I didn’t believe in future planning before I got to college. In high school everything is pretty much laid out for you and where it isn’t it’s easy to roll with the punches You need this, this, and that to graduate in this order. When I got to college, I had a lot more choices. Some universities require you make a four year plan, but in my case that was restricted only to Limited Enrollment majors to prove that I wasn’t wasting their time and resources.
Even if you don’t have to do this, this could be helpful in helping you make sure you have enough time to graduate and you have enough room in your schedule to do what you want.
So what is a Four Year Plan anyway?
It’s basically a term-by-term plan of the classes you plan on taking (or at least a vague idea of said classes). It helps you figure out how to balance a double major, a minor, study abroad, and general education/core classes. It’s kindo f stressful, but I love being this organized so it helps me a lot when registration for the next semester rolls around.
I use paper and Excel to plan my four years so that I always have a copy with me if I need to take something.
How do you make a Four Year Plan?
1. Start with paper.
My first ever four year plan was on a template from the journalism department that my friend printed for me. When I was a business major, all of the classes I needed to take were laid out for me in order and so my first four year plan was a test plan for an Anthropology and Japanese double major. Since then I have definitely finessed that but my best thought out plans have been on paper. Starting on paper is best because it allows you to make mistakes and erase and just scribble right away.
2. List all of your requirements
I list anything I need from the school to graduate first. So general education/core requirements should always come first. You should know what all of your requirements are and how many credits/credit hours/units whatever you need to take of these.
Then list major requirements. List how many credits/units/whatever you need to complete each of these and how many total credits are in your major. List any living and learning or extra program requirements as well. I essentially have a double major and a minor with my living and learning program.
Remember to leave space for what course your plan to fulfill with and when. In my bullet journal I also like to have a way to mark each thing off.
3. Set up your four years
This is a little trickier. I break this whole thing down by term in chronological order. Each term is broken down into a little chart in four sections: Course Code, Course Title, Requirement, and Credits.
Course code is just the course of the code as it appears in your registration documents. I do this so it’s easy for me to search and register for classes when the time comes. Course Title is just so I know what I’m getting into. Requirement is just a space to write down all of the requirements that this particular class fulfills and credits is for the number of units this class will fulfill.
I will include an excel template at the end of this so you can copy that onto paper or just do it on your laptop right away.
4. Fill in requirements in order of need
So I have set up this example of my next fall semester. For any semester you have not completed, write in something erasable: a frixion pen, a pencil, whatever as long as you can cleanly remove it. For any semester you have completed, write in something permanent like a pen or a marker. Since this is for the future, I’m going to write in pencil.
First I add the things I know I need to take to graduate. I have to take a professional writing course for a general education requirement and I want to get it done before I go abroad so I’m going to write that first.
Next I know I need to take another Theory class for my Anthropology major and History of Japan to 1800 for my Japanese major so I plus those in. I don’t know which Anthropology class I’m be taking so I’ll fill it in in a more vague way.
So last I, have a requirement for a scholarship that says I have to take a full load of at least 15 credits a semester which means I need 6 more. I look at my requirements and see that I have time to take two Japanese electives or a Japanese elective and an anthropology elective. Because I definitely have more time later on to take Anthropology electives, I want to take a Japanese linguistics course and an elective for my Japanese major so I fill those in too.
Do this for every semester. When you run out of classes or something it’s okay to leave it blank. As you fill in the plan, make sure to fill in the term when you complete each requirement with pencil of course. \Once you have completed a term you can always go back in and make it permanent so you know what you have finished.
5. Transfer your plan to Excel or another program
My last step is to transfer everything to something electronic. I check a few times a semester to make sure both versions are accurate so that if i’m in a pinch, I can get to my four year plan whenever I need it. If my laptop isn’t working I have my bullet journal and if my bullet journal got left behind at home, I have my laptop or my phone.
Here is a link to a folder on OneDrive of a three templates and an example (my actual typed Four Year Plan). If you are interested in the University of Maryland and/or Honors Humanities, two of the templates are specifically for UMD and the HoHum program so you know what those requirements look like. There are already functions built in for credits so all you have to do is add in your credit numbers and it will automatically add them up and put everything in the right place.
It’s actually probably a little late for this because most people have already bought their laptops. But hey you know what I’m gonna do this anyway.
I was lucky when I bought my laptop. My dad was big into Microsoft and taught me to be very wary and serious about buying a laptop for college. There’s a lot to consider and it’s important to know all of the laptop jargon and everything when you’re looking for a laptop. I never got an honest student-to-student guide on laptops so I wanted to make one.
Preface: Rules for Looking at Laptops
1. Consider what you will use your laptop for first. Almost all college students will use their laptop for these things:
- Typing
- Watching videos
- Reading
- Messaging
If you plan to use your laptop for gaming or video production or photo editing, you need to consider the specs of your computer and the system requirements for the products you want to use. Consider getting a computer that has expandable storage or purchasing an external hard drive. When buying a computer, don’t forget that the operation system and preinstalled programs will take up some of the listed storage.
