#tips for freshmen

[myberkeleyadventure]

If you're in your 20s, here are some quick, basic financial tips!

I'm no expert at all so of course do your own due diligence. But here's what I wish I would've known earlier:

Subscribe to r/personalfinance on reddit. This sub is FULL of extremely helpful information, including a literal step by step guide of how to handle $, as well as information of what to do when you're at certain ages. This was my first resource when I became serious about my finances!

Make sure you have at least one credit card, so you can start building credit. The earlier, the better. Be responsible with how you use this card, obviously. There are great "starter" credit cards so look to see which one is the most appealing for you! A good age to get a credit card is the summer before college starts.

Create a high-yields savings account. A high-yields savings account has an extremely higher interest rate than a standard savings account. For example, Ally Bank is at 0.50% and Bank of America is at a measly 0.01%. Take time to review how you want your money organized and stored, but I'd highly recommend having a "standard" savings account and a high-yields savings account.

Open a traditional IRA or ROTH IRA account and contribute what you can. Do your research independently to see which account is best for you. And then start contributing whatever you can. Time is on your side, friends! Even if you can only contribute $50 a month (or a one-time payment), it's better than nothing! The #1 tip for investing is to start early because of the compounding interest.

Open a brokerage account and contribute what you can. Similar advice as the point above. Personally, I would contribute the maximum limit for the IRA account (if I could), before contributing to my brokerage account.

Try to minimize your debts as much as possible! Apply to as many scholarships as you can. To help pay for college, consider working part-time while balancing your coursework: it's pretty common but obviously know your limits! If you're too stressed out, it's likely not worth the juggle. Live frugally until you pay off your debts (and honestly, even after).

[lilaclorcan]

Textbook Tips

College textbooks are expensive, and I highly recommend that if you can, you try and rent textbooks!

Renting textbooks comes with some struggles though, sometimes quality isn't that great, and you cannot highlight or write in the margins.. and for some people that is really crucial to their learning / studying process. 

The essentials for making the most out of rented college textbooks are literally all in the photo below! 

Post It Note Tabs: are so helpful because they let you mark pages without folding them doggy ear, and they don't tear the pages. I’ve used these on extremely thin pages and haven’t had a single issue! I highly recommend using these, or some variation. They also let you color code, and have a variety of sizes. 

Sticky notes: You can't write in a rented textbook, but if you use sticky notes you can make as many notes as your heart wants, and you just remove them after the fact! Another thing you can use these for is to cut up and make your own post it tabs! 

Pens: A good reliable gel pen is always necessary if you want to take a lot of notes. Again, I seriously love the pen+gear pens from Walmart! 

A notebook: Taking textbook notes is sometimes really helpful if you don’t want to carry a textbook around campus, so a notebook can be helpful for writing condensed notes to study on the go. The notebook pictured is a FiveStar 5 subject notebook, that I use to rewrite lecture notes / textbook notes! A notebook also lets you annotate and highlight as much as you want! 

If at all possible, if you can avoid buying textbooks at full price, I would definitely do it! Textbooks are insanely expensive! 

There are so many ways to get discounted textbooks, there are rental sites, such as Chegg, Amazon, etc, rental stores usually near campus, and some colleges even have like textbook re-sell groups you can usually find some things in! Look around at different websites, and compare prices! Students with an .edu email address can get Amazon Prime discounted, and free 2-day shipping when you have like 3 days to get a textbook is a serious life saver! 

[trashy-elysian-blog]

