Students blog

I’ve always been told that ‘your college experience is what you make of it.’ I never truly understood what that meant until this past year. I am a senior at Penn State University and I just completed my first year at the main campus, University Park. To go from a small branch campus that’s only two hours away from home to attend a large ‘typical college style’ campus that is a five-hour trip away is a big change that I had to mentally prepare myself for. 

Walking into junior year, I realized that I only have two years at the main campus to experience and accomplish everything that I wanted to, which is an endless list in reality. Thankfully, time management and decision making weren’t my weaknesses, but these were two of my skills that were constantly tested. I had an unfaltering positive attitude and an ambitious drive walking into junior year, which is a big part of how I accomplished so much and still managed to keep calm throughout.

I had multiple things on my plate which included my classes, my job with Pearson, dance team, and being a director for a student organization. Other things on my schedule that didn’t occur weekly included meetings for the national honor society that I’m a part of, attending TA office hours, group projects, and social events. Personally, I like to stay busy and limit my free time because that’s what helps me sustain a productive lifestyle. With so much on my plate, here are a few tools that I use to stay organized and manage my time.

One of the biggest struggles that I have faced in college was feeling overwhelmed. As a freshman, I constantly felt like every day I was on a strict schedule that I couldn’t break away from if I were to complete everything that needed to be completed for that day. While in college I have had two part-time jobs, full class schedules every semester, and have been involved within my sorority.

Most days my schedule consisted of work, hurrying to eat lunch, class, homework, hurrying to dinner, and then either more work, homework, or meetings. I was going out of my mind and started to feel really unhappy. Until one day I made myself take a step back from this stress creating cycle and realized why I always felt so over worked and exhausted. Here are 3 good habits I’ve found really help me take time for myself.

Rarely do college students have school as their only responsibility. Properly managing jobs, extracurriculars, relationships, and personal health is an extremely important tool for succeeding both in and outside of school. Finding the balance between all of these is different for each person, but figuring out what works best for you is the first step.

Recognizing the Problem

As a student with two jobs, completing various major-related responsibilities, and mentoring three freshmen, it is easy to get overwhelmed by it all. My original method to address this situation was to set goals for each day. This was inspired by a 2014 commencement speech for the University of Texas by William McRaven, where he states, “If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and encourage you to do another task… and another… and another…” While my goal setting wasn’t limited to making my bed, it would be equally simple, like studying for half an hour or completing a specific assignment. Accomplishing these tasks within my allotted 24 hours gave me the feeling of productivity, but I found myself procrastinating these tasks until 11:30 p.m. I needed a sense of structure with my chores.

Finding a Solution

I decided to begin waking up at the same time every day, regardless of when I went to sleep the night before. If I went to bed at 10 p.m., I needed to be up by 7 a.m. the next day. Even if I went to sleep at 3 a.m., I still needed to be up at 7 a.m. This consistent wake-up time allowed me to have the same amount of time to myself each morning to do any tasks I had set that day. Keeping the same schedule and completing my tasks earlier in the day meant I had more time for other activities. I started attending clubs, I got two jobs, and I became a business mentor in my university. Additional responsibilities aren’t the only thing I gained from a consistent schedule though.

Getting A Little Extra

With the extra time I had, I was able to plan my meals and spend actual time cooking. Morning sugary cereals became eggs with toast and spinach. A rushed Panda Express lunch became a meal that I had prepped hours, sometimes days ahead of time. With a healthier diet I have more energy, things like working out or studying no longer felt like a chore. It took over a year to figure out my own personal grove, what worked for me, what didn’t. Even today I’m still finding new ways to better budget my time and energy, but the benefits of it are incredible.

I’m thankful for a stressful beginning. Without it, I may have never been pushed to change. A healthy schedule can change your approach to each day, each month, each term, and maybe even each year. When you’re not stressed day-to-day, you find more time to plan long term goals.

Thumbnail Photo: Two members of Solar Car holding a windshield above the newly constructed solar car.  From left to right: Rachel Eckert, Composites Manager & Materials Engineer; Samuel Winter, Aerospace Engineer.

A new university, a new horizon. Since last spring, I have graduated from Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and transferred to Iowa State University (ISU) to pursue my bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering. The overall transition from a two-year college to a four-year university was thankfully uneventful; however, I would soon realize the difference in how I should manage my time and work.

