Students blog

Reflecting back on my own college experience, here are five things I wish I had known as a freshman.

1. The friends you make freshman year might not be your friends senior year.

You may get lucky with a few people who stick around, but don’t get discouraged when people change and grow over the course of four years and drift away from you. Meeting new people and learning how to dedicate time to healthy relationships is important. I found that I preferred being alone to having bad company, so while my circle is small, I know I can rely on all of my friends for mutual support.

2. You can do more than you think you can.

It may seem hard at times to dedicate more and more time to school, jobs, clubs, and personal development, but now is the time to fill your days. Every semester I made sure to take that extra class, join that club or seek out a leadership position, and prioritize movement at the gym and tennis practice during the day because that was important to me. You have the freedom now to design a life that fulfills you while also shaping you into the person you want to be.

3. It’s not supposed to be easy, but it is supposed to be fun.

If while trying something new you discover that it doesn’t bring you joy or other benefits, it is ok to stop. Now is the time to find what makes you want to get out of bed every day, so it’s good to be busy if you feel fulfilled. However, there is no shame in asking people you trust for help if things start to feel overwhelming. I was fortunate to have many great friends and mentors help me through some of the more difficult semesters, and you will too when you get involved and build strong relationships.

4. No one is judging you.

Especially as a freshman, I was so concerned with what everyone else thought about me. Now, as a senior, I realize that no one I thought was judging me would remember me today. I have never remembered someone for the way they dress or walk, but I do remember the people who treated me with respect and made me laugh. Think about how you want someone to remember you and use that as a guide for how to carry yourself every day.

5. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know (and how you know them).

Whether it’s an internship you want or an officer position in the club, you are only as good as your relationships with the people making the decision. Since you never know who might be in that position to dictate your future one day, you must treat everyone with kindness and respect. I have submitted more applications than I could ever remember, but the successful ones were supported by the connections I had made during my time at UNH. This truth will hold for the rest of your professional life, so it is essential to practice in college.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

No matter what your major is, it can be hard to find time to study in college. As students, we work, join clubs and sports teams, and maintain a social life outside of school. Assignments and projects can take up a lot of time and energy, leaving an empty tank when it’s time to study for exams. For those in a STEM field, labs, research groups, and a heavy course workload may present additional obstacles to finding time to study effectively.

Time management is an important skill you can develop over time, but there are also ways you can adjust your studying habits to perform better despite having a busy schedule. Some things you can do include committing to a study plan leading up to an exam, only targeting trouble areas using high-retention study strategies, and making concentrated study guides soon after receiving material in class.

1. Make a study plan – Mark your exam dates in your calendar at the beginning of the semester so you always know when they are coming up. Have a rough study plan of what unit or material you are going to review each day that you can refine as you get more material in class and figure out what you need to work on most. Include time to use effective study strategies rather than just re-reading notes or lecture slides.

2. Use course objectives to make study guides – As you receive material in class, begin to compile a study guide of the most important concepts, usually presented as learning objectives. If you do this little by little after every few lectures, you will have a complete study guide of the most important information to refer to use to study for each exam. When it is time to study for your final exam, all the most important concepts from each unit will already be compiled for you to study.

3. Use high-retention strategies to target trouble areas – Once you’ve identified the areas of a course where you need to study the most, consider using strategies that will help you remember the most information in a short amount of time. Have a concentrated study session with timed breaks to reduce fatigue. Instead of flashcards, consider making practice questions from your professor’s learning objectives or find some online. If you are a social learner, ask your friends to quiz you on the material you’ve spent time studying.

If you are still running low on time as an exam is rapidly approaching, condense your learning objectives into five or six major concepts to know. If you can boil those subjects down further, find trouble areas and do your best to resolve any major confusion before the exam. This may mean carving out time to go to one office hour session with your professor for 15 minutes to answer a list of questions you came up with after reviewing the exam material.

Combining these strategies with ways you know you study best can help you reach your academic goals while still balancing social and professional extracurriculars. Sometimes you may do your best to study hard for an exam and still not get the grade you want, and that’s ok! At the end of the day, your mental and physical health is more important than any grade. You will learn from your experiences and be able to better prepare for future exams, so keep working hard and your academic goals will be easily attained.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started!