We are in the thick of application system, and we suddenly find ourselves married to our laptops. Hmm, on the subject of laptops let me tell you a horror story that I think a lot of people can learn from.
Let me begin my horror story by admitting that I am not the most tech savvy person out there. Soooo because of that I never paid much attention to my much more tech invested cousins when they insisted that I get a hard drive. I should have listened. I was putting the finishing touches on my college essays when my computer died on me. Dead. Not a single bleep of warning. All of my hours of hard work were lost to the chunk of stuff that used to be my laptop. I had not backed up a single essay. Needless to say that my eyes were red and swollen for the next couple of days. Do not let this happen to you!!
Learn from me: BACK YOUR FILES UP.
That’s all I have to say about the horror story. Now let’s talk about the struggle bus that is getting applications done while maintaining homework deadlines, and extracurricular activities. Figuring out the balance is not easy, and anybody who says it is easy are superhuman or maybe not human.
There are, however, ways to make it all more manageable. I went all out. Quite frankly I am surprised at my level of organization. I set up spreadsheets that had many columns. That spreadsheet helped me see what needed to be up on the priority list and what could wait a little bit more. Making a spreadsheet might be a little to Hermione Granger-esque for some but believe me, being organized really helps get things done.
I’m a sophomore in college now and let me tell you, the struggle bus is still here and it’s roaring. I’m getting started on applications for the summer but it can be a little bit overwhelming along with the homework I have to do. And my jobs. And my extracurricular activities. And my labs…. ughhhhhh. Honestly, I sometimes just want to curl up into a burrito of happiness, swaddled in blankets (it’s cold here in the Northeast!) and just binge on Netflix. I do indulge myself every once in a while to trick my mind into some semblance of a reward system.
Organization really is key during the application season. If you maintain that level of organization and mental stamina, then you’ll glide through your college years. I pinky swear!