Getting Involved (Again)

After transferring, I was unable to continue my previous club activities – as most clubs at DMACC didn’t exist at ISU. I began a quest to find new clubs and hobbies.  I ran into an old colleague who mentioned a club they were in, Solar Car. I attended the following Solar Car team meeting and joined as an electrical member. My primary task was to learn how to read circuit board schematics and aid an older member with designing a battery protection system to monitor the car’s Lithium-Ion batteries. 

In addition to being involved with Solar Car, I was interviewed and accepted for a part-time IT Technician position on-campus within the Psychology Department. As a technician, I responded to faculty requests regarding problems with their electronic equipment. On top of both positions, I continued full-time school at ISU and began to delve into my coursework, but I failed to realize the predicament I placed myself in.  Not only would I have to choose what I enjoyed most, but I would also learn valuable lessons in time management.

Timing Trouble

By midterms, I began to notice my work piling up unproportionally across all three tasks.  As the semester progressed, each task became more demanding with varying expectations. The increasing expectations and workload resulted in several consequences. The two most notable and foremost consequences were my declining homework quality and diminishing amount of sleep.  In an attempt to correct my time management errors, I spent more time working late at night to catch up on homework. This not only resulted in a poorer quality of work, but it also reduced my number of hours of sleep. To top it all off, the more time I committed to work, the less time I was able to spend with my family, even during holiday breaks.

Despite my attempts to manage all three tasks, I still deviated from my intended goals and needed to cut my losses during the last few weeks of the semester. I reduced my work on Solar Car, cut back my hours at work, and submitted the homework I could produce within the hours I allotted.  This admission helped me regain some sleep and focus for final examinations.

Keep Moving Forward

Taking on a job while balancing coursework and car manufacturing was a worthwhile endeavor.  This circumstance brought to light how much I have yet to comprehend regarding time management, but I also learned a great deal about different engineering majors, computer management, and a wide range of topics from my classes.  With the deviation from my goals and a poor management of time and work, I learned a few valuable lessons:

• One, when scheduling courses and extracurricular activities, ensure that the time scheduled is rarely deviated.
• Two, schedule everything as early as permittable.
• Finally, while work comes first, ensure there is plenty of time for rest and relaxation. 

I will undoubtedly incorporate these ideas into my schedule next semester and beyond. As the future brings a spectrum of challenges, I will continue Solar Car as an Electrical Systems Manager and remain confident no matter what the future may hold. There will always be something to look forward to as the sun rises.

College is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You get to explore new ideas and adventures while learning and embracing different cultures at your school. It is an eye-opening experience that goes by in an instant. This stage in life is where people discover who they truly are because they must make decisions on their own every day. It can be frightening at first and take a serious toll on your mental health if you are not prepared. It is important to experience as much as possible while still getting good grades. Despite what some may say, it is possible to do everything you imagined and more in college while still maintaining a quality GPA. It is not always easy, but with commitment you can build good habits that will last a lifetime. Here are 4 steps you can take to help maximize your college experience in and out of the classroom.

Understand Scheduling

It is important to understand when you will be the busiest. For me, this is typically Thursday-Sunday. This is because most of my homework assignments are due around this time, and I have little time to complete them because I want to be out with my friends. That means in order to be stress-free on the weekends, you must complete your work ahead of time. People do not realize the time they waste early in the week because they think they have time to complete their assignments later. 

Get It Done Early

In reality, you only have about three days to complete your school work. Monday through Wednesday is where the battles are won and lost in school. You should wake up early during this time span and focus on completing assignments and reviewing material in your classes even when you are not in class. This will also help you for upcoming quizzes and tests because you will not forget old material. Keep in mind this is for an average school week; you may have to sacrifice some social time during weeks that are busier because of midterms and final exams. 

Self-Improvement Time

Now that you have school work out of the way, it is important to be proactive in college. So many people waste away their time playing video games and staying home when there is so much out there to experience. I would like to challenge you to improve on or learn something new during your time in college. For me, I have motivated myself to improve on my fitness and eating habits. It is truly rewarding when you consistently work for something and see the payoff by the end of the school year. Also, once you devote some time for self-improvement, it builds your confidence to go out with your friends and meet new people. 