2. Do your own research.
Write down all the things you think you want to be able to do with your laptop. Read reviews, go to more than one store. Go to the Apple Store on a weekday and ask them questions about the laptop. I’ve found that the Apple employees tend to be kind of vague unless you pester them and it’s easier to do that when the story is less crowded. They assume that if you’re in their for a laptop, you’ll easily buy it just for the logo on the back.
3. Look for student discounts and consider a protection plan. Also consider your school’s tech store and your school’s location to the nearest specialist for your computer. Do not buy a laptop that you would need to send away to get fixed if you can help it. There’s nothing like your harddrive giving out the day before an essay is due. Apple and Microsoft both offer like a 20% student discount if you give them proof or a student email.
4. Check to see if your school will give you the Office Suite for free. Pages and Google Docs are great but Google Docs is kind of painfully unprofessional looking and pages is kind of annoying so I recommend that you get access to Microsoft Office for Word, OneNote, and Powerpoint. Chances are your school may also offer Photoshop CC and Final Cut for free so know what you can get for free from your school and the specs you’ll need to use those if you want to. In some cases you can also get these programs for free to use on library desktop computers.
5. AN IPAD IS NOT ENOUGH. Tablets are great but you’re going to HATE YOURSELF for your first all-nighter. If you want a tablet that bad, consider buying a 2-in-1 or bringing a tablet along with your laptop. I have known people who bring only IPads and they did not have a fun time writing essays.
Now that you know the rules let’ s get on the laptops.
I want to say that I don’t really know that much about laptops. Like I know the basic basics but like you know whatever. I’m gonna do my best so please let me know if there is something I said wrong or something I should add.
Processors and RAM
Processor: Your computer’s brain. How fast can your computer do things? the higher the number the better. i5 or i7 are usually the most common for college students.
RAM= Random Access Memory : How much shit your computer can do at one time. The higher this number, the more things you can run at once. This is why when you have 35 apps open on your phone it gets too hot and slow. It doesn’t really have that kind of RAM. 8 GB of RAM is usually the base but if you do more, you can go up to 16.
College Kid Computers
I’m a big PC gal so I will vouche for that real hard. But I’m trying to be fair.
There are generally five laptops (or laptop adjacents ) you will come across in college: MacBook (including the Pro), SurfaceBook, the Surface, Chromebooks, and Razers. Othe alternatives include Lenovo Yogas (which are cute as shit), Surface Laptops (I don’t believe in these because they have fabric on them but they come in cute colors), and the HP Spectre.
MacBooks are usually best for video and audio editing. They have fantastic displays and you can get great support for them on campus because they are so common. However, they have very little ventilation and even though on campus help is common, due to the way Apple likes to conduct itself, they will need to be sent away if you’re having a serious problem. They can also get expensive so don’t cop out and try to buy a cheap model with low storage because YOU WILL REGRET IT. I had a friend who did that and she had to lug around an external hard drive because she didn’t have enough storage to do projects on her laptop. There are two types: the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. The Pro is probably the better option but it costs a lot more. However, the keyboard is better and it is a little sturdier so it will probably last longer.
Surface Books are really nice. This is the laptop I have. It’s best for photo editing and like design because it has the pen. The Surface Book separates into a tablet and comes with the Surface Pen. They’re windows computers so they come with Office and if you use a windows computer at home, it’s easiest to adjust and transfer over important files. It also separates into a tablet and has a crazy nice battery life because it has two batteries. This computer has pretty decent ventilation and directs all of the heat it generates to the battery on the screen of the computer so it will not burn your thighs! However, these computers are super new so there is no IT support for them on most campuses. These computers are also HELLA ‘spensive because it is a 2-in-1. It start at like $1500 I think. Also, because of the tablet bit, they have a weird hinge that makes the computer gap when closed which is kind of ugly.
Surfaces are often considered to the best college PC. They have an adjustable kick stand and a nice keyboard. They come with the pen and they’re nice and lightweight. Since they aren’t really laptops though they don’t make good computers for lap work and again, because they’re on the more uncommon side, IT support on campus is weak.
Chromebooks are kind of weird. They’re nice and cheap which is cool but that’s really about it. There are my least favorite laptops. If you’re going to bring a desktop to school, this is a great idea because it’s simple and it will get the job done. But it cannot run anything in the Office suite or any other programs you might need for class like statistics software or even Arduino. It can only run web apps and chrome extensions. While Google Drive apps are great for group projects, they aren’t the best for writing papers and making presentations so take that into consideration.
Razer Blades are the most high end of the laptops. They are fucking MONSTERS. These are great for everything from design to video gaming. I haven’t heard anything bad about these computers to be honest. They're gorgeous machines with rainbow keyboards that come with presets for how they light up which is lit as fuck. They can run League of Legends pretty smoothly and I really don’t know anyone who has had a problem with them. I do suggest you have some knowledge of computers before you order one of these though because I think it’s more common to order them online. If you plan on playing a lot of games on your laptop while you’re in college this is probably your best bet. ALSO IF YOU WANT A DANK KEYBOARD OMG THIS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. The click of a Razer Chroma Keyboard is the music of my dreams.
