It’s August, so we all know what that means: back-to-school season!
I have been on vacation from school for over three months now, so I’m definitely starting to get ready to go back to study. It feels like a new exciting chapter in my life, even though I’m returning to the same school. New courses, new beginnings. Therefore, it’s time to start the preparations to make the coming school year the best possible. Especially if you are starting at a new school, there are many things you can do to ease the stress of the big life change. Feeling prepared can make you feel more confident, and confidence is the best thing you can have on your first day!
1. Reflect on your last year
This is good to do during the summer when you have been able to get some distance from school. After recovering from the stressful exams and essays at the end of the school year, it’s easier to think back more objectively. To set you up for success in the next semester, it’s important to reflect on your past year with the following questions:
What do you think went well last semester?
What were the highlights of the school year?
What didn’t go so well?
What can you learn from your failures?
If you are now starting at a new school, this is a more difficult exercise. You can still use your experience from high school senior year, or whichever was the last time you were at school. The new school will always be full of surprises, but the same studying principles apply. You weren’t so good at giving presentations in high school? You can improve that in college. You made great flashcards? Bring that habit to college!
2. Make a list of goals for the upcoming semester
Based on your reflection, what would you like to do differently this year? Write the goals down as a list that you can go back to during the year. The goals shouldn’t be too big – becoming a 4.0 student from your current 3.5 GPA is too much. Requiring perfect results will bring you down, so choose goals that are reasonable enough to achieve.
All of the goals don’t have to be academic – remember to have fun at school and make memories! My own list for the upcoming semester includes things like taking more pictures, studying more outside my dorm room, making more effort to eat dinner with friends more often, and exploring places I haven’t yet been on campus.
If you are starting at a new school, don’t sweat too much over the list, because it’s hard to predict what your first semester is going to look like. Cut yourself some slack, because it is a big change and it takes a lot of time just to get used to basics. It’s already easier to reflect and make a goal list for the second semester once you know how things work.
On the flip side, there are so many opportunities for you when you start anew. Maybe you were more reserved previously, but now in the new school when no one knows you, you could make a goal of speaking to more people. Or maybe you were the class clown before, and now want to tone that down and make people know you as a more serious person. You of course don’t have to change your personality at all, but if there was anything you want to change from the past, a fresh new start is a perfect opportunity for it.
3. Get organized
I often struggle with being organized, so I must work hard on that. At the beginning of my previous semester, I got a big piece of paper where I made a DIY weekly schedule. I wrote down all my classes, their weekly assignment deadlines, my dance classes, my weekly student organization meetings, and the like.
Google Calendar is also handy, and most of my classmates use that. I’m a bit old school I guess because I like having my stuff on paper. There are great planners available, you can easily find one you like at a local bookstore or online.
No matter what style you prefer, it’s important to get organized right at the beginning of the semester, especially when you’re still switching from the summer brain back to study mode. I have to admit, last semester I had a slow start because the first two weeks I was almost missing homework because I forgot when it was due, and therefore started to work way too late. Don’t make the same mistake! It will of course take time to figure out when the best time for you is to start the Friday assignment, but it’s better to start too early to get adjusted.
4. Sleep Schedule
I am excited to go back to school, but I am scared of the morning classes… I am not a morning person at all, and in the summer I would end up sleeping in A LOT. Over the past few weeks, I’ve started to make an effort to wake up earlier. Founding this blog, it has been useful to have those morning hours to devote to the blog. If you dread mornings, maybe it is good to enroll in a couple of morning classes to challenge yourself and make sure you start waking up earlier. At least for me, waking up early – even though it is hard to get out of bed – makes me feel so much more refreshed and productive.
5. New stationery (optional)
This was definitely my favorite thing to do as a kid, and I still enjoy it. Need new pens? Now it’s the best time to get them! I loved going to the book store and just seeing how everyone else is on the same agenda, and you could sense the back-to-school excitement around you. I still remember the exact smell of the bookstore filled with new books and stationery. Call me crazy, but I do! It is always such a nice feeling to start the new year with fresh equipment, even though most things are done on laptops these days. No need to buy a new laptop every year, lol!
6. New books
Unfortunately, not always so optional. At least at Harvard, most study materials are provided online for free, but every now and then you need to purchase some books. Make sure you get the shopping done before school starts to ensure you get your orders on time. Even though many people don’t have theirs right in the beginning and the classes aren’t that heavy in the first week luckily, it just sets the right mindset when you have everything under control.
7. School outfit (optional)
Well, it’s not optional to put clothes on, but this has also been one of my favorite things about back to school, as the first day of school is always such a fashion show. If you are a college student, you may have experienced how more and more people start wearing sweatpants to class as the semester goes on, but during the first day and week, most people still have the energy to carefully choose their outfits. Research has even shown that dressing up can improve performance! With a student budget, you may not be able to afford a brand new fit, but you can style your old clothes with new combinations. Or even go with the same clothes, but just make sure they’re extra clean and wrinkle-free.
8. Relax
Stress is very unhealthy, you know that right? If you still have summer holidays left, be sure to make the most of it and just chill. You have a busy year ahead, so don’t worry too much about being productive during the last weeks or days of summer. Take days off to do the final things on your summer bucket list: see your friends, go to the beach, go hiking, eat ice cream, and what have you. Depending on where you live, the summer weather won’t last forever. The time goes by so fast, that soon you’ll be back here doing your fall semester reflection.
Going back to school can be stressful for many reasons. If you are nervous about going back because you feel like you are not good enough and are afraid to fail, check out my other post about combating the feeling of inadequacy.
And this concludes my back-to-school advice! How do you prepare for going back? Tell me in the comments! Make sure the check out my others posts and subscribe to my newsletter!
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