Welcoming senior year with open arms means a few different things. For starters, it means those emails we’ve been getting from The Amica Center for the past three years should probably start to be taken seriously. It means classes like Business400 and the Honors Thesis will take up your life. It also means every Wednesday Night Rentes’ (WNR) that passes means one step closer to graduation. It’s cliché, but it’s a bit acceptable to say, “there are only about 25 WNR’s left”…anyone else tearing up? Welcome to senior year…if you are 21.
Along with emails about job applications and a handful of WNR’s left to get you fat off of popcorn, there are still classes, exams, papers, group projects, E-Board meetings, and campus events to attend. How are you supposed to balance it all? Well, continue welcoming senior year with open arms because we have a few tips to help you balance class, papers, meetings, and Rentes’ all at the same time.
Create a money jar.
If you are able to confidently ask yourself, “I have so much money, I wonder what I should do with it?” then you can probably skip this tip. For the rest of us, listen up. Create a money jar. Whether you want to prop it on your desk or keep it hidden in your sock drawer is up to you but creating one will definitely help out the bar tab situation each week.
Throw in loose change you find or those dollar bills you get back as change at a store. Before you know it, it will add up and possibly buy you a Bud Light Tower at Rentes’.
Hang up a calendar.
Even if you are not a “list” type of person, still find it in yourself to hang up some sort of calendar above your desk. Write down your classes, weekly meetings, your workout times, and even your designated “going out” nights of the week. Doing this will help you delegate your time wisely-forcing yourself to make time for everything you find important for senior year; group projects, Rentes’, classes, Rentes’, meetings, and did I say Rentes’?
Early-morning study dates.
This is probably the most difficult tip, or goal, to commit yourself to but trust us, it will be so helpful! Force yourself to set an alarm on the weekends-say for 10am. Get up, jump in the shower, make breakfast, and do work for a few hours. Waking up without a headache for a day of work can be really difficult after a night out so another tip of ours is to completely enjoy your night but drink two bottles of water prior to going to bed. Waking up will be so much easier, trust us. And, by time 2pm rolls around and your friends want to go to Panera or watch a movie, your homework will be done!
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Start making mid-term study guides..now!
Mid-terms are going to be here in just a few weeks. If you begin to look at your syllabi, and see how many chapters are on each of your exams, you will probably vomit. So after you throw up and hit your head against the wall, make it a goal to make a study guide for two chapters per week up until the exam. This way when mid-terms creep up, you are already ahead of the game, and there will be no shame in going out that week.
Don’t forget all your hard work the past three years.
It is kind of sickening to hear how many seniors have already fallen into a senior slump. We all know it is going to happen but we truly think it should wait until after spring break. We know that sounds pretty lame but think of all you have worked for during college. Are you really about to throw away three years of perseverance? Work for your degree-obtaining it come May 2014 will be so much sweeter knowing you still managed to make Dean’s List all four years.
Make Saturday Job Hunt Day and Sunday Homework Day.
This may be our favorite tip! Dedicate your Saturday’s to applying to two jobs each Saturday! Some applications take five minutes so this should not be a difficult goal! Ensure you continually check on BCC each week for new job postings and approaching deadlines. It won’t hurt to throw up a few post-it notes on your desktop to remind you of important deadlines and upcoming postings. Then, enjoy your Saturday night knowing you are two steps closer than you were earlier that morning to obtaining a job when you graduate! Wake up Sunday morning and bang out all your homework confidently…don’t forget to enjoy some football though!
Enjoy your senior year.
This cannot be said enough. You are never going to get this year back…and you are going to want it back. This is your last year with “your girls”. Enjoy every girls night out at Asia Grille with one too many scorpion bowls and not enough terrible singing to “You Drive Me Crazy” by our main betch Britney. Tear up the Volleyball court when it’s warm out and take advantage of any snow days that land on campus. Stay up and watch Hocus Pocus this Halloween season and hang up enough lights for Christmas to cause a campus-wide power outage. Drink wine, cheap vodka, and discounted beer whenever you can. Enjoy your Monday night class, ripping up Rente’s every Tuesday and Wednesday, differentiating between Karaoke Thursday’s at Asia Grille and dancing at Effins, and lastly, the “what happened…?” kind of weekends every week of your senior year.
Enjoy your senior year while still acing your classes, taking charge at your meetings, and completing each paper…beer included.