If Youre An Incoming Freshman This Year Let Me Warn You: Packing For College Is Hard. When You Are Up

If you’re an incoming freshman this year let me warn you: packing for college is hard. When you are up and moving to a whole new environment it is tricky to know what you’ll need, and what’s going to be pushed in the back of your closet until you move out again in the summer. If I am being completely honest with you – I overpacked. Moving out I realized how much I brought that I simply did not need.

Now that I can consider myself an old pro, I thought I would share some of my best advice with you. If you find this helpful and you want more, you can also check out the 44 best tricks I learned my freshman year of college. And if you have any more questions, do not hesitate to email me, when you all reach out to me it makes my entire day!

When it comes to packing for college there are some obvious things that I may not touch on (pencils, chargers, bedding, etc.) I trust that you all know that you’ll probably want to bring a few writing utensils to school, but what I am here to do today is try and remind you of some helpful tips that a lot of people don’t think of when packing for college.

Closet

*Note, I go to school in Illinois, you may need to adapt some of these tips for your climate!

1.) Do not bring all of your clothes in the fall. Unless you won’t be going home for Thanksgiving, it is simply not necessary. Bring mainly warmer weather clothes, with a few cozy layering pieces that you can throw on when the nights start to get chilly. Of course you are going to want to bring a few pairs of jeans and a couple of sweaters for the abnormally cold days but you won’t need your entire winter wardrobe!

2.) Pack plenty of undergarments. You can get away with wearing jeans several times without washing, but undies? Please no! It’s quite likely that you may find yourself putting off laundry a little longer than you should. If you are going to overpack on anything – let it be underwear, socks, and bras.

3.) I am ashamed to admit that when I was packing for college last summer I forgot shower shoes. In terms of sandals I only had my dressy sandals and a pair of cushy nike flipflops. I decided I would just shower in my nikes only to discover that it takes around a week for the padding to dry. Luckily my lovely friend Megan came to my rescue.

4.) Bring at least one dressy outfit suitable for a job interview. When I went in for an interview to be an office assistant I realized that I only had a pencil skirt with me and I was left to beg clothes off of all of my friends.

5.) If you normally wear lounge clothes (workout shorts, yoga pants, etc.) then pack mainly lounge clothes, same goes for whatever type of clothing you normally wear. Unless you plan on completely reinventing yourself in college, chances are your style won’t change all that much.

Quick Tips:

-Only bring your very favorite T-shirts from high school! If your school is anything like mine, you’ll get a ton of free shirts during orientation. -Unless you’re a swimmer one or two bathing suits should suffice. -Bring a tall narrow hamper rather than a short wide one – it does the same job all while taking up less floor space! -If you can’t decide if you’ll wear something or not – chances are you won’t miss it if you don’t pack it. Leave it behind and if you decide you absolutely need it, pick it up over Thanksgiving or ask your parents to send it to you.

Sleep

6.) On top of being short and narrow, school mattresses aren’t very comfy, either. If you feel like spoiling yourself splurge on a nice layering pieces! Or you can take my route and sleep on top of extra blankets and it’s just as comfortable and you won’t have to go out and spend extra money!

7.) Bring curtains (dark shower curtains would work great and they’re cheap!) and a tension rod and try to get the bottom bunk. Hang the curtains up and enjoy relative darkness when you want to go to bed but your roommate is still awake.

8.) Bring an extra pillow or two so you can comfily prop yourself up and read, mess on your laptop, etc. They are also great to have laying around in case you have friends over for a movie night, game night, etc.

Quick Tips:

-I brought several stuffed animals to school because they are sentimental to me. If you think something will make you happy – don’t worry about what others will think. (Although don’t let them overtake your bed, space is always an issue to keep in mind.) –Earplugs are complete game changers when it comes to sleeping in college. I can’t recommend them enough!

Bathroom

9.) Just to reiterate how important they are – shower shoes. Never go into the bathroom barefoot. Ever.

10.) Bring a plastic shower caddy so you aren’t carrying an armful of items to the shower each night. In your caddy I would recommend bringing: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors, shaving cream, face wash, wash cloth, an exfoliator, toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste.

