and looking at chapter summaries and specifically reading a few paragraphs.
Use SparkNotes. Use CliffNotes. Watch the movie version, the miniseries, whatever it is. Use Khan Academy, Crash Course, WHATEVER. You might be thinking, “This is college! There’s no way for easy cop-outs!” And yes, you’re partially right. If you’re in a literature course, you should absolutely read the material you’re given; however, sometimes, it’s not possible or even necessary to read everything. I had a class that consisted of three papers, to be written on three different novels - two of the papers were assigned to specific books, but the last one was a free-for-all. There were eight novels total that we had to get through. It just wasn’t smart to sit there and read all eight novels with equal intensity. Yes, read all eight if you can, but if you need to supplement your reading with SparkNotes or the movie version or whatever, do it.Â
Participate in discussion. How much you talk matters in college. If you’re a shy wallflower, talk to your professor about your inability to speak up in class, because if you sit there and let other students reign over the discussion, that’s your participation grade going down the drain. I learned this the hard way in my first two classes - my final grades were significantly lower because I just couldn’t speak up in class. Professors are usually nice and can understand when you’re introverted, but becoming part of the discussion isn’t just good for your grade; you’ll be able to contribute your perspective to a dialogue about a subject that you’re most likely interested it. Isn’t that what college is all about?
Preview + review. In specific regard to classes, use the readings + assignments to predict what the professor will lecture on for the next class. Obviously, just doing the work will help you preview; however, keeping conscious note of what you’re doing will help you identify questions and topics of interest that you can talk about during the actual class. This all ties into the previous three points of reading smart and participating. After the lecture, try to resist the temptation to just relax your brain completely and do something else. Stay in the “lecture” mode for a few more minutes and go over what you just did in class. This will cement the information and help you SO MUCH when it comes time to cram for midterms and finals.Â
You’ve probably heard it a thousand times, but GO TO OFFICE HOURS. Professors love it when you come talk to them; they get to know your name and put a face to your tests and assignments and also talk your ear off about the subject they love. Of course, don’t just force yourself to go there and stand awkwardly in the doorway without a question just because you heard you need to. Times you should go: first week of class, when you can drop by and casually say, “I just wanted to introduce myself!” Most likely, the professor will want to chat with your about what your expectations are for the course and what you want to do with your life. And then you should go whenever you have an issue with your homework. Go before midterms and finals with all of the questions that pile up while you cram. Score brownie points and get better help on something you might be confused about. Win-win.Â
There’s probably going to be an interlude of time between classes and your extracurricular meetings + dinner. USE THAT TIME TO FINISH WORK. A lot of stuff happens in the evenings that make you tired and ready to curl up in bed after you come back to your dorm/home. If you buckle down and concentrate during those few hours before meetings and dinner, you will feel sooooo much better for the rest of your day.Â
Go to class. This should be self-explanatory. But seriously, go. Do you find the class useless? Still go. The professor will remember you, even if it’s a 150-person class.
Take good notes during class. Also self-explanatory. If you find that your notes don’t feel sufficient because your professor is the type of person to go all over the place in their lecture and you zone out, compare notes with someone in the class. Compare notes with multiple people in the class. Record the lecture if you have to (but ask the professor beforehand! Because intellectual property rights exist and that’s actually really important!!!!). Make study groups where you compare notes and listen to recorded lectures together. Do what you have to to make sure you got the most out of the actual class sessions - and then supplement it with your readings and outside research. I know a lot of people say that writing things down with a pen and paper help retain information more than typing things down - but honestly, this is just a personal preference. If you prefer typing things down, go ahead. If you prefer handwriting, go ahead. However, if you do decide to use a computer, please make sure you aren’t surfing the web when you should be paying attention. I know I’m guilty.Â
Sit in the T-Zone. This zone is basically the first row and the aisle seats. The professor looks at this area the most during lectures, and this is where he’ll see you the most. Even if you don’t like sitting in the first row, grab an aisle seat so the professor can see that you’re actually engaged in the class. Also, you’ll fall asleep less if the professor sees you.Â
Don’t do everything. It’ll feel like everyone is doing everything and you should be doing more, but that’s really not the case. It’s a given that this isn’t high school, so no one expects you to have five clubs and two sports on your application - and also, this doesn’t actually help you on your resume unless you come away from the activity with a skill that makes you more valuable as an employee/human being. Stick to things that you actually really like and feel that you can grow in - and then really stick to it, so you can say you actually did things instead of being a half-hearted member.Â
Try to assess what you can take away from an activity if you do end up joining. Have specific ideas about your role in the club/extracurricular and what you’re contributing and taking away, mainly because you’ll be expected to talk about this in the future if you have it in your resume.Â
Get started on applications early. Surprise surprise, applications do not end with college apps - that’s only the beginning. You have to apply to literally everything in college, from clubs to internships to study abroad programs. What I like to do with a lot of my applications is have specific answers ready; a lot of applications will ask similarly generic questions about your abilities and goals. Considering you’re in college, I’m also going to take for granted that a lot of the activities you’re applying for have a similar theme, so that should make the job easier. Save your answers so you can use them the next time you have to fill out an application; all you have to do then is restructure them a little so that they fit with the specific question being asked.Â
Before submitting an application, go and talk to a person face to face about it. You’re naturally going to have questions about a program if you’ve decided to apply to it. Instead of just stewing over them alone and then submitting an application, go see the person in charge. This helps SO MUCH in the long run, because they’ll have a face in their mind when they finally read your application. Most likely, the meeting you have with them will include not just your questions, but also facts about yourself that they’ll ask naturally. This helps. This helps you get in, this helps them stay impressed.Â
Make a resume. Do you have a LinkedIn? Go make one - and go make an actual resume. Resumes are kind of a pain in the ass, but they’re completely necessary and will be useful for you if you want to keep track of all the stuff you do over the years. There are so many resources for you to make resumes on the internet AND most likely at your school. Find the Career Services at your school; they can offer comments on your resume and will provide actual, personal help.Â
KEEP UP WITH EMAILS. This is so important because adults get SO annoyed with non-responsive college students. Emails are weird because they’re simultaneously really easy to do (just type out a few short polite sentences!) and also really hard because of the implications behind them. However, adults send a million a day, so your email probably doesn’t have the same gravity to the head honcho/mentor/adult you are emailing as it does for you. Don’t stress too much about it, and just send. Nothing gets down if you don’t email first, and nothing gets done if you don’t respond. Adults are especially impressed if you’re a fast responder - again, this helps with brownie points.Â
Get friendly with the adults. Please, for the love of God, interact with adults who are mentoring your club, your boss at work, or wherever else they might be. They are not there to judge you, you are still in an institution of learning where your capability is still seen as relatively low and nothing more is expected of you. That means adults aren’t going to expect you to be amazing and talented, which means you can literally just show up and open your mouth, and that’ll be enough to impress them. So DO THAT. Talk to adults, smile and say hello when you see them, get them interested in you and who you are. These people have these jobs for a reason - don’t just be another anonymous face that passes by. It helps so much when adults have a good impression of you.
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