Greetings,
Since we last spoke, you got the opportunity to get to know me better. Now that I have gone through the first 30 days of college, I wanted to share some useful time management skills with you. My perspective if from a full time student in college living at home and with a part time job.
There is a drastic difference of the amount of time I spent at school during high school, and the time that I am spending in a classroom in college. Making this adjustment has not been as complicated as you would think. Keeping a portable planner with due dates of assignments from all my syllabi helps me create a visual for what I should work on and where I can get head start on. Aside from assignment due dates, I include the day I work, club meetings, and institution wide deadlines or events. Some of my peers have found it useful using an electronic calendar on their personal computer. I like to color code by assignments or classes and cross off completed assignments so digital does not work as well for me.
I am currently active in three organizations on campus. The Academic Achievers Program and Urban Experience Program help me in administrating scholarships that I have received. These organizations on campus are great support system for first generation students as well. I found out about the Student Nutrition Association, and I decide to join so that I could gain early exposure to my filed of interest. These organizations do not take up too much of my time. Instead, they keep me on track to persisting through college. Outside of these organizations, I am continuing the work I did in high school of working as a lifeguard on weekends. Soon I will be transitioning into working at the pool at U of H. I limit the amount of time I work to 10 hours per week. I also like to keep in mind that I need to study 3-4 hours per week outside of class for every credit hour. This is my rule of thumb. The Academic Achievers Program requires that I log the time I pend studying into a data sheet and submit by the end of every other week with. This keeps me accountable for my own work.
Careful and detailed planning allows me to prioritize the things I need to take care of during the day. It also makes life easier on me, so I don’t put myself in a position where I feel rushed to finish an assignment. While I may not be in the same routine as high school, I am really enjoying the experience of taking ownership of my education.
Until next time,
Abraham Vicuna