11.) On top of your shower caddy items you may want to bring a basket for lotions, perfumes, skincare products, and hair serums. Also, don’t bring every body/haircare product you own. When you run out of one, go and get another. Storage is so limited in dorms the less items laying around that you won’t be using = the better.

12.) Buy feminine products in bulk. You don’t want to run out and be begging tampons off of your friends until you can make it to Walgreens. Trust me – been there, done that.

Quick Tips:

-Buy huge shampoos/conditioners/body washes that will last you all year -Bring several towels so you always have a clean one even if you’ve gotten lazy with laundry

Food

13.) Bring plastic plates, bowls, and cups for when you and your friends order pizza or you just want to eat in your room. But always wash them right away. Dorms = bugs if you aren’t careful!

14.) Make sure to get in touch with your future roommate and decide who is bringing the fridge and who is bringing the microwave. Or you can check to see if you can rent one from your dorm!

15.) Bring a water pitcher and refillable water bottles. Your dorm should have a water fountain, and if you have a big pitcher you’ll only have to refill once every few days. Plus you’ll save a ton of money not having to buy plastic water bottles!

16.) If you drink coffee or tea, make sure you pack a microwave safe mug.

Quick Tips:

-I know I am telling you not to over pack, but I decided to bring a popcorn machine to school with me, and it was a wonderful decision. It’s healthier than bagged popcorn, great for movie nights, and my friends loved it! So fun things like that are OK to bring so long as you know you’ll use it and it doesn’t take up to much space. -Try to bring healthy snacks, you’ll feel better and won’t be as likely to pack on the freshman fifteen if you’re munching on nuts and fruits rather than processed foods. -Bring ziplock baggies so you can bring up food from the dining halls. This is actually frowned upon in most schools though, so be sneaky! As expensive as meal plans are, and as little as many people actually eat – we have every right to bring up a chicken breast for a midnight snack.

Organization

16.) When packing for college I suggest bringing a big white board in lieu of other items such as calendars and notepad to-do lists if you’re trying to pack light. Whiteboards are so flat they hardly take up any room, they are convenient, and reusable.

17.) Bringing sturdy bins to organize the miscellaneous items in your room will be a huge help. You can find them on Amazon for super cheap and if you just pick up two or three you’ll have a place to put the stuff that really has no other place.

18.) If you know your dorm has small closets (as most do!) Buy an extra tension rod. My dorm closet was itsy bitsy, and because I am living in the same building this year I have the same tiny closet to look forward to. Luckily I’ve learned and I plan on bringing an extra tension rod so that I have twice the hanging space.

Quick Tips:

-When packing for college it’s going to be tempting to blow a bunch of money on trendy organization supplies – unless you have always been a really organized person there is a good chance these items will be under utilized. If you want cute organization check pinterest for some cheap DIY’s! -Discuss organization with your roommate from the get-go. No matter how organized your side of the room is, it’ll still look like a pig sti if she isn’t keeping up with her half. -Heavy duty command hooks help hang items that you have no other room for (sweatshirts, bags, etc.) -A lot of my friends swore by their fancy agendas this year, if you think they will help you get organized, go for it!

Decoration

19.) Instead of bringing a bunch of picture frames you’ll have no room for, consider bringing a bunch of unframed pictures and making a photo collage on your wall. Be sure to use sticky tack instead of tape though, as many residence halls have rules against tape!

20.) Either your or your roommate should bring a full length mirror for the door, it’s always nice to have reassurance that you look put together when you are leaving, and plenty of people forget to bring mirrors to school!

21.) When I was packing for college last summer, I completely forgot about a rug! Not only are dorm floors potentially filthy, but a rug can really brighten things up, and if you lay it flat in the car while packing it’ll take virtually no space. Rolling it makes it big and bulky, if your parents drive a big car, definitely lay it flat!

Quick Tips:

-Many schools do poster sales really early in the school year, at University of Illinois we have a huge variety! Check if your school has one and if so, that’s one less thing to pack! -Coordinate with your roommate! Packing for college is so much easier when you know who is bringing what! You don’t need duplicates of things like curtains and lamps so make sure you guys are in communication! -Twinkle lights are great for decorating, they are light-weight, cheap, and make quite the statement! Not to mention they are bright enough for one roommate to be able to navigate the room even if the other is sleeping.