Freshie (or anyone really) Advice

To future high school freshman (or anyone really),here's some advice and tips to survive the upcoming year. 1- DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR PENCILS!! I feel like this is common knowledge but you can never say it enough. Be stingy with your pencils/ pens. You're the one that paid for them & that person who said they'd give it back are usually lying. 2- STAY ORGANIZED Again a no brainer, but it's literally so important to stay organized and tidy. Some ways to do that is -color coordinate notes -post it's -folder/notebook for each subject. Something that i did was at the end of each week/ during the weekend when i had down time i would go through all the papers from the past couple of days and organize them just to release some stress and know i was ready for the next week. 3-YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO PREPARED!! I didn't learn this till my sophomore/junior year. In my book bag i carried a little pouch with things i knew i'd need at some point. I got most of the stuff from the travel section of Target. The "Emergency pouch" included -compact mirror -pack of tissues -Tide To-Go stain remover pen -Gum -mints (can't have bad breath y'know.) -deodorant -oil absorbing towelettes -bandaids -hand sanitizer -lent removing sheets -safety pen -lip balm -feminine products -and some bobby pens and hair tie (Yes they all fit in a little pouch, crazy I know.) Now, i only let a few people use stuff from this, but i was the go-to girl if you needed anything and i kinda take pride in it because it saved me and some of my friends quite a few time. 4-EAT. EAT. EAT!! My first two years of high school i didn't eat. like at all. I went through 8 hours of school only drinking coffee in the morning and water till i got home. I always felt super drained, but i didn't want anyone to judge me or what i ate. Eventually i learned that it doesn't matter what others think and what i was doing wasn't heathy. So, i started making my lunches the night before & I ate things like sweet snap peas with turkey and cheese pin wheels or even leftovers from dinner just to spice things up a little and not eat a sandwich everyday. 5- DONT STRESS ABOUT HAVING A GIRLFRIEND OR BOYFRIEND If you have one great! I wish the best for you two. If not, don't stress, it's ok. Not having a significant other is ok and in my opinion much easier. people in high school tend to be immature, girls and boys alike. I personally didn't even start talking (non platonically) to guys till my junior year just because i wanted to focus on making good grades since freshman and sophomore year do matter. So, those are my 5 little tips & if you have any questions or need someone to talk to i'm always available:) Have an AMAZING YEAR!! <3

[ahoforminho]

Important Tips for Upcoming Freshmen/Ninth Graders!

 1. It’s alright to feel nervous or anxious! After all, you are going into a new school, new building, new classes/classrooms, and yes, you will feel a little intimidated by all the older students and the new teachers. However, I can assure you that is normal! Just take your time to learn your way around, familiarize yourself with the place, and make some new friends. (: Don’t be too intimidated by older students because I can tell you this; they’re probably too worried about college/university or other classes to worry about the freshmen haha. 

2. DO. YOUR. HOMEWORK. One mistake I did when I was in ninth grade and I wish I could go back and change this! This is high school, not elementary so the teachers will most likely have a different teaching style/system. So when your teachers assign homework (or even if you just have any unfinished schoolwork), do it right away or whenever you have time even if it’s not due until next week, next month, etc. because trust me, if you keep procrastinating or pushing it aside, they will pile up on you and it’s. gonna. suck. It’s better to be done early than stressing about it last minute. It’s also good to develop this habit for the next years (: which leads me to my next advice.

3. Develop good habits. What I mean by ‘develop good habits’ is for example, handing in your homework on time, studying for tests, exams, even the smallest ‘quizzes’, etc. Just because you’re in ninth grade, don’t think “Oh, I’m only in grade nine, I have three more years to get my crap together. I can just do whatever for now!”. Don’t have that kind of mindset because I can assure you, if you don’t get used to doing these things, you will have trouble doing so in more difficult grades and it will bite you in the butt. Think of the first year of high school as a practice round to get you ready for the next years. 

Also, even if you’re not a freshmen, it’s never too late to develop and practice good habits!

4. Your health comes first. If you feel a little overwhelmed or stressed about your assignments, projects, tests, exams, or school in general, don’t be afraid to stop for a moment, take a breather, and relax. Don’t hesitate to put everything aside for a while and just get your thoughts together. Get some coffee or tea, grab a book or watch a few episodes of your favourite show on Netflix, or even get your favourite snack and snack on it while listening to music. Not only does stress affect you physically, it can also affect you mentally and emotionally. Stress can make you more irritable and less focused and you want to be as focused as you can especially if you’re around finals week (: 

Also talk to your teachers if what they’re doing is too much for you! Let them know because otherwise, they’ll just keep going while you’re left to deal with it on your own! Tell them what the problem is and I guarantee you they will fix an arrangement for you (: 

5. Invest in a planner. If you’re the type of person who keeps forgetting important dates or assignments, then I highly suggest you buy a planner! It doesn’t have to look all pretty with fancy writing or designs like what you see on studyblrs or on youtube, so don’t be pressured about making it look like that! You can go to a dollar store, staples, walmart, target etc. and buy a planner for probably less than $15. You can even just buy a notebook for $5-$10 and make your own planner! Just simple write down the month, list the days of the week, then jot down your exams, important events, when homeworks are due, etc. This will help you keep on track! 