Once the semester starts everyone’s schedules become busy. Between classes, work, friends, and health, there is so much to fit into their days. Everyone has different tasks throughout their day they need to get done and planning ahead makes that much easier. My schedule changes every day and there are tasks that come up unexpectedly; however, I have found a few methods that make my day less stressful. 

Keep Your Calendar Updated

One method to implement as a college student to accomplish all of your daily tasks is to make sure you have everything on your calendar. Whether it be a physical calendar or the one on your phone, having everything up to date on there will remind you what needs to be accomplished that day. Putting things in when you know you need to do it will make sure you don’t overlap anything.

Make Your Calendar Effective

To make a more effective calendar, add the amount of time each task should take you. For example: eat breakfast from 6 to 6:30 a.m., go to the gym from 7 to 8:30 a.m., and so on. Doing this will help you stay on pace to accomplish your daily goals, make sure you do not miss anything important, and allows you to see what times you have open. Adding times will also help you avoid overloading yourself and help you prioritize everything while also taking care of yourself.

Know Your Priorities

Prioritizing plays a huge part when adding to your calendar. Make sure you do not leave all of the longer tasks for the end of the week because it will be too much. Do the most important tasks first and try to take advantage of gaps that open up to complete other tasks. Taking advantage of gaps allows you to have more time on the weekends and release some of that stress. Prioritizing also helps you avoid procrastinating and keeps you on track for doing your best.

Build in Breaks

It is important to remember to take care of your health when having a busy schedule. You shouldn’t be skipping lunch to complete a task or only sleeping one hour because of an assignment. Your calendar is important, but doing only what is on there is not healthy. Make time for yourself. When I know there will be a home football game, I will plan ahead to make sure that come game-day I am not stressing over things that could have been accomplished earlier. Having an updated calendar will allow you to avoid these kinds of problems throughout the semester. 

Overall, as a college student it is easy to take on more than you can handle and sometimes it is OK to do a little less to make sure you are not over stressing each day. Keep your calendar and remember it is OK to say no and devote some time to yourself. Find the balance that fits for you.

I’ve always heard that hindsight is 2020, and now more than ever am I thankful that I developed a few tips along the way to make it through college in one piece – and with my degree of course. I assumed college would be fairly similar to high school in terms of the ability to juggle extra-curricular activities, class, and close relationships. Surviving freshman year felt like a breeze until it seemed like there just weren’t enough hours in the day for everything I wanted to accomplish. I always had time for watching an extra episode of my favorite Netflix show or catching a nap in between classes and still carving out time for my studies. 

I didn’t realize how much time I was actually wasting until I began pledging a business fraternity and working 15 hours a week for my internship all while completing a 16 credit hour semester. I consistently felt overwhelmed and struggled to prioritize not only what was most important, but also time sensitive. After arriving to my apartment late one night, feeling exhausted and not having the chance to complete any of my assignments that entire week, I took some time to develop a few rules to influence myself to give precedence to things and people that were most important. 

Rule #1: Create a Calendar and Stick to It!

Google Calendar saved my life and my grades! This online platform allows you to visualize any events, assignments, exams or even lunch dates you have coming up while showing you the breaks you have in your schedule. At the beginning of every semester, I enter my class meeting times, fraternity events or meetings, family events, and everything in between to get a sense of where my time will be devoted every week. This online calendar also provides simple tools such as Tasks where you can enter on specific dates the assignments due, and Reminders which I use to remind me when bills are due or when to order a birthday gift. There is even an Events tool which allows you to specify the date, time, and location of any event going on. The visual aspect allowed me to see when I had time between classes or meetings to grab lunch or get some studying done. 

Rule #2: You’re in College to get a Degree

This is the first step of prioritizing your time and effort into something you originally came to college to accomplish. Gaining a well-rounded education definitely includes performing well in your area of study, but also how to spend your time outside of class in various clubs or organizations. However, in order to keep your scholarships and GPA intact, always prioritize getting your work done before the deadline. Completing assignments or beginning to study for an exam a few days in advance works wonders not only for your grades but also the availability of time you gain later on. Enjoy the time spent with friends and family along with achieving those academic goals. 