Cleaning

22.) Tide to go pens are magical. I didn’t have one but I borrowed my roommate’s and friend’s probably on a weekly basis. If you spill anything on your clothes, carpet, bedspread, etc. it will disappear before your eyes just so long as you have access to one of those miraculous little life changers.

23.) Bring lysol wipes. When I arrived to school I claimed the bottom bunk, and as soon as I laid down I saw the person who slept there the previous year had ever so kindly coated the top with boogers. Ew. Lysol wipes and plastering paper over the offending areas saved me. Not to mention if your roommate is sick you will want to be disinfecting your room at all hours.

24.) Bring a bottle of febreeze. If something gets left in the fridge too long, your roommate hasn’t done laundry in a month, or some other smelly incident happens you will be so glad that you have the febreeze.

Quick Tips:

-Make sure you bring trash bags, I feel like that’s the one thing everyone forgot to bring to school! -Candles aren’t allowed in most dorm rooms, the same goes for any smelly good that heats up such as scentsy’s!

Electronics

25.) You might want to consider bringing a power strip in case outlets are limited in your dorm room.

26.) If you have a cellphone, you really don’t have much need for an alarm clock. Most cellphones have clocks built right in, and they are easier to turn off, meaning that you are less likely to wake your roommate up.

27.) You might want to bring a printer. Depending on your intended major you may be printing a lot of assignments out. In the long run a printer and ink may turn out to be the better investment rather than paying the school’s printing fees.

Quick Tips:

-Consider bringing a TV and DVD player if you plan on staying in with your friends often. -Some classes require that you have a flash drive, they are really cheap so I’d bring one just in case. Plus it’s always a good idea to back your computer up, regardless! -I wish I would have brought a big floor lamp last year. The lighting in my dorm was a little depressing. This year I am definitely bringing a lamp like this.

Miscellaneous

28.) Bring a first aid kit, tool kit, and sewing kit. I used all three of mine countless times. Though you can correspond with your roommate to see if she is already planning on bringing these items. You don’t need two tool kits!

29.) Consider bringing a journal. I brought several pretty little notebooks for my thoughts and my ideas. When I started blogging (as you should, too!) I wrote in them a lot less, but I am still glad I had them.

30.) If you plan on rushing you’ll need a lot more going out clothes on top of themed clothes. I didn’t rush so I don’t have much advice, but Pinterest is overflowing with information!

31.) Bring different medicines! I was basically a doctor this past year. I had medication for cramps, nausea, headaches, heartburn, and more. If my friends didn’t feel well they knew who to come to. When packing for college remember that you’re on your own, when you get sick your parents won’t be there so you need to have the tools to take care of yourself!

32.) Don’t forget an umbrella! My best friend gave me an umbrella as part of my graduation gift, and it was invaluable considering what a rainy spring we had!

Quick Tips:

-Bringing my bike to school was one of the best decisions I made. Biking is great exercise, faster than the bus, and really fun! -Taping dryer sheets to your fan is a great air freshener, but make sure you keep your door open when you’re doing it because otherwise it’s too strong for such a small space!

What you don’t need when packing for college

1.) Leave your yearbooks at home,  I was shocked how many of my friends brought their high school year books, looked at them once, and let them take up space on their book shelf the rest of the year. If you miss your friends and want a blast from the past – facebook is only a click away.

2.) Don’t bring your book collection. Limit yourself to just a few books. Chances are you’ll have access to a library at school. If you want to read you can go there and get your favorites.

3.) A desk chair – did you know a lot of dorms won’t let you store the furniture that you’re not using? Check with your dorm before you decide to bring a comfier upgrade of any of the items provided – you may just end up wasting space.

5.) Stereotypical college food. Leave the easy mac, ramen, and potato chips at home. Those foods may fill you up, but they are likely to leave you feeling slow and tired. Swap them out for healthier alternatives that will give you energy!

6.) Your games. I love playing board games as much as the next person, but if you’re living in the dorms chances are that you can just rent any game imaginable from the front desk, so don’t waste the space!

7.) Your collection of… it doesn’t matter what you collect, if it takes up more than one square foot of space leave it at home or face the wrath of your roommate who is going to be less than impressed by your 76 rubber duckies.

