Tip #7: Keep your life scheduled, but not too scheduled

College: the time to join new clubs, have fun experiences, make lifelong friends, and become a Lady Boss engineer in the process. To accomplish all these amazing things, it’s important that you heed my semi-professional advice. Despite the challenges that studying to become an engineer can present, your college experience can and will be amazing with the help of an old friend: scheduling.

Google is my best friend—not simply because I can search the winning score of the latest Penn State football game; but I am also able to utilize Google Calendar to help keep track of my potentially hectic life. Learning how to organize my time has allowed me to succeed both in and outside of the classroom.

At the start of each semester, before I even set foot in a classroom, I love to upload my course schedule into a calendar. This provides a strong basis from which I can supplement my spare time with productive and entertaining activities. Color coding—or creating individual calendars based on categorized activities—is a helpful way to keep an organized and aesthetically pleasing schedule. One of my favorite pieces of advice to give to incoming first-year students is to take advantage of professor office hours. These spaces of time are wonderful opportunities to meet, engage with, and learn from your instructor. Upon receiving class syllabi, the second item added to my semester calendar are the days and times of office hours. Placing these in a separate color from that of your coursework will help to remind and motivate you to attend these informative sessions.

         Although important, academics are not all that defines your experience as a Penn State student. To maintain a healthy lifestyle, both mentally and physically, it is important to participate in activities outside of the classroom. Two of my favorite past times include running and yoga. These exercises provide time to relieve the stresses of academia. In creating my semester schedule, I like to set aside at least one hour per day to participate in some sort of activity (i.e. running, yoga, SWE, SSAE, etc.). Placing this space into my calendar challenges me to escape from the demanding world of engineering.

         Providing time to complete coursework and study is another essential characteristic of my calendar. At the beginning of each semester, updating my schedule with homework, project, and exam dates per the class syllabi allows me to allocate proper amounts of time to each class. To further organize my studies, at the beginning of each week, I like to make a list of all upcoming assignments and exams, then I proceed to block a certain amount of time each day that I can devote to succeeding at my academics.

         Although your first-year of college may seem daunting, it is important to remember that there are resources out there (WEP 😊) that intend to help you succeed. Understanding how to manage both time in and outside of the classroom is an important key to success. Google calendar doesn’t have to be your go-to organizational technique. Utilizing sticky notes on your laptop, the corkboard in your dorm, a notebook, planner, etc. will allow you to maintain a healthy college lifestyle during your time as a Nittany Lion!

By: Katie Strohm (Mentor Team E)