6. Last and the most important tip of all,

Have fun! I know it’s a weird tip because c’mon. It’s school??!! School isn’t fun. 

However, if you make it fun, it will be! Attend pep rallies, dress up with your friends for school dances, go to field trips, etc. School isn’t just about tests, homeworks, deadlines (though they really do make it seem like it at times), it’s also about making friends and creating fun memories with them (: 

Goodluck to upcoming freshmen and ninth graders! Even if you’re not a freshman, goodluck to whomever is (or already is) starting a new school year! 

[myberkeleyadventure]

Budgeting as a College Student: Comparing My Undergrad vs Graduate Spending Habits + Tips

My budgeting as an undergraduate and as a graduate student is very different.

As an undergraduate, I didn't really know much about budgeting, finance, credit cards, or anything. Quite honestly, I was just... broke. My parents did not give me a monthly allowance (they couldn't afford to!) and I had a part-time work-study job that gave me some income, but I always limited myself on buying things. Truthfully, I didn't really need to buy things: I had a meal plan for half my undergraduate time, and living in the college dorms meant that the university would fix my light bulbs and have vacuums for us, etc. During my junior and senior years (when I lived off-campus), that's when I started to spend a bit more money: on groceries, eating out, and random things like batteries. Overall though, I look back and I'm grateful for how strict I was with my spending. I think I'd only spend $100-$300 a month maximum on my credit card.

As a graduate student, this is much different. Although, COVID is a big factor here as well: my first year of graduate school was 100% virtual so I stayed with my parents and did not need to pay rent. And at the height of the pandemic (AKA all of 2020), everyone, including myself, stayed inside and as a result, I hardly spent any $. I saved a SHIT TON of money during my first year of graduate school. My second year of graduate school is in-person but because of my scholarships/funding, I'm very humbled to admit that budgeting isn't a super necessary thing for me.

But still, I compare my spending habits from undergrad to graduate, and I'm shocked at the differences. I know I'm older now, and there's COVID, and etc. But I spend a LOT more as a graduate student. I think it may be because I used to work full-time for a couple years so I got used to a standard of living.

This post doesn't really have much substance except to conclude with:

Make sure you keep track of your spending habits! At the bare minimum, I'd recommend using the Mint Mobile app for finances. I've used it since undergrad and it's nice to have all of my accounts linked and for me to easily see where I stand.

Consider investing. I have another post here that talks more about financial tips. There are three rules to investing: start early, make regular contributions (literally could be $20 a month... better than nothing!), and don't touch the money.

Spend wisely. Who cares about clothes, material possessions, etc when you can spend it on EXPERIENCES? That's my recommendation. And if you DO buy clothes/etc, buy QUALITY items and shop during sales. Shop smartly.

That's all for now!

[myberkeleyadventure]

"Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Mark Twain

If there was one piece of advice I could give my younger self, I would probably say this: Focus on your own journey, and stop comparing it with other people's journeys.

I always heard how software engineers could make 6 figures easily upon graduation. Doctors are highly esteemed and select specialties make money out of the wazoo. If you don't want to go the doctor route, PAs also have the potential to make amazing money.

It took me awhile to understand how each of us have different strengths and weaknesses. And it's really not great to idolize certain professions without understanding/recognizing the work that goes behind it.

For example: There's the stereotype that software engineers have "easy" jobs and the tech industry seems so relaxed and chill. "All" they do is code and they get paid a crazy amount of money. I used to admire them and honestly, was jealous of them -- I wish I could earn that much! But the reality is, I've taken a few coding classes and truthfully, all of the classes were really difficult for me and I was stressed most of the time. I've come to the conclusion that coding and programming isn't for me, or at least certainly not what I'd want to do for a living!

Another example: Doctors are incredibly hardworking. You have to go through YEARS of education and training to be a doctor. And honestly, I can't handle that.

Recognizing the work behind each profession makes me realize how I wouldn't be a great fit in those professions and makes me shift my mindset from "WOW! I'm jealous of that profession and wish I could make that much money!" to "Wow! I know I wouldn't be happy in that position, but I recognize the work that it takes to get there and that's admirable! Good for them!"