8.) Notebooks. Gasp! I know, right? How can I tell you to not bring notebooks? Well I’m not, not exactly anyhow. You don’t need to bring a 3 subject notebook for every single class. If you can trust yourself I completely recommend using your computer to take notes as it’s quicker and won’t leave your hand cramping. Even if you can’t trust yourself you don’t need a ton of notebooks. A single five subject is your best best bet, in my humble opinion.

9.) All your DVD cases. I brought around 50 DVD’s with me to school, but it took up hardly any space at all because I transported them all to a CD holder, my roommate on the other hand filled her entire under the bed drawer full with DVD’s taking up a ton of space! So if you want to bring your movies, get a compact holder.

10.) Throw pillows, if their only purpose is to look cute – leave them at home. It’s great to have extra pillows, but not stiff, too small ones that will only wind up on your floor.

11.) Most decorations that take up space. Your cute mini Christmas tree? Leave it at home. Your wall decal grinch? Well he doesn’t take up floor space, so if you must…

12.) Your high school self. I mentioned this in my 44 things I learned my freshman year post, but no one cares who you were in high school. Leave your trophies, ribbons, and ego at home and realize you now have a clean slate. You don’t need to tell everyone you meet about how impressive you were in high school because that chapter of your life is closed. Let that all go and become impressive now.

Final Notes

If you find a list on seventeen, teen vogue, etc. called something along the lines of “12 essentialitems every college girl needs” there is a huge chance that you actually don’t need any of that stuff. If you can’t decide whether or not you should bring it, don’t. If you regret your decision either wait until Thanksgiving, have mom and dad send it to you, or buy a new one. It’s better to underpack than it is to overpack in some ways so long as you bring the essentials.

Everytime you go home, bring things with you that you haven’t used yet. It will make moving out at the end of the year 100x easier! Also, after you move in, send any bulky bags and suitcases home with your parents. Leave flattened boxes in the back of your closet for move out.

some tips from your local depressed college student

cheap paper towels + hydrogen peroxide = acne treatment (just be careful not to bleach your eyebrows unless you’re into that idk)

use the acne face soap on your chest, upper back, and shoulders instead, since it doesn’t do shit for your face (or at least not mine)

no one is stopping you from bushing your teeth in the shower except yourself (just eliminating that extra step of going to the sink makes it so much easier for me)

did you know you’re actually supposed to put on stick deodorant at night??? It has time to absorb while u sleep or stare at the ceiling in dispair whichever works best for u

carrots and/or apples dipped in peanut butter = dinner (or just plain peanut butter but it helps to get a lil something extra if you can manage it)

if you give yourself an allowance of skip days (i’m talking like 3 or 4 max) then it can be easier to go to class if you remind yourself “i only have 2 skip days left, I’m gonna save them until I REALLY need them” (think of skip days like non-essential items in a video game - you could use them now, but what if you really need them during the final boss battle later on??)

the velveeta microwave dinners aren’t great but they’re cheap and better than some other options out there. the mac n cheese w/ meat ones can smell a bit like dog food but they still taste pretty good

if you like peppermint hot chocolate - save the after dinner mints you get at places like Chik Fil A and italian restaurants and such and then drop a couple in your mug before you put it in the microwave. boom. 

if you’ve got a sore throat, just take a spoonful of honey (or squirt it directly from the bottle to your mouth if you’re a heathen like me) and go find a hot drink

for essays - highlight/number/circle/whatever you want to do to make ‘em stand out the quotes you want to use in your paper, then go take a shower or get something to eat or just watch like a 15-20 minute video on YouTube and then come back to your paper, pop those fuckin’ quotes in the right order, and write in the smart bullshit around them

okay actually the one thing that I will spend a little extra money on is cough drops bc i get a sore throat all the damn time and the only kind i will buy anymore is Halls Breezers they taste like candy instead of koala shit my personal favorite is cool berry but the orange creme ones are good too honestly these cough drops have saved my life at least six times now

coffee is gr9 but don’t forget to have some water every day too dehydration is NOT FUN (speaking from very painful personal experience)

firstly, thank you so much for 100 followers! you are all sweethearts <3

so, 2018 is pretty much over. this was my first year as a university student and i learned a lot of things, not only academically but about how to deal with being a full-time college student. so, these are my tips you, precious souls that are about to start college too (or any college student, actually). these are drawn from my experience, but i really think they could help!

