Starting a New Semester

Although I have only done this once, I did find that some of the things I did last semester to start off well really helped, and some were a total disaster. While I found some of my organization to be quite helpful not only in the first few days, but for the rest of the semester as well, I was definitely overzealous when it comes to buying textbooks, and have since learned from my mistakes. I thought it would be nice to share some of these things to do, and some of the ones not to do, with you all here.

                  First off, I showed up a week before classes (which also happened to be the day of the eclipse and the first day of band camp, talk about exciting!) and found all of my classes. As I mentioned I was already going to be on campus, and since I had time I went ahead and got a longtime friend to help me find my buildings and room ahead of time, and let me tell you this was an amazing thing to do. It made my first day So much easier as I had no worries and knew exactly where to go, and while I might not do that for every class this semester as I have already been in the general area of some of my classes and will likely be able to find the room easy enough, for the ones in building that are A: confusing or B: I have never really been to, this is definitely a tip I am going to continue to follow through with.

Secondly, as a commuter, I showed up to campus WAY early. Like my first class was at 9:10 and I pulled into the garage at 7:30 kind of early, and I did this for several reasons. The worst part of commuting is that, at least at my school, on the first day all of the commuters show up extra early because no one knows what the parking situation is going to be like. As the semester wears on and people start dropping out and skipping parking gets better, but until then it’s a total nightmare. Getting there that early ensured that I would either get a parking place where I wanted, or I would have enough time to hunt around for a parking spot and still find my way to class without having to stress over being late. On top of this, I find the first day of class is the most important, and as most people have heard a million times before first impressions count, and don’t sit in the back of the class yadda-ya, I could go on. What this all boils down to is just like you’re spending the first day of class sizing up the teacher and deciding whether or not their class is going to be worth your time, they’re also deciding whether you’re going to be worth THEIR time, and that could be the difference between an extension that you need, extra help, or a plethora of other things. As my freshman seminar teacher always said, they have the power to do as they like with your grades, and while that may be true, you have the power to show them that you are the student worth exerting effort on.

from the Etsy shop Ruskerville

So, at this point, I had been to all of my classes and had gotten the dreaded syllabus. The very first thing I did was go through and write all of the important dates for the Whole Semester in my planner (pictured above). I included deadlines, canceled classes, holidays, anything of even minor importance went into that planner. Now, just putting it in there isn’t enough; the key is to continue using it. As the semester went on I would strike through and move deadlines, add assignments and study group sessions and even include stuff that I had planned for fun, like meeting up with friends, or various appointments I may have had. I’ll go more into detail about my planner itself in another blog post, but the base is doing this early so you can see the semester ahead of you, and then use it. For me, it saved my butt on multiple occasions and even helped me to make some friends as I became the girl who always knew when the deadline was.

Now that we’ve talked about all of the good things that I did to start last semester, let’s chat about the bad a little, shall we? In my “off to college” excitement, as soon as my textbooks became available I rushed out and ordered them in Amazon, and this bit me in the butt before I had even made it to band camp. One of my professors were changed, and therefore the whole booklist for the class was switched. Great. While I was able to return it and get a full refund (after fussing about a $32 re-stocking fee, I mean who does that, the book was only $40!) it was still a pain. Not to mention that on top of that, for some of my classes we really didn’t need the books, or there were cheaper options available that my teachers told me about sometime in the first week. Overall that was just a bad plan, and this semester I will definitely be waiting until at least the first day to order, and I will also be considering going the e-book route because instant access anywhere I am without having to lug all of the weight around sound amazing, in addition to the ability to highlight (and delete highlights) and take notes without damaging the books.  My only hesitation is that I couldn’t sell it back, but honestly, it’s probably worth it.

Another big grievance I had was that I spent too much time trying to study when I didn’t have anything to study! Don’t get me wrong, when I actually had something to do I would go to the library and buckle down and do it, and it was great! The library has that great study atmosphere, and time really flew. My problem is when, especially at the beginning, I would go to the library in order to study, even when I didn’t have anything to study. All my work for all of my classes would be done, not that there was much as I had the easiest schedule, and I would end up just wasting time that I could’ve used to beat the rush hour and get in some cleaning time at home. It helped me to realize that time to yourself, and time at home is just as important as studying, and you shouldn’t try and force yourself to study, it won’t work.

Overall, I would say I had a pretty good semester. I landed a 4.0 in 26 hours of work after my AP credit, and I made the dean’s list. While I will chalk some of it up to by good study habits and exuberance to finally be there, I have learned that sometimes it’s best to goof off a little and make sure you’re having fun. If you have any additional tips and tricks I would love to hear them in the comments below, and I hope to see y’all soon!

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