Summer is winding down and it’s (unfortunately) time to get
back into the academic flow. It’s beyond exciting to get back to campus and see
all of my friends who have scattered across the US this summer, but it can be
especially difficult to transition if you’re like me and spent the summer
babysitting one of the world’s cutest families instead of a 9-5 internship or
job like I have every other summer. When it comes time to transition from
summer fun to school drudgery, I need a definite system to keep myself on
track.
Probably my favorite back-to-school organizational tool is
my dry erase calendar. It’s perfect for my very Type A personality and without
it I absolutely would be a disorganized mess. At the beginning of each
semester, I grudgingly print out the last page of every syllabus: the
assignment list. I set up my month by using my vast array of markers to assign
each class, work, DZ, and other things like university events (aka football
games, Go Bucks!) a color and mark the assignments accordingly. If I have an
extra important assignment like a midterm, I border the entire box so that date
is heavily outlined and when I look at my calendar from afar I can clearly see
when it’s appropriate to start panicking.
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| It's actually become infamous among my friends |
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Another great way to stay organized is to hang each
assignment list somewhere in your room. As the weeks go on highlight the
assignments you’ve already completed. I think highlighting is a better
alternative than crossing out assignments because you can still read what the
assignment was in case you need the dates or anything later on. It’s a really
easy way to look at your month week by week to ensure you don’t miss anything
important.
I do carry a planner around but since my assignments are
pretty spread out, the week-to-week setup of a planner isn’t very helpful and
the monthly calendar is so small it would be impossible to fit five or six
classes worth of info in those tiny boxes. While I depended on my planner in
high school to get by, four years later it’s not such a helpful utensil for me.
But my roommate lives by her planner,
so it can also be used as a really helpful tool to keep you organized and have
a monthly assignment list with a week-by-week breakdown. The same way I use
different colored markers on my calendar, I’d suggest different colored pens
for your planner just so every assignment doesn’t blend together.
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| This is probably the most I ended up using my planner… #priorities |
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One last really easy trick I use to keep my life organized?
Since I always have my computer with me (most of my classes run on PowerPoint
presentations) I saved my syllabi to my desktop and keep them all in the same
place. Next to them I have the document outlining my graduation requirements
for quick reference. So when I’m on campus and far from my insane calendar, I
have an easy way to find my assignments, even when the wifi decides to kick
everyone off the network.
I hope this helps keep your life in order as you switch from
summer to school mode, good luck!