find a coffee shop that you like. find out if they have students discounts. if they have it, hold them close to your heart and never let go. my favorite coffee shop is in the mall next to my campus and they have 10% off for students of the universities nearby. i think at this point all the baristas know my name, because i go there almost every day. trust me, you will need the ally.

actually, students discounts in general are your best friend. in my country, every student has 50% off in cultural activities such as cinemas, concerts, museums, theaters, basically everything that requires a ticket. there are places where you can get discounts from all sorts of stores. in my university, we have access to language classes for a really cheap price. look them up, research, and that will save you a lot of money in the long term.

on the same note, find out what you have access to. dedicate some time to walk around your campus and the other campi your university may have in the city. talk to other students about programs, events, everything from big things, like internships and scholarships, to small ones. my university, for example, provides free transportation from one campi to another, since it has multiple campi all around the city, and that has saved me a lot of bus tickets. those hacks are usually things you can only learn from experience, so get yourself out there asap.

get to know the surroundings of your campus, especially if you’re new to the city. knowing what is nearby, what kind of stores and restaurantes you have within walking distance, which public transportation stops or stations are close, if there are any cute coffee shops, museums and such. you’re going to spend a lot of time in that area, so get to know it.

use! google drive! for! everything! google products like google drive, google photos, google docs/sheets/slides are a MUST-HAVE. they’re completely free and they will for sure make your life 100x easier, seriously. i used google docs for LITERALLY every single group project i had this year.

LEARN HOW TO USE MENDELEY!!!!!!!!!!!! it is a sources and references manager that will make dealing with research papers and papers in general actually your whole life SO. MUCH. EASIER. i used it to write a huge semester-long scientific article last semester and it saved my life. here is a video on how to use it, and i might do a post later on how i use it, but download it and get acquainted to it because it’s MAGICAL and people don’t talk enough about it.

go to every possible class in the beginning of the semester so you can skip classes in the end of it without having to worry about attendance. in the end of the semester, you will be so burnt out and stressed that you will BEG yourself a day off, but if you have skipped classes back in the beginning of the semester you won’t be able to skip them now because of attendance, and you’ll want to punch yourself in the face. so please. resist the temptations and don’t skip classes in the beginning of the semester unless you really have to.

that’s a cliché one but try and be one of those people that join things. clubs, projects, events, meetings, there’s something out there for everyone. find something that you like and join. not only you’ll probably get credits for it, it’ll be an opportunity to get to know other people and to understand the dynamics of the academic world. and, in the end, it usually ends up being a lot of fun! and, if fun for itself is not enough motivation, remember i got two (2) paid internships in my first year because of the extra activities i had on my resume. just remember to make to be doing something that you like and that makes you feel comfortable and enjoy the ride!

and lastly, but most importantly:

don’t! feel! pressured! to! do! anything!

you don’t need to prove yourself. no one is keeping scores, even though it sometimes feels a lot like it. take your time. if something is making you uncomfortable, leave. you don’t have to do something just because everyone else is doing it. you can always try again in the next semester. repeat with me here:

college is NOT a race.

college is NOT a race.

college is NOT a race.

University classes are a monster you can’t prepare for until you’re in them. I have been through every up and down with schoolwork possible in the past year, so here are some tips that can hopefully help you avoid those downs:

Choosing and Registering for Your Classes

Make sure to thoroughly check both your major requirements and your gen ed requirements. Normally, you’ll have an advisor to help you make sure you’re on track, but Vandy doesn’t assign first-year engineering students one until after registration when school starts, and I didn’t have an advisor for this year’s registration either due to my major change, so I’ve spent hours and hours doing this on my own. There’s often recommended courses and example schedules in the course catalog that tell you what classes you should be taking at this point in time. Pay attention to that and you should be fine. For example, you have to have taken a first-level writing class to qualify for junior standing here. Those are the little things you have to look out for. To keep track of it all, I have a spreadsheet I use for planning my sophomore - senior years that lists all the requirements I need to meet in terms of hours and courses in order to graduate on time. I plug in possible courses and see which requirement they would fulfill and when. You can check it out here to see what I mean, it’s very helpful.

