Hello!

I have not blogged lately since I was too occupied with preparing for school. It’s a new semester and I am so excited to learn new things, meet new people, have new friends, and tackle all those assignments, papers, exams, and quizzes! Today, I am sharing with you on how I prepared myself before school (new semester) started.

As a college student (undergrad), these are the things I did:

1. Planned what courses I need/want to take – I have been doing this since my community college days in which I always refer to my Advising Sheet to see what courses I have to take until I graduate. I usually do this with Microsoft Excel (MS Word is fine, too) where I would group the courses under different semesters. This way, I can see my expected graduation date. Seeing what I have typed motivates me to work harder knowing that I am one step closer to my goal of earning a degree. It looks something like this:
2. Spoke with my Academic Advisor – I do believe that this is very important because it is nice to be guided by someone who has expertise in counseling and teaching. Speaking with my advisor boosts my motivation to reach my goal. Also, I presented my plan to her (the MS Excel that I stated earlier) and she told me how organized I am. Providing this plan of mine makes both our jobs easier.
3. Took advantaged of early registration – This is so helpful! Being in a university with over 35,000 students, registering early is definitely a smart move knowing that hundreds of other students will register in the same courses as you do, and most of those courses get filled in FAST! If they do, either you are wait-listed or you wait for the next semester to register for the courses you need and want to take.
4. Looked for and bought cheaper books – Buying books can be painful to your pocket! Most college books are very expensive. If you want to be a smart shopper, look for other alternatives to have the books that you are required to have. You can always check Amazon, Chegg, Ebay, and other websites that sells textbooks. You can ask a friend or fellow schoolmates if they have the book that you need. You can also share with someone. Unfortunately, custom textbooks are hard to find in those websites since these textbooks are exclusively published for your university.
5. Finally, being grateful – College is hard. College is fun. I always bear in mind that I am very fortunate to be in college; to be able to get quality education; to be able to learn and expand my knowledge; to be able to develop new skills; and to be able to experience this whole college thing. Being grateful always prepared me to face this new semester and the following semesters I am soon to face.

Truly, there are other ways for you to prepare yourself before going back to school again. Being in college is absolutely worthwhile! I hope my sharing inspired you to do the same, if not, come up with something new.

Featured image: ttuhub.net