3 Next Steps You Can Take to Help Balance School and Friends in

College

Learn to enjoy planning.

The truth is most people do not have a physical planner with pens to color coat each task for
every day of the week. In reality, it takes up a lot of time, time that you were trying to save, by
using that method. But you don’t have to bear with this system to feel at ease with your
schedule. There are many systems and apps that can help you stay on top of your life; the best
thing you can do is find the one that makes the most sense for you. To keep it simple, utilize an
easy-to-understand interface like
Google Calendar. In addition to
adding your classes or lunch dates
with friends, you can use its “task”
feature to check off homework.
Or If you need more detail and
precision, try Notion. Notion
allows you to customize and link
your calendars and lists to your liking. They also provide premade templates, making it easy to
keep track of everything you need to do in one place.

Get serious about your study time.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is a bit harder than you may imagine. You may head over
to Books & Beans with the full intention of finishing your homework, but friends come by and
you are having such a good time, and now it’s three hours later and you haven’t gotten
anything done. These sweet moments are not bad and are sometimes much needed, but next
time you go to the coffee shop to study, keep this in mind! It’s not impossible to get stuff done
with others though. One thing you can do is go with friends and keep each other accountable,
delegate time for studying and socializing. Something many students have come to like is the
pomorodo method. This system can be used on your own or with friends. You can find a link
here about how to use it: https://collegeinfogeek.com/pomorodo-technique/ Remember, the
purpose here is to be able to work efficiently, free up your time, and leave you less stressed.

Join a campus club or ministry.

Anderson University understands the value of community just as

much as it does excellent education. No one expects you to be
studying all the time and joining a campus organization can help
you develop a healthy social life and give you much-needed breaks
from school. From Math Club to Ceramics Club, you can find
something that interests you. You can find a complete list of all clubs at AUnited under the
“organizations” tab: https://aunited.andersonuniversity.edu/ These can even act as great
opportunities to network. Building relationships with those in your degree may be a key point in
helping you in your career in the future.

Don’t put these off when you could be doing yourself a favor. Try to find a planner that you can
practically use, or reach out to someone in an organization you’re interested in. As college
students, we tend to get busy quickly and sometimes have a hard time finding a good rhythm
but being proactive in these ways can help you succeed in having the best possible college
experience.