Find at least one fun elective to take if at all possible. It gets very tiring when all you have on your schedule are really difficult classes that you don’t enjoy. Try to find at least one class that you’re genuinely interested in to help get you excited for the day. Each of my last semesters, my schedule consisted of a calculus class, a lab science, a comp sci class, and Italian. Italian was the only fun one that I enjoyed going to. It really helps you out. You’re not just in college to get your degree, you’re there to discover what you really want to do, so feel free to explore your catalog and take something completely out of character just because you want to. Bonus if it fills some kind of requirement (Italian filled my Foreign Language Proficiency and one of my International Cultures reqs.).

Have multiple versions of your schedule based on which classes you may or may not get into. I don’t know about your school, but at Vanderbilt, class registration is literally like the Hunger Games. You’re assigned an enrollment date based on your year (seniors get to go first, then juniors, etc.) and at 8 am on that day, you refresh the website and either enroll in your classes or get placed on the wait list for it. If you’re a freshman, you’re basically screwed because you go last, and so you could have planned out your perfect schedule only to find they’ve all filled up the day before your enrollment period starts. To avoid having to scramble, have multiple versions of your schedule, with back ups and substitutions for every class. This way, you won’t be surprised when you go to enroll and all but one of your classes are filled, then you have to search for other classes, but at that point, all that’s left are scraps that don’t fit your requirements. Plan plan plan and practice clicking the enroll button on all your classes as fast as you can for when the clock strikes 8.

You have freedom over your schedule now; take advantage of that! No more 8-3 Monday through Friday; you can take classes whenever you want. I prefer to have all my classes on MWF in a block of a few hours and only one or no class on TR. Of course, sometimes you’re going to have to take classes at less optimal times, but do try to accommodate yourself and take classes at times you know will be good for you. Lots of people prefer to start early and finish early, while I like to start no earlier than 11, even if I don’t finish until 5. The best part of college is you can do what you want.

Don’t take 8 ams. I’m repeating this cause it’s important. I swear, you’ll regret it. In high school, I woke up every morning early as hell to catch my bus at 6:30, but in college, it was nearly impossible for me to get up for my 11 am only three times a week. Don’t ever take an 8 am by choice. And if you have no choice, good luck lol.

Don’t be afraid to drop a class. If you’re doing terribly in a class or you absolutely can’t stand it, drop the class. There’s a very little chance that if you’re failing during the first half of the semester, you’ll be able to change your grade dramatically in the second half. Maybe you decided to be an overzealous freshman and signed up for the maximum number of hours possible and now you’re drowning. Drop a class! Sometimes, a course is going to do more harm to you than good, so it’s best to get rid of it than have an F or a W on your transcript.

Use RateMyProfessor! I totally forgot about this when I originally posted this and it’s already got almost 1,000 notes but hopefully people see this. RateMyProfessor is so fucking useful. It’s IMPERATIVE that you check this website before you enroll in classes. Someone at Vandy actually made a Chrome extension for our enrollment website that automatically shows a professor’s ranking while you’re looking for classes. Obviously, take it with a grain of salt, and make sure the reviews actually make valid points about the workload and class and isn’t just someone bitter about failing. I took calc with a professor who taught at my high school just cause she taught at my high school even though her reviews said she was insanely difficult and the class was near impossible to pass. Guess what? They were right and I failed as did a big chunk of everyone else in her class. You don’t have to let RMP dictate your schedule, but definitely check it out, and if everyone says the professor is awful, don’t fucking take them. 

Attending Your Classes

Establish a connection with your professor early. I recommended introducing yourself on the first day of class just so they know your name and face in another post. It’d be even better to attend an office hour or review session or something. Just make sure they know you. It’ll be easier to communicate when you need something later in the semester if it isn’t their first time seeing you.

Actually use this connection with your professors. In my experience, they can be pretty understanding and when you’re in a bad place, they’ll likely help you out. If something is preventing you from doing your best in class, go to them for help (I didn’t go to many office hours but I wish I did! Who better to explain to you something you don’t understand than the person who grades you on it?) or explain to them your situation. I had professors let me take tests late and redo assignments due to my mental health after I explained to them I wasn’t just a terrible student; if it wasn’t for this, I would’ve failed all of their classes. Maybe at the end of the semester they’ll drop one of your wonky grades or bump you up that extra half point you need. Your professors are a resource, and it’s up to you to use it.

