5 Tips to Successfully Survive College with Style

I will graduate with my masters degree in May, 2020. Throughout my time in college I recieved my bachelors in childhood eduaction with a concentration in STEM and I will soon be recieving my masters in special education. My college has many ways to prepare people for life after graduation! Over the past few years, I learned the best ways to navigate college and be successful in each of my classes! I wanted to share my TOP 10 ways to successfully survive one of the most important times of your life.

1. Manage/ Prioritize your time

• Leave enough “wiggle” room to get to class on time without stressing about being late. This one is number one for me because this was something that I consistently needed to improve upon. Thus, take it from me and do this to remove any unnecessary stress from your day.
• Typically, the average student is juggling between a few different things on a daily basis. Therefore, being able to prioritize your time is an essential skill to get you through your college years. One way to help you with this is by getting a calendar or a planner to write everything down from, assignments and activities. If you know that you have a club meeting the night before you have a test, make sure to study a lot the night before the club meeting and the day of the meeting so that you are not stressed about not having enough time to study. It is important to write everything down on a calendar or planner in order to visualize what needs to get done and when. Otherwise, you run the risk of accidentally forgetting about an event or assignment. If you apply this concept into your daily regimen, you are guaranteed to succeed.

2. Dress comfy/cute to class

• Now for another really important note, how to dress for class. Typically, every college has their own style of how to dress. Most of the time, the “dress code” ends up being a comfy, cute look. Therefore, it is always good to have the basic comfortable attire to have in your college closet to easily throw on and not have to stress about what to wear.

3. Make sure to look presentable during any kind of presentation!

• It is important to look presentable whenever you have a project where you need to stand up in front of the class to present something. One reason for this is because you want to be taken seriously and with more respect if you present yourself in that way. Also, most of the time professors count how you dress as part of the overall presentation score.

4. Study in different settings

• I am the type of person who loves to study in my room. But sometimes you need to switch it up and study somewhere else. If you have a group project and you want to study on campus, you can study in the library, lounge or someones room. If you want to study off campus, you can go to a Starbucks or Barnes and Nobles. Each of them carries a different vibe, so based on how you are feeling you can choose what location to study at.

5. Seek out career development throughout your college years

• Every school has a career development center to help students seek jobs, help with resumes, practice mock interviewing and to help establish connections. I started going their my sophomore year to come up with a good format for my resume. I continued going there for other things, such as practice interviews which helped me prepare me for interviews. Often these perks are provided by school’s. As a result I highly encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.