Nico Addai

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably read dozens of Get Ready College blogs with their depressing optimism and pastel banners and fairy lights.  I wish I could do what they do, but I can’t. I can only give you my experience with college organization, which may or may not have helped me, but seems to help countless college students feel more secure.

1. Plan ahead, or plan to fail. Like the SheRocksCollege babe says time and time again, you will only do as well in college as the effort you put in up-front: how does the semester look like for you? the year? the next five years? When you get a break, take time to think about the general and major requirements at your college. WRITE THEM DOWN (noting how much you’ve done at this point) and make plans to finish them before you graduate. Each semester during the first week where you do basically nothing but highlight syllabuses in class, translate those important dates into a full semester long calendar. Assignments are such slippery things if you don’t have proof of their existence.
2. Keep your desk as clean as your mind. Now this one depends on the person. If you’re like me, your desk is swimming with paper, pens and half-eaten protein bars, but for me, it works. The left side of my desk has my humanities and music files, the right has my math and science notes. Depending on your level of messiness (and your roommate’s level of tolerance) you can arrange all the upcoming assignments on top of the pile to the last semester project at the back of the pile.
3. Keep time. Get a watch, a pocket watch, a wall calendar, a phone calendar, whatever you need to make it work. Time is such a precious commodity that it can NOT be wasted (before all your assignment deadlines start pressing down on you. Time management probably will be the most important skill college teaches you to deal with (or not.)