Instead of idolizing certain professions, we should admire when people pursue what they're passionate about -- whether that's software engineering, being a doctor, working as a city planner, etc. Recognize that certain individuals are better suited for certain professions over others. Certainly, not everyone is suited to be a doctor, engineer, lawyer, etc.

Life is really about finding what your strengths and weaknesses are. When my friends are off pursuing their passions (or still trying to figure it out!), I'm genuinely happy for them. I used to secretly (in my head) compare salaries, benefits, job growth, etc. But it's so unhealthy to have that competitive mindset. Is there even one job that is clearly the #1 option for everyone? Of course not!

All you can do in life is find what your passion is, pursue it, and if you're so lucky to have your job and passion line together, oh man - that's the dream!

[haleighstudies]

My Tips for Freshmen in College

Disclaimer: Everyone has different experiences in college so my tips might not be applied to you, but that’s life, so don’t try to call me out for lying, I’m just sharing my experiences. Also I went to a community college, so some advice won't be helpful to you at all, but I wanted to make this post, so here it is.

1. Use your down time wisely

If I could only give ONE tip it would be to use your down time wisely. In college, you don’t get busy work so, you have plenty of time to read the materials, take notes and study in general, but I found it very difficult to stay on top of things when I wasn’t in class. When I was free of class I would literally go to the library and nap until my next class began. DON’T DO THAT!! I look back on all the time I wasted in the library I realized I would have been a lot less stressed towards the end.

2. Break up your projects into smaller pieces

When your humanities professor assigns you an 8 page paper due by the end of the semester on the first day of class, break up the assignment into to small parts to feel less overwhelmed. BUT when you break those things up into small bits, MAKE SURE YOU DO THEM! It doesn’t matter if you plan to finish the essay a month in advance if you don’t stick to the plan, which is another main point I’d like to make. Make a plan and stick to it as best you can!

3. Get a planner

Weather you want to admit it or not, we all need help remembering things and getting a planner is the best way to help you do that. I recommend a paper planner, not just one on your phone because technology can malfunction, but your planner will not. I know A LOT of people who hate the idea of a planner so much because they think that can remember everything, and maybe they can, but having a planner makes it like a double check method, so just break down and do it. There are some really cheap ones and if you’re lucky like me, the school you attend will hand out free ones, albeit they are scrawny and have the school logo all over it, but still they are nice to have if you want a planner. Or even a back up planner if you’re a nerd like me. You can even start a bullet journal! And once you get the planner USE IT! USE IT EVERYDAY make it a habit.It’s a good habit to have.

4. Take ALL the freebies

Hey, I know this seems dumb, but so many people won’t use what’s free to them. You probably paid an insanely high tuition (Even at community college it’s a rather ugly number, so TAKE THE FREEBIES DUDE, you technically already paid for them. At first, I was so shy about taking free stuff the school gave me and making use of their resources, but my professor brought up a great point, your tuition is used to fund those projects, so you DID pay for them, so use them. Don’t worry about harassing the librarian or the dudes who check your essay, you lowkey pay their salary, so make them work! Once I got over the fear of being an “annoying freshman” I enjoyed much more of the free services. Also, TAKE THE FREE FOOD!  TAKE IT ALL YOU’RE NOT FAT YOU’RE JUST HUNGRY AND SEE FREE FOOD ANYONE OF US WOULD DO THE SAME!

5. Meet with your professor if you really need to

Sometimes class and self study isn’t enough. Sometimes your peers are of little to no help and the Crash Course videos aren’t enough either. So, ask the professor. It can be so nerve racking, but if learning the material is important to you, then ask. Ask with respect be open minded and let your professor do their best to help you. You do not want your professor to hate you, so if you gotta be fake for a little be, then be fake. Just remember that this is a small phase of life and that everyone needs help sometimes. Don’t be too afraid to ask.

6. Don’t get too down

School is boring and can suck and feel pointless at times, but if you have a clear goal to reach don’t worry, you’ll get there in due time. Just push on. You might bomb a test, flunk a whole class, but remember that this is just a phase of life. You’ll get past it. Move on and keep working hard and you’ll be able to graduate in no time. In a short, You got this!

[collegeife]