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Key points
- The return to campus and college life will soon be here, and it's important for students to prepare.
- Taking steps to be organized, rested, and prepared can help students succeed academically.
- Socializing and exercising are both critical pursuits, but they have a time and a place.
August is now here—and the start of the fall semester on many college and university campuses isn't far behind.
Whether you are a first-year student or entering your senior year, there are many things you can do to ensure that you do well in your classes while enjoying the social aspects of campus life. Planning matters, as does establishing patterns of behavior that can eventually become habits.
Don’t miss class. This is an obvious suggestion, but one that some students fail to heed. To learn your course material and actively participate in a class, you must be present. A missed class is a missed opportunity, not to mention that absences have a real financial cost—you will never get the tuition money for any given class back if you skip it. You also want to get to know your classmates as peers and friends, just as you want your instructor to see you as active and engaged rather than passive and disinterested.
Control your social media activity. Most of us would agree that we spend too much time surfing social media and reading others’ posts when we might be better off doing something more productive (e.g., reading, writing, or studying for a quiz or an exam). Yes, Instagram and TikTok are fun, but they are also abysses wherein our time is wasted. I am not suggesting you quite social media altogether, but I am suggesting you curtail your time there or, better yet, set aside time to enjoy your favorite outlets or apps—just not all day long.
Study time. If you carve out time to meander through social media, you can most assuredly save space and time to study. Conversations with my students reveal that many of them assume they need large blocks of time to do assignments, reading, and the like, so that blocks or 20 or 30 minutes between classes aren’t sufficient to get homework or studying done. Not so. It is better to start reading or outlining a reflection paper with only 15 minutes to spare than it is to watch the same YouTube video the 12th time. Small amounts of time spent on assignments can add up to getting work done ahead of time.
Advance planning. Speaking of getting ahead, why not lay out your semester (or just a month) calendar of assignments and due dates so that you know what you have to do and when you have to do it? This sounds like trivial and simple advice, but you would be surprised how many students don’t track their work. Looking ahead—working ahead—can help you to stay on top of things while ensuring assignments are submitted when they are due, and exams are properly prepared for rather than feverishly crammed for the night before.
Sleep. You need around eight hours of quality sleep per night—much less than that affects your performance negatively, as does too much sleep. And no, you do not do your best work by pulling an “all-nighter” to finish. Working on a paper or studying for an exam a bit each day is much better than binging all at once to finish something. Try to develop a reasonable sleep schedule.
Socializing and exercising. These are both important pursuits that have a time and place, but they need to follow attending classes and studying. You should plan to socialize like you plant to study—set aside time for friends just like you set aside time to head to the library. Many of my students report that meeting their friends for a quick chat often turns into hours of talking—with the result that the intended schoolwork never gets done. Try to study in places where you won’t encounter your friends—that way you can finish your work and then have time for friends. Similarly, run or go to the gym on a schedule for a fixed period, not an open-ended amount of time.
The above constitute some of the “greatest hits” of what to do to succeed during college. You no doubt can add to this list by indicating the things that are tied to your own life and good (or bad) habits. What can you add to your actions to improve your life on campus? What can you try to change to reduce your stress or anxiety? Add those options to these and they begin to initiate a plan for September, which is just around the corner.
Good luck!
References
Dunn, D. S., & Halonen, J. S. (2024). The psychology major’s companion: Everything you need to know to get where you want to go (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
