Summer is Over

Yeah, not really what you want to hear, I know, but it is the truth.  Incoming freshmen, are you excited?  I know when I was there last year, I couldn't stop thinking about what it was going to be like when I finally got there and had all my things moved in.  You are going to have a ton new found freedom and, not to scare you, but it's rough.  Remember, it's good to have fun, but you need to get the important stuff done, too.  (Refer back to earlier posts about time management.)  I know you can handle it though.

New seniors: you are the top dogs now.  That's just as exciting as starting college.  Have fun!  It's your last year in high school, but much like those starting college, get what you need to get done, done first.  It's important to keep your grades up this last year.  Your grades from all four years matter to schools.  Just because you got accepted into a school does not mean they cannot change their minds.  If your grades slip enough a college can decide they do not want you after all.  Do not screw that up!

I really hope you all do well this next year. 

It's been so long

I had the sudden urge to blog again. I even forgot I was doing this blog to begin with. Good thing I don't have like any followers. I need to change that. Anyways, back to the college issue.

High school seniors and juniors I'm trying to reach:

You have officially moved on to the next stage of your life. For you seniors, that means you're finally going to college whether that is away from home or at home. For you juniors, you're where those seniors were last year. Me, I have survived one full year of college with minimal damage to my sanity.

I was going over my two other posts on here and realized I actually had given some really good advice and even though I forgot I started this blog I realized I really kind of followed my own advice for once. I really hope if you found this blog you can follow it, too. I really want to be helpful in ways I wish people could have helped me.

Surviving the first year of college really is not all bad. It does require some focus but you can still have a little fun. I will admit that the first semester of it I really didn't follow my own advice. I sat around in my room a lot and focused way to much on school and still ended up doing really poorly because, I realize now, I was cracking under the pressure of it all. So going back for a second semester, I promised myself I would do better. And I did. I hung out with my friends a lot more but managed to still find time to focus on my studies. Helpful little tip; if you share a class with any of your friends, start a study group. Even if you're not in the same class exactly, meaning you have the same professor for the same class at a different time, it still works out. Chances are, they are either a little bit ahead of your class or a little behind so you will be to cover material one of you does not know yet. (Side note: That's how I got closer to my boyfriend. I didn't even know he was in my class until he said he was failing Bio. We started dating after we formed a study group with another friend.)

Here's some things that might help you not make the same mistakes I did my first semester.

1. Once you establish your group of friends, start planning little get-togethers with them. Friday is always a good day to plan a movie night for everyone to enjoy since it is the end of the week and everyone is thankful to be done with classes for the week. This does not mean slack on your homework. Make sure that gets done before any fun starts.
2. Plan a separate day where guys spend time together while the girls spend their time together. Maybe base it around a T.V show. This will give the guys time to have their "bro time" and girls to have little vent sessions with each other. It also saves the guys from having to hear about your latest crush or female problems.
   
3. At the beginning of each week, create a new schedule. Don't write it in stone though. Maybe get a white board designated specifically to your schedule. This gives you a little flexibility to change what you're doing from week to week. It also helps with time management. Put it somewhere you will always see it so you know what you have planned for the day and the upcoming day. Don't schedule it by time unless you are someone who works better under time constraints.

That is about all I can think of right now. I really hope it helps someone out there. College is not hard but it is not easy either. Whatever it is, you have to make the best of it because you are going to learn so much more than academics, especially if you are living on campus.