Take notes however you want. I used my laptop in some, paper in others, and even my iPad and a stylus for calculus. In all of your classes will be a mixture of different techniques and no one cares what you do. Whatever works best for you and helps you get down the most information is what you should do. Also, you don’t have to write down everything. If your professor uses slides and posts them for you to download, you don’t really have to write down anything at all unless they add extra points, so that’s really convenient. 

You don’t have to sit in the front. As long as you can see and hear, which you’ll likely be able to due to large projection screens and microphones, it literally doesn’t matter where you sit. In my experience, the professors call on people from every part of the lecture hall, so everyone gets an equal chance at participation. It’s up to yourself to make sure you can pay attention, not your seat.

Do your best to attend every single class meeting. It’s inevitable that you’re going to miss class at some point; you will get sick, you won’t have finished an assignment, you’ll need a mental health day, something will happen. Missing class can too easily become a habit if you do it often, so try to never do it. Don’t force yourself to go if you can’t handle it, obviously your health always comes first, but I mean don’t skip cause you want to sleep in or cause you just don’t feel like going. If you do have to miss class and 1) you have a good reason for it (i.e. sickness) and 2) it’s a class small enough that your professor will notice you’re not there, email them and let them know why, just so they’re aware you’re not just skipping to skip.  

Try to make friends in your classes. A little study group would be even better. It’ll be really useful to have someone who can help you with a homework question you don’t understand or send you their notes when you miss a class. It can also be great to study with other people, depending on how you study best. I’ve had friends in all my classes so far and it’s been a great help, even if we just complained about the test we just failed then went to get pizza.

Tackling the Coursework

Make a REALISTIC study schedule. The key word here is realistic. During winter break I made a study schedule that started with me waking up at 8 am every morning to go work out and ended with me going to sleep promptly at 11 or midnight after spending literally the entire day studying with breaks only for meals. No breaks on weekends, no room to socialize, and I thought this would be perfectly fine for me to follow. Of course, I didn’t last a week because that was fucking ridiculous. You don’t need to schedule every hour of your day; college doesn’t work like that. Just do something simple, an hour for a class or maybe less depending on how hard it is and if you have a test coming up. Trust your instincts. There’s no need to go overboard, and you don’t need to spend six hours a day working, just dedicate a time to studying and stick with that.

Explore study techniques until you find one that works for you. Everyone doesn’t study the same, so if you do what everyone else is doing you might not get the results you want. Even if you had a great system in high school, it might not be fitting for college, so check out a bunch of different methods and see how you do with them. Once you find the best way you study, you’ll be unstoppable when exam time comes.

Start your assignments early, as soon as you can after they’re assigned. There’s nothing worse than having a bunch of assignments/tests/papers due on the same day and you haven’t finished any of them. Trust me, it is so much less stressful to complete an assignment as soon as you can after it’s been assigned so you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Putting things off has much more severe consequences than it did in high school and you will regret procrastinating. If you have a weekly assignment due every Friday, try to complete them by Wednesday every week. At the very least, start an assignment the day you get it even if you can’t finish it that day. It’s a lot easier to do something after you’ve already begun working on it, and that one thing you do is progress.

The name of the college game is prioritization. If college teaches you anything, it’s how to prioritize your duties. You need to create a hierarchy of importance for your classes and types of assignments. For me, calculus assignments were always done first because that was the most difficult class and the one I absolutely needed to pass, and Italian was always done last cause it was my easiest class and I could complete even our biggest assignments in one day. You’re going to have a very large amount of work and sometimes you have to sacrifice finishing a small homework assignment to finish a huge paper or study for an exam. I liked to complete my hardest/longest assignments right when I got back from class to get them over with and leave my easier ones for later. Prioritizing is essential if you want to succeed in university, so learn how to do it immediately! 

