4 Things I do at the Start of Each Semester for Success

High school and college students everywhere are beginning to return to their institutions and dig into books, raise their hands, and complete assignments. As someone who is starting my 16th and final year of formal education, I can totally empathize with the back-to-school jitters and sense of overwhelm at the beginning of a new semester or school year. And folks, I’ve done it all: attended the wrong class on the wrong day (#FreshmanYearMistakes), called a professor by the wrong name, spilled my coffee all over the place, and even dropped my computer in a CONCRETE lecture hall - luckily, she’s okay.

My 16 years, however, have also helped me learn how to set myself up for school year success! Feeling nervous or worried about the first few weeks of classes? Put your mind at ease by trying these 4 things I do at the start of every semester to ensure success!

1. Put everything in your planner. You get a syllabus and class schedule for a reason… use it! At the start of every semester, I put each class in my calendar. (I use Google Calendar, but use whatever application or print calendar that works best for you!) Then, once your instructors release the syllabus for the semester, go through and enter all of the dates for exams, large assignment due dates, and required lectures on your calendar. Not only does this help you take inventory of your semester, but having all the ‘important stuff’ already in your planner helps you avoid overextending yourself with extracurricular, work, or social activities. Bonus points if it’s color-coded!

2. Give yourself a week to settle into things. When starting a new routine, it can be difficult to know exactly how the semester is going to go. For whatever reason, I was incredibly anxious about the start of the school year this year. Yes, even as a senior in college, I worry about the start of the school year, too. I am a planner (as you can probably tell from point #1), so all the unknowns that come with a new routine are enough to make me a mini-nervous wreck. One thing that helps me mitigate these feelings is to simply give myself a week at the beginning of each year to get acclimated to the change. It sounds simple, and really, it is, but by telling myself to passively observe my own, new routine the first week, I’m able to better understand the conventions of the semester to come.

3. Don’t underestimate the power of breaks between classes. This one may be more specific to my fellow college students. Have you ever had a class at 8 or 9 in the morning, then another class at noon, with a big gap in between the two? Last spring I was on campus from 9 AM until about 6:30 PM, with a 3 hour gap before my last class, which started at 4 PM. At first I hated it, because it wasn’t enough time to go home and be productive or run errands, but it was still a large and valuable amount of time. How do I utilize this time well? Those 3 hours taught me the importance of utilizing all your time efficiently, even the smallest of breaks. While it was an awkward amount of time, by the end of the year I was able to be extremely productive during those 3 hours. Each week, I saved shorter assignments, like discussion posts, to work on during that time. I was also able to use the time to meet up with friends on campus for coffee and meet with professors for office hours. Take a chunk of time out of your day, find a new study spot on campus, and make those hours yours!

4. Begin with an open mind. How many of us have ended up in a class we really didn’t want to be in? *entire world raises their hand* What if I told you that you might not hate that statistics class as much as you think you will? Have you ever heard that saying that if you tell yourself a lie enough times you will begin to believe it? This is definitely true when it comes to classes, too.

Last semester, I accidentally ended up in a computer programming and advertising course. No, seriously... I did. The title of the course, P R 497J, was ‘Computer Communication’ and it was cross-listed between the advertising and public relations departments, so I assumed it would be about email marketing or something like that. NOPE. I arrive on the first day of class and the professor starts going through the syllabus and talking about things like PHP, JSON, and APIs- if you don’t know what any of those things are don’t worry, neither did I. I was ready to drop the class immediately. The professor must have noticed the look of sheer horror on my face because she stopped me on my way out of class (there were only 7 of us in the course so I was not hard to pick out). She asked me if I was excited and I explained to her that I knew nothing about any of the gibberish she was talking about and wasn’t sure if this class was for me. I didn’t want to hear what she had to say next, but looking back, I’m so glad she did.

“Don’t worry, just stay the course. I have a feeling you will surprise yourself.”

I left the class and called my mom, letting her know what kind of a nut-job I was going to have as a teacher. 16 weeks later, however, P R 497J ended being a great course, and is hands down one of the best courses I’ve taken at ISU. It forced me to step out of my educational comfort zone and try new things. So this semester, I encourage you to pick what you think will be your worst class and tell yourself “I will enjoy some aspect of this class.” Sure, you might not enjoy the content, but maybe you will have a standout professor or meet a new group of friends in the class? Taking time to find joy in a class in some way will transform your semester, trust me.

Those are my 4 favorite ways to merge into the school year. Did one stick out to you? Let us know in the comments below which one you will be trying, or let us know of something you do to help the semester go smoothly!