Here is part two of my long, list-filled, sermonizing post :)
If you didn't read the first post, or forgot (it was very long) all the ideas I mentioned in the first one, I would definitely advise going back and reading it. I know I have read it around ten times already :)
Step 6: B.U.D.G.E.T (six letters ;)
Budget your money: Many, many students forget that when they go to college, they are going to want spending money. Frankly, spending money for anything 'fun' is not a necessity. It almost but not quite. However, most people consider it a necessity, and therefore, it will be addressed.
Have a budget, 15, 20, 30 dollars a week can easily cover a student's for fun needs.
I can hear the sputtering complaints already. Notice I said for-fun, that does not include books or school supplies. 15 bucks a week seems impoverished, but 15xs4=60 and cutting back on starbucks (buy a coffee maker), excessive candy or snacks, (you'll regret it), going out to the movies, (a rare treat), and shopping expeditions (80 percent off rack) really make it feasible.
Such a small budget can really help put money better places, like tuition!
Obviously, each student is different, and some students work nearly full time, and can afford or choose to have a larger budget. When I worked full time, I know I did :) But 15 bucks a week also worked when I had an extremely strained budget.
Books: amazon, chegg, if possible, DON'T BUY FROM THE BOOKSTORE!!! Research :)
Budget your time Advisors generally tell students not to take a full load of classes, and often students take 12 or 15 units when they can easily take 18. Taking a full load of classes every semester, for seven semesters equals 127 units, around the same number needed to graduate at most (two semester a year) schools. Adding to that number a few CLEP or AP classes and a student can easily graduate in 7 semesters. This works very, very well for students who have to/or really want to live in the dorms for their entire collegiate career.
Another absolutely brilliant way of budgeting time is to choose classes that can be double, even triply, crosslisted. Meaning, they can count for core/general ed and major or minor classes. I know of a student who double majored in two rigorous majors AND has a minor, while working full time and going to a prestigious school. She'll easily graduate in 8 semesters, without even CLEPping out of any classes. She's going to have an impressive resume.
It's quite doable, but again, research is key.
And you thought the hefty research didn't start until junior year.
Step seven: There are seven days in the week. Yes, really. Unlike high school, college students don't have to go to school five days a week between 7-3. There are many, many more options and combinations for classes. In fact, an adept scheduler can make time for both school and lots of work. A person can pay tuition, cut student loans, provide for themselves by working (and working a lot) while going to school. It's important to fill the days of the week, and not just relegate weekends to fun and homework. Students claim they don't have time to work. But they do. Of course, some majors have less time, ie, nursing, or a complicated music major, but even music and nursing majors work. The key to being able to work in college is understanding that you should, that you need to. It's about time management, writing a paper in 2 hours instead of six because you have two hours. I assure you, it can be done.
The students who think that they don't have time for work are the students who don't work. Those that are working understand that they do have time. They have found it.
Homework becomes less of an issue when one is working. It takes less time, and ins't on the forefront of a student's mind.
Step eight: It's going to get aggravating.(Hey, it rhymes..)
It really does. I'm almost finished with my fifth semester and my desire to do another semester would be a negative on a chart of integers. Why??? College is just a lot of papers and tests and more papers, and if it becomes your life, it will drive you crazy.
The solution: be involved in other things. Enjoy your job, friends, family, volunteer work, anything that makes it seem that college is just a part of your life and not the whole. I'm preaching to myself here, as well. I'm so ready to be through with this, and I'm still three semesters from my B.A. Once I have my diploma, I am going to dance around with it on my head, and then carefully frame it since it's worth thousands of dollars.
Step Nine Mine is...What? What will your major be.
Tere are many, many, countless, a plethora [insert your favorite synonym] of elements to consider.
-Desired income level
-Natural aptitude
-Devotion to one's studies
-And so many others..
Income level Does your major make sense.. Does your desired career make sense. Is it even possible to reach it and make the desired income?
Note, as an English major who thinks literary analysis is dreary and is not planning on becoming an erudite professor of Literature, my career-path is going to be exciting and creative--just like me!
What are you "good" at? Don't just answer this question with what your favorite subject was in school (again, just a bit of hypocrisy coming from an English major) but your talents, what you enjoy.
I always thought all nursing students had to be good at Chemistry. In reality, they're just good at taking care of people. I realized too late I loved caring for people, and would've made a great nurse.
Devotion to one's studies: Do you skate by with low A's in the classes you feel like doing homework in, B's in the ones you don't, an the rare C when a calamity hits? Or are you studious and do your homework early, and always come out with A's? Examine your major, and see what level of devotion it requires. Again, English majors, not that much--aside from the occasional professor-in-training.
Step ten: THINK
Think through the implications of going to one school over another, of taking out loans, or not taking out loans, of living in the dorms, versus living elsewhere, of five thousand versus ten thousand dollars, of studying Flannery O'Connor versus the Pathology of Diseases...
Remember that you are young, strong, and vital. Enjoy this time and give back. Don't surround yourself with only your peers, but reach out to people of different ages. Build up your resume through hard, simple work, and never, ever let college define who you are.
Good habits made in youth make all the difference.
Aristotle
And one last reminder...Never forget the skills of Google
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