Rule #3: Self-Care is the Best Care

Speaking from personal experience, it is so easy to forget the importance of taking care of oneself physically, emotionally and especially mentally over the duration of the semester. We as college students exchange sleep to study for exams, consume tons of coffee to stay energized, and sometimes forget to eat with all things we have going on throughout the day. The significance of breaking away from your schedule to recharge and enjoy your hobbies or your favorite Netflix series is crucial the busier you become. Always remember, you can’t produce your best work if you don’t feel like your best self. 

Sometimes you may feel like you are drowning, but there is a way to come to the surface. Learning the art of balance will keep you on the right foot and keep you from burning out. Finding what works for you earlier rather than later will keep you focused and stress free.

There’s no better feeling than the relief of finals being over, the comfort of spending time with friends and family, and knowing there is no possibility you could be forgetting about an assignment for class over the break. Between celebrating traditions, being able to sleep in, and having an excuse to make yourself a guest in your own home, it’s safe to say adjusting to the “back home baller” lifestyle is one we all look forward to. 

Once the excitement of the holidays dwindles down and the new year is rung in, the start-of-semester scaries are a real thing. It may seem hard to get ahead in school before you have any assignments, but by taking the time to do a few things to prepare will ease the stress of being thrown back into reality.

Establish Email Inbox Ease 

Take the time to clear out your inbox and update your email organization system. While I liked to think my color-coded, folder-filled inbox is tidy, I realized I still had emails from professors about classes I took two years ago. Deleting unnecessary emails makes searches easier and can create a less overwhelming feel. Don’t have your inbox organized? No worries – take time to create some folders, labels, or develop a system that you can start to utilize during the semester.

Clear Up Your Computer

Regardless of how neat and ordered your files and documents were at the beginning of last semester, it is safe to say by the end the system was a bit unorganized. Take some time to delete any old files or back them up if you may need them in the future. I like to do this, as well as create folders for my upcoming classes, so I can get right to work once class starts. This is also a great time to clean up your phone. Backup or upload your photos, then delete apps and pictures that do not serve any purpose. Not only will clearing up documents and photos prevent the dreaded “out of storage” warnings, but it can allow you to move on from the previous semester’s stress. 

Schedule Around Your Syllabus

As soon as you know your class schedule, you can plug that into your preferred system of organization. I use a digital calendar to track where I need to be and when, so I am planning on putting in all of my class times before the semester begins. If your professor uploads the syllabus early, take some time to jot down any assignment due dates. I do this in a physical planner, and I always feel better when I start the semester knowing where I need to be and when. 

One of the best parts of winter break is the joy of not worrying about having to do work, but completing these small tasks can make a big difference when syllabus week ends and reality kicks in. These are perfect to do while watching a movie, hanging out with family, and even provide a great excuse to go to your favorite hometown coffee spot with friends! 

Finding time for an internship or job can seem impossible while trying to get used to a new course load of challenging classes. Whether you need a somewhat steady income to pay your bills or just some extra cash for going out on the weekends, most college students find themselves searching for a job at some point throughout their four years at school. Plus, fall and spring term internships are just as plentiful as summer internships now. Although it may seem like you could never find the time to balance these opportunities with your class schedule, employers can be understanding and will often put your academics first. It’s all about finding the right fit for you. 

Just the thought of having to find a job is daunting to many students. Thankfully, most universities have a career center that is there to help you find job and internship listings. They can direct you to on-campus positions that fit with your class schedule. Some on-campus jobs even pay for your meal plan or housing on top of your salary. On-campus jobs are a great way to make some money and build your resume while still staying in touch with your academics as they are not allowed to schedule you to work during your classes. 

Internships can be more tricky to balance with classes as they can often take up more time than an average part-time job. Getting creative with your schedule can help. You could try to schedule all of your classes in the mornings or only on certain days of the week so that you can better fit those internship hours into your schedule. Another option is to consider taking a class or two online. Often times online classes are not as intense as in person ones and allow you some flexibility on when you complete assignments. Now that you have a few extra hours where you do not have to be on campus for class, you can put those hours into your internship.

It is all about finding what works best for you. Being honest and upfront with your employer about how you are doing in school is also important. They will most often prefer that you do well in your classes than overwhelm yourself at work. If you find yourself falling behind in school, speak with your boss and maybe ask if you can take an afternoon off to study for that exam you have coming up. They can be more understanding than you think. 

At the end of the day, balancing your academics with work or an internship is all about time management. You have to find what works best for your schedule and never forget that your studies should always come first.