The first semester was shocking, exciting, and all brand-new… and now it’s your second semester. Being a freshman may have its novelties, but lots of students start getting into a rut this time of year. Here are some tips to help you through!
Examine your last semester.
What did you do that worked, and what did you do that you wish you did differently? Did you get a job? Did you concentrate enough on your schoolwork? Did you join enough clubs? Evaluate the things you wanted to get done and make adjustments to accomplish more this semester. Just don’t forget to keep up the things you did right!
Try different dining halls.
Trust me, only going to one gets old—especially when the quality varies from hall to hall. (You know which one I’m talking about.) Make an effort to add some variety to where you eat. Take advantage of dining points at the GSU, and make the trek to Bay State or West or Warren every so often, depending on where you live.
Find a new study spot.
Finals almost kill you last semester? Try finding a new study spot. If you haven’t looked around much, try finding somewhere that accommodates your needs. Mugar is a good choice, but can get uncomfortably packed during crunch time. Your dorm’s lounges, Hillel, and even Warren Towers dining hall can be a good study spot when it isn’t around noon or 1 pm. There are tons of different study spots, so choose one you really love this time around!
Learn time management.
You might have stumbled through first semester (I know I did) and gotten away with it, but your schedule and schoolwork will only get harder from here. Invest in a calendar, big agenda, or planner to bring some structure into your day-to-day life, including time for breaks and stuff that doesn’t involve school. Even if it’s a rough outline of your day, even having a loose plan will help you be more organized and productive with your time.
Fix your sleeping schedule.
Yeah, it’s fun to stay up until 3 am and feel like a warrior every time you survive a day with only three hours of sleep under your belt, but eventually those sleepless days catch up with you, and in more subtle ways thank you think. Things from your amount of energy to your actual IQ can take a huge hit because of bad or erratic sleeping habits. If you’re constantly pressed for time and find it hard to get up in the morning, no matter how much or how little you sleep, try the website “sleepyti.me”. Sleepyti.me can tell you when you should set your alarm so that you wake at the end of a sleep cycle and not in the middle of one (which makes you feel super groggy when you wake up.) It can also tell you what time to actually go to sleep if you have to wake up at, say, 7:30 am the next morning.