Your college years are some of the best years of your life. However, many circumstances could turn this thrilling time into a nightmare. This article will give you practical advice to help you plot out a successful college plan to achieve your goals.
Always have a bottle of water with you at school. You have to remain hydrated to ensure your brain and body are functioning properly. It is especially helpful if your classes are right after one another. Drinking water frequently during the day can help you remain focused and energized. Easily accessible water fountains now make it easy to refill water bottles.
Spend time studying every day. When you work as hard as possible, you’ll reap great rewards. While you can still socialize you should treat college like a full time job. Your success later in life depends in large part on your success in college.
Make sure to involve yourself in lots of different campus activities. You’ll have a better looking portfolio when other see you have interest in multiple things. Only do what you can manage, as keeping your grades up is the main goal, of course.
Be sure to stay well-rested. Many college students get little, if any, sleep between late night parties, classes and homework. Failing to get enough sleep will negatively impact your state of mind and hurt your grades.
Get at least one of your general educational requirements done in the first semester. Get any classes that you must take (but don’t really want to take) over with early on. It would be a bummer to be the token senior in a gen-ed class of freshmen four years down the road.
It’s important that you learn all you can about your professors whenever classes begin. Make sure that you are aware of their office locations, hours of availability and how else to contact them. It is wise to create a solid rapport in case you need a deadline extended or have another type of problem.
You are living by yourself and making your own food. You alone are responsible for your diet, sleep and environment. Try to have a well-rounded schedule that balances classes, study, downtime and maintaining your health. Poor eating habits and stress can make you ill.
If you are moving out of state or plan to live on campus, carefully consider whether bringing your own vehicle is a good idea. It may be difficult to find a place to park, especially in crowded cities. In addition, it can be tough to afford gas, insurance and registration for your car when you do not have a job.
Know what constitutes plagiarism. While you are in college, you will write a great many papers. Pay attention to citations. Your instructor will specify what citation resource to use, though MLA is most common. Proper citations help you avoid plagiarism. Professors are good at spotting unoriginal papers, so you always want to make sure everything you write is yours.
If you can’t decide between two or more majors, then plan on taking starting classes from each department. By getting your core classes out of the way, you can take time to decide on your major. In addition, once you decide on a major, it may be that you have acquired enough course credit in another field to also earn a minor.
It’s okay to take a break. Try not to study too hard, as this can be very stressful. Though you may have always been told that you can never study enough, that is not exactly true. It is okay to take breaks; you will learn more this way.
Do not borrow notes from other students. You may think that the person you are getting them from is a solid student, but there is no telling whether that person was an exceptional note taker. It may be that the notes contain truncated thoughts or incorporate symbols that only the writer can understand.
It’s not impossible to study abroad with kids. Even though you have children, you can still study abroad. However, this may not be the case; schedule a meeting with your university’s study abroad office. While some of these programs may not be tailored for the parenting student, some are actually available that will accommodate the student and child together.
Don’t join campus government activities until you have been on campus for a year or so. No one in the SGA, or the whole campus for that matter, will listen to anything freshmen have to say. Use the year to learn more about the organization and figure out where you might want to fit in when the time is right.
As stated at the beginning of this guide, college is something someone should enjoy. However, it only takes a few important mistakes to make this time much more trouble than normally expected. Keep this advice in mind and make the most of your college years.