Remember that uni is really difficult and your grades don’t define you. Something I learned the hard way is that sometimes you can try really really hard, do the best you can, and still fail. That’s just life. Sometimes you have to do something a million times before you get it right, or before you discover that it just isn’t right for you at all. I worked harder than I ever had this past year, and what I got in return was two failed classes, two D’s, academic probation, and a 2.3 GPA. Actually, my current GPA isn’t even a 2.3, it’s a 2.295, which is probably blasphemy to the studyblr community, but this shit happens. It happens to all of us and it sucks. It can be really shitty to feel like your effort wasn’t reflected in your result. What you need to do is adjust your expectations and keep working hard. After you hit your stride, your grades could be great in no time. Or you could discover that math or science or english just isn’t for you. Maybe you’ll discover university as a whole isn’t right for you, and that’s okay! Bad grades, whether you define that as a B or an F, don’t mean you’re a bad student or a bad person. You do what you can, and then let go of what you can’t control. The sooner you grasp this idea, and the sooner you learn to be gentle with yourself, the easier a time you’ll have.

So I feel like I forgot a lot of things but also this is pretty long so I’m going to end the post here. If you have any further questions or topics for a post you’d like to see, my inbox is always open. I don’t know which post is coming next, but I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for reading and I hope this helped you out!

Previous Posts:

Application Process

Choosing/Changing Majors

Orientation/Move-In/First Day of Classes

Roommates

how to deal with a roommate you hate

avoiding big mistakes when picking a major

creative ways to organize your dorm

eating healthy in a dining hall

what to do if you think you’ve been drugged

how to have a healthy college relationship

college packing…

How to Adult: Cover Letter Edition

So I have several followers who are working on applying to jobs right now, and by far the most common concern is “what even is a cover letter??”  Now, while this post is funny and accurate, it’s not super helpful if you’re looking for specifics.  So I figured I should show you mine.  Now, without further ado, allow me to provide to you:

~*~ The Cover Letter of Destiny ~*~

[Name] [Address Line 1] [Address Line 2, etc] [Phone] [email]

[Right Justified - Date]  (This is just standard business letter stuff)

To Whom it May Concern, [Or Mr/Ms. Hiring Person’s name, if you can find it.] 

I’m delighted to submit an application for the [Job you’re applying to] position at [Company/Institution/etc].  After reading the job description I’m certain I would bring a solid combination of  [Skill 1], analytical thinking [or whatever Skill 2 is], and communication skills [This is always my Skill 3] to this position.  I’m particularly attracted to this position because I believe it will utilize the skills I have gained through my industry [or research or whatever] experience, and allow me to apply those skills in new areas. 

In my role with [Company] as a [Most Relevant Position Here], I managed a project [to do some stuff - flesh out your most important/relevant job responsibilities here].  I specifically focused on [a thing that is the most explicitly relevant to the job posting.  In fact, I creatively copy/pasted some of the job posting into this sentence, that’s how relevant it is.].  I was also responsible for [A couple of things that maybe were mentioned in the job posting, or at least show increased responsibility over time].  This gave me the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of different team members [to achieve a goal]. Through these and other job duties, I have gained excellent listening skills and the ability to carry out self-directed tasks in the context of a larger team. [i’m not joking. use this phrasing it’s so great just copy it idgaf]

 In my current role as a [Current Title] with [Company], I have continued to build strong skills in project management [or whatever] as well as clear oral and written communication. [Maybe this sentence describes the types of communication (or whatever skill) you do.]   [This sentence describes briefly the less-relevant work you do].  [This sentence ties in your less-relevant job to the job you are seeking].  These experiences have prepared me well to succeed in a role as [Name of Position you’re applying to].

Thank you for taking the time to review my materials and consider my application. I am excited at the prospect of applying my skills to a [Name or category of position] with [Company], and I feel that the knowledge and skills I have gained through my experience will be a great benefit to the team. Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions as I would welcome a chance to discuss this opportunity more. [After all, they want to hire you after reading this]

Regards,

 [First Name Last Name]

I hope you find this helpful in your job search!  Just remember to focus on skills you learned rather than specific experiences or titles you’ve had.  Don’t be afraid of inflating it too far, either.  There are real useful skills underlying every job task if you look hard & get creative with your phrasing. 

Feel free to send me an ask if you want any specific advice on how to spin your education/work history into the job you want, or if you want a proofreader or cheerleader or whatever.  Job hunting is a bad game designed by and for a certain type of person.  It’s dehumanizing and horrible even at the best of times, so I’m more than happy to help anyone find a way to beat the system.  <3 <3