Self-management and time-management in college

Good habits are developed early in education, unfortunately mine collapsed first semester freshman year.

One good thing I found was a circle of friends within your major - always helpful for remembering projects, due dates, and a good source of lab partners worth anything. Missing class notes isn't a problem, and collaborating on homework can help you learn from each other. Also helps you relax when you see that other people are able to take the same pressure, or that someone is freaking out more than you.

I had to balance part-time job(s), engineering courseload, and a social life. It takes a lot to suceed in all of those - I could usually manage only 1 or 2. Something had to give, and for me it was organized events and clubs (never joined any) and working out (never once stepped foot in the greatest free gym I'll ever have access to).

Things I missed - not a supporter of my teams because I was too busy and they sucked. Never once went to a frat party at my own school (I was too busy and they sucked). Never took a crazy road trip(I only had a 2 seater). If there's a takeway, it's moderation in all things - the fun I missed out on as an undergrad, I had to cram into 3 years as a part-time student and full-time desk jockey.

Palmpilot, or similar, is a major help

Good ol' calendar and pen worked for me, but I graduated almost ten years ago. Nevertheless, they never need batteries and are easy to access. Write down due dates of projects and classes, and whenever you think or plan to sit down and work on them, particularly the big group projects that require schduling. I didn't learn all this right away, but once I started working full time while in school, I had too much to think about to not stay organized.

Good luck!

Melanie

I graduated earlier this year from college. I used Excel to keep track of my assignments. If I had a really busy week, I would try to break down what I needed to do each day for each class. This way, I could divide the research / writing papers / studying into smaller tasks.

Sticky notes. Seriously. All over the computer monitor. "Don't forget to go to the NT study session, you retard!" "NT Exam Study session/pizza party-- 5:30 on Monday!" "THIS Monday, you idiot. If you forget and go to the library, we're screwed." "Dorm meeting @ 11 tonight. Don't miss it, lazy! Otherwise we won't have a place to live in January." "Your library books are due back on the 17th. We're broke. Return them on time."

I graduated from college almost 30 years ago, but what worked for me (because I've always been a morning sort of person) was to schedule afternoon classes. I would wake up at a reasonable hour (8 am), have breakfast, and study while all my roommates were still asleep and it was QUIET. Then afternoon was for classes. Evenings were divided between study, working on plays in the drama dept., and social stuff. Occasionally, there were the all-nighters to finish a paper when I'd procrastinated, but this was more common during my first year of college when I hadn't developed any self-discipline. I also found that dedicating lots of time to studying was easier as I became more advanced, because by my last year, I was only taking classes I was really interested in, and they were all related to each other.