In this post, you’ll learn about how to prepare for college life.
Are you starting college soon and want to know what to expect as a college student? There are sooo many things that people do not tell you about college. As the first to graduate with a bachelor’s degree and pursue a master’s degree in my family, I have learned a lot about how to prepare for college life.
1. Mentally prepare
College is a mental game. It’s all about mindset. Many students want to go to school, but don’t know the sweat and tears it takes to truly achieve success.
If you are not mentally prepared for the hard work that it takes to be successful, then you’ll risk the chance of dropping out (we don’t want that to happen).
You need to have a strong mindset before going to college and know that IT IS FREAKIN HARD! When you start college, have the mindset of, “I can do this.” The moment you tell yourself “I suck at this class,” is exactly what you will do.
Some classes will be hard, and some classes will be easy. But everything is hard, so prepare to dedicate your time, energy, money, and be devoted! Always shoot for an A and take anything above a C so that you do not have to repeat any courses.
2. Prepare for change
College is such a change of lifestyle because it is t-i-m-e consuming. It also requires a lot of juggling. Most of us are more than just a college student. We have families, jobs, friends, and now we are adding classes, classwork, and studying to our plate.
Prepare for a lot of studying, rushing to class, writing, and typing. Some of the things that you used to do all of the time like hang out with friends, might decrease. When you are in college, you have to focus and that might require canceling a party on a Friday night because you have a huge exam coming up.
Make sure to treat college like a full-time job, because IT IS. The golden rule is that for every 1 unit of a class are 2 to 3 hours of studying! That means that one class is 6-9 hours of studying each week.
This is the change that most students aren’t prepared for!
3. Stay committed
College is also a HUGE commitment. It takes time, money, focus, hours, days, & class upon the class to finally see some results!
It’s going to be hard to see others that you know making money, raising a family, partying, etc. This can be tempting to focus more on making money faster, but you chose to go to college so the success will not come right away, nor will the money.
But wherever you are at in your life, you have to continue to stay committed! You may be influenced by your peers but be sure to stay committed in those times that you feel tempted to slack off a bit or change direction.
Your time will come!
4. Don’t compare (some make money, and some go to school)
Comparison is HUGE, I think everyone struggles with the thought of someone doing something different than them. Truth is, we are all at different phases of life and that’s OKAY.
Some may find success in college and others may find success elsewhere. Learn to accept that while someone may make a lot of money right now, you chose the route to go to school.
Comparison can be the thief of happiness if you let it. Be content with others’ achievements, and your own. Remember, if you stay committed, you’ll reap all of the benefits later.
5. Come up with a schedule
College life can get crazy amongst everything else your juggling, so it is helpful to come up with a schedule. You can start by printing your college semester schedule of classes so that you can properly manage your time.
Creating a schedule makes it helpful to know when you go to work, go to school, your class times, and the gaps in between for you to find time to study. Let’s be honest, the professors are going to give loads of schoolwork with a bunch of deadlines.
You won’t want to miss the date!
6. Set Goals
Once your semester schedule is created, set yourself some realistic goals! You can break your goals down semester by semester and check them off as you achieve each goal.
You can start by creating goals to tackle each assignment so that you can get passing grades. Life becomes overwhelming when you are taking four different classes with a total of 40 different assignments. I created a personal assignment checklist that you can use to cross off each assignment as you complete them.
I don’t know about you but focusing on the small wins always keeps me motivated. When using my homework planner, you won’t ever have to worry about missing an assignment again!
Each semester it will be fun to see how many units you have crossed off of the list + what you can focus on next.
Knowing your goals helps you stay on the path of success!
7. Take it semester by semester, but keep the end in mind
If you like to think far ahead or stress about the future, just take it semester by semester. Think about how fast this past year went by. Fast right?!
Each semester is only 12-18 weeks and it will go by fast! Keep the end in mind but worry about what’s going on right now.
8. Ask for help
Asking for help can be hard because maybe you are shy or too stubborn to ask. But we all need help. Especially because college isn’t easy.
The worst thing you can do is avoid asking a question, and then have a million of them when you get home. ASK QUESTIONS!
College is not like high school. No one cares if you pass or not, except YOU! Talk to your professors and create conversations with them. You just might find that they care to help you more and are happy to answer your questions! 🙂
9. Don’t be afraid of failing
When we don’t ask for help, we take the risk of failing a class. Sometimes the classes are so freakin hard that you just might fail one or two. (Hopefully, that is not the case).
Of course, no one walks into class saying, “I’m going to fail this semester,” but it happens. Don’t let it affect your success or future opportunities. Some of our greatest lessons learned come from failure.
10. Be patient
College success is not something that happens right away, it takes A LOT of patience. It is not easy when you see your friends having children or buying a new car because we all want to be at that point.
Keep this quote in mind. “Nothing good comes easy.” You are at the point of working towards that good part of life when you can afford your bills and have a steady income. That comes with patience. This is not a fast game.
College is a process, and the hard work WILL PAY OFF. All you have to do is take the right amount of units that are reasonable to handle. Doing too much too fast can cause us to burn out when we set the bar extremely high.
It doesn’t mean that we can’t reach our goals, but college is a long-term investment. It can be dangerous for our mental health and cause us to want to give up when our plates are too full.
Patience is key.
11. Live within your means
Ever heard of the term “broke college student.” It is a realll thing because the money goes toward trying to survive and feed ourselves and our family.
Keep in mind that you are going to college to have a successful future, but you are not there quite yet. Although it feels like you are given free fun money for school and living expenses, you’ll want to spend wisely.
Some college programs are quite expensive at the university level, so just keep in mind that every student loan has a life. This means that the student loans that you take out, you can pay back on for 30 or more years.
Any student loan that you borrow, you have to pay back, and with interest. Avoid overspending when possible and try not to get into unnecessary debt. Like my grandfather always said, “think cheap.”
It is helpful to budget your monthly expenses so that you can keep track of every bill and payment that you have.
The less debt the better, because that means more money in your pocket later!
These are important tips that no one prepares you for. Every college student struggles, but not every college student succeeds. If you can keep these tips in mind, you will know how to prepare for college life and nothing will come as a surprise.
College will give you a wealth of knowledge, stability, and a steady income. Make sure you take advantage of all of your resources because it is vital to your success.
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