Make Homework a "Class"

You get your schedule and you realize that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you have only three classes, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays you have only  two!  This is awesome!  You have classes for roughly three hours each day!  Check you later seven hour-a-day high school!

As you ease into the school year, you spend your time between classes hanging out with your friends on the quad, taking leisurely lunches, and attending activities of all the new clubs you just joined.  Then, one Thursday night, your friends ask you if you want to head to the local pizza joint.  "Of course," you say... until you realize that you haven't even started the problem set for your calc class that's due at 8:00AM tomorrow.  Looks like you'll have to pass this time.

You wish you didn't have to pass and begin wondering if there was a way to get your homework done and still have time to hang out with your friends.  The structure you had in high school with studies during the school day and a parent or guardian at home checking in on you about your homework are gone, and it's been difficult to manage your time.

Have no fear!  There's a solution:  make homework a "class."

Let's say that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you have classes at 9:00AM, 10:00AM, and 2:00PM.  Now let's say you add a fourth class to that day at 4:00PM called "Homework."  When 4:00PM comes around, find a quiet space where you can work on any assignments.  It may be your dorm room, the study hall on your floor, the library, or any other place where you will be able to get stuff done.

Homework is different in college because many of your assignments will be more long term: problem sets due once a week, papers due every few weeks.  Take the block of time you have set aside and say to yourself,  "I'm going to work on this problem set for an hour or two," or, "I'm going to work on this paper for an hour," or, "I'm going to study for this test for two hours."  Try not to work for more than two hours at a time because you may start to lose focus.  If you have a long period of time during which you can do work, like a Saturday or Sunday, be sure to take breaks every hour or two so that you can refocus.  

So make homework a class, and then go join your friends at the Pizza Shack! 

Pick classes that interest you!

Wahoo!!  You're in college!  Now you get to decide which classes to take!  Instead of "Junior English" you may have choices like Creative Writing, Shakespeare, and... wait... Introduction to Screenwriting!?  Sweet!  Maybe you can make your dream of winning an Oscar a reality!

As you scroll through the list of courses offered, you stumble upon completely new departments.  Anthropology.  Philosophy.  Linguistics.  It's like an academic candy store!  With so many choices, what should you take?

The answer is simple: take what interests you.

College is your chance to learn, to grow, and to discover who you are and what you want to do with the rest of your life.  Depending on the program which you are enrolled in at your college or university, you may not have to declare your major until the second semester of your sophomore year.  If that's the case for you, start exploring.  Is there a topic about which you've always wanted to learn more?  Take a course in it.  You may discover a hidden love for computer coding, or law, or environmental studies.  That love may lead to a major and that major may lead to a fulfilling career.

So enter the academic candy store... and try as many things as you can.