College advice for undergrads
- Jessie Luna
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Jessie’s tips for college students:
Often, students arrive at university and are expected to quickly adapt. There’s a lot to figure out, from passing classes and making friends to setting up a new life. I want to offer a few thoughts on how to do well in college classes. I recommend you ask many of your professors for advice on this. Since most professors spent eons going to school, we’ve learned a few things about how to do well at it.
So in this post, I will give:
Some basic advice on how to do well in class
Time management. This is one of the most important life skills. Period. And working on getting better at this now will help you tremendously now and down the road. It isn’t just about “college” but about how to manage your time in life.
Making priorities. There is always more to do than you have time to do. So deciding what things matter the most to you – and doing so consciously – can really help you with time management
How to deal with procrastination and perfectionism, or both (if these apply to you!)
General tips:
Go to class! This seems obvious, but a lot of students start skipping class because it seems pointless, the professor is boring, or there are other more interesting things to do. But often, tests are based heavily on taught material (and other peoples’ notes might not be very good). You are paying a LOT of money to be there, so just go.
Take notes – and keep them organized. Studies show that you will learn better if you take notes by hand. This forces you to summarize and synthesize, which triggers deeper understanding than when you try to write things word-for-word by typing.
Turn off your phone. Studies also show that having your phone by you, turned on, etc. all decrease learning and comprehension.
Treat class time as time dedicated to learning and digesting that unit of material. If you do this with full attention, you might not even have to study later.
Keep your eye on the big picture – depending on the course, but most of the time, understanding the key concepts is what the professors want. Don’t get lost in the tiny details. (or if you need to, in chemistry, for example, remember how the details connect to the bigger picture).
Do your readings! This one is more nuanced. Sometimes you get assigned more readings than you simply have time to do. So exercise judgment in how you read. Skim the stuff you know you won’t need to understand as well. A lot of readings have “summaries” or “abstracts” that you can focus on.
Taking notes on the readings. For an article or chapter (such as in the social sciences or humanities): no more than a half a page or simply a list of 4 or 5 bullet points of the major take home points of the reading. This can save you SO much time later when you are preparing for the test or writing a paper. If you’re going to take the time to do a reading, why not write a few sentences when you finished? Otherwise you will just forget it. You will forget it.
Try listening to them if that’s an option, but know that some people don’t remember things as well if you just listen, so know your learning style. Or try voice-to-text to take notes. If you are sick of sitting at your desk or computer, this is nice.
Office hours – Teachers and Teaching Assistants all hold office hours, and they often just sit there. If you have stuff you want help with, or you are just interested in things, go talk to your teacher about it! This is a great way to learn more. Most teachers like getting to know their students a little more, and then they will know you. If you want professors to be able to write you letters of recommendation one day, it will help if they know you.
Organization
At the beginning of the semester, take all of your syllabi and copy out all of the important dates. Assignments due, tests, etc. Put this into a calendar format that works for you (I have always loved doing this with a hard-copy calendar)
This allows you to identify particularly crazy weeks or “pile-ups.” Week 8, for example, might have three tests and two papers! Rather than freaking out about it on Week 7, if you know ahead of time, you can plan ahead.
You can also use this if you are planning to miss class at some point. You can plan ahead and get your work done early. Learning how to time manage and get your work done gives you the ability to go have fun AND still be successful at school.
There are also situations where you have to “sign up” to present in classes. If you have a map of your semester, you can pick a week that won’t overlap with other major tasks or assignments.
Longer-term organization and goal-setting:
Once you’ve sorted out your major, and perhaps some goals for what you want to do after school (and this takes time/ and can change constantly) – you can consider:
Academic advisors are incredibly useful, but they don’t always know everything. Download the info about the courses and credits you need to complete for your major, and make your own course plan. This can help you figure out how to use your “elective” credits - you might be able to do a minor quite easily.
I’m also a big promoter of study abroad programs! Go check these out! They require planning in advance, however.
Time management – OR – “how to stop procrastinating and just get your work done”
To me, a key for time management is setting boundaries. I like to think about this as making your work time productive, and then your non-work time YOUR time.
Otherwise, you can spend all of your time in a semi-stressed, semi-guilty state where you are always thinking “Oh, I should be working right now…” This isn’t fun. It’s more fun to just get your work done, and then you can really enjoy your “free” time.
We ALL procrastinate. But if you can learn to procrastinate less, you will most likely be a happier and more successful human being.
My theory on procrastination and perfectionism: Some people are perfectionists and procrastinators. I used to procrastinate a lot, and I realized that I did this because procrastinating let me off the hook for less-than-perfect work. I could say “oh well, this work was sort of crappy, but I did it at the last minute, so…” If you think you do this, I can’t give you a magic bullet. Trying to tone down your perfectionism, however, might help you with procrastination. Remind yourself that we all produce less-than-perfect, flawed work, all the time. And finished work that is turned in is way better than work you don’t finish at all.
Some tips for this:
While this advice isn’t for everyone, I’ve found it extremely helpful to treat being in school like a job. I try to work at a given time and then finish at a given time. When I’m done, I stop working. This doesn’t always work, but I strive for it.
Try to set time chunks for a given task, and try to hold yourself to it. 2 hours for a given essay, for example. When that time is over, that task is over. Period. You may have only read half of whatever it is. Quickly skim, read the conclusion, take your notes, and stop.
Find your most productive time of day, as well as productive work places. Use those to help you make the most of your time.
Try to recognize downsides to some work patterns (For example, I can’t work after 7pm because it gets my mind going and then I can’t fall asleep)
Find your distractions and try to root them out, to maximize your working time. For most of us today, these distractions are digital, in our pockets, and always tempting us.
Remove your phone from your physical environment while you are trying to get work done. Silencing it or turning off notifications is often not strong enough. We are all still tempted to pick it up when the work gets boring.
Turn the internet off. There are (free) apps you can get to help with this too, on phones and computers.
“Stay Focused” is an app I installed on my computer. It prevents you from browsing during set times. You have to install it on ALL your browsers though or you can just switch browsers to work around it.
Get these for your Smartphone too.
I use noise-cancelling headphones, especially when I’m working in a loud place or where conversations will distract me.
Life balance
Remember that we aren’t machines, and that there’s a downside to always being efficiency-maximizing, rational human beings. We will be distracted. We will browse online when we should be working. We will decide to go bike riding when we have lots of work to do. And that’s okay.
Make time to play, and try to not feel guilty when you aren’t working. Life is too short to be excessively stressed. You won’t be perfect at everything.
When I’m feeling stressed and overwhelmed:
I try to focus on gratitude
Make a to-do list, and prioritize it. Make yourself a timeline. Some things just might have to not get done… or get done really poorly, and that’s okay.
And go out and get some exercise! Go hang out with your friends. Do things you love (beyond doom scrolling). Remember that “success” in school is just one piece of your multi-dimensional life.
SLEEP! Studies show that sleep deprivation has the same effect on our brains as being drunk. You won’t do well on a test if you stay up all night the night before. Every once in a while, obviously, we have to sleep less in order to get work done. But good sleep (I sleep 9 hours a night!) keeps your brain sharp, enables you to get more work done in less time, do higher quality work, and makes you happier.
