As 2020 begins you may be asking yourself how to prepare for the semester ahead.
There is no better time to take control of your semester than from the very beginning. It is important that we are able to approach this new semester, year and decade from a place for intentionality.
I know when you are starting a new semester your motivation is usually at a high. But often dwindles afterwards as more things come up and the semester trods on.
Therefore you should prepare for the semester ahead so that you are able to do your best. Even when the unplanned circumstances come up.
Ensure that you have a plan for your semester and prepare to achieve it.
Support The Public Health Millennial on BuyMeACoffee
(Related: How To Find An Out Of State Internship)
Plan & Prepare
She who plans is somewhat prepared. He who is prepared should have a plan.
Planning and preparing work hand in hand and without one you will more than likely fall short of your goal.
Planning has to do with putting the actionable steps into your desired path. It gives you the steps you need to do and where your time has to be spent to get to your desired goal.
While preparing ensures that you can stand strong to the many forces that pull at our times during life. Things are inevitable going to come up – you could feel sick, a new project could be assigned or maybe a group you are working in a disorganized group.
READ THE SYLLABUS
Reading your syllabus is one of the most crucial actions any student can take before beginning a new semester.
Not only does this help you to get you to be thoughtful about your new courses, it will also allow you to use this information to make a plan for the upcoming semester.
The syllabi would also help you to know what your learning outcomes are going to be and what topics you will be covering throughout the semester.
Go through each of your syllabi and note the due dates for all assignments, quizzes, test, exams, and projects.
REQUIRED ITEMS
In the syllabus there are going to some required items. This can be anything from stationary to computer programs you need to have downloaded on your laptop.
You should know what you need before classes start and should have all the required items.
When it comes to textbooks, I use to always wait until the first day of classes to ensure you would actually need them (or if an older edition would work fine). This could work, but something this left me without a textbook for a few weeks because they sold out or took longer than I expected to ship. This left me having to rely on other classmates to do my work.
I would say that if you want to ensure you start off your semester on the right path then you should lean towards spending money on the textbook even if you are unsure you would need it. It’s always better to be on top of things that to be lagging behind and fighting to catch up.
OFFICE HOURS
Another important thing to note is the office hours for your professors. It could also be important to note this information for you TA. Additionally, you can note your professors phone number (usually in syllabus) so that you are able to message them if an emergency comes up.
You want to reduce the amount of friction between you feeling like you want help and actually seeking out that assistance. University courses can be tough – both undergraduate and graduate – so you have to ensure that you take it into your control to stay on top of each one you take.
You will want to know the office hours and locations so that you can know when it is or plan with your professor to meet otherwise accordingly.
CLASS LOCATION
Similarly, you will want to note where each of your classrooms are before the day of the class. This is especially important if you are starting a new school, have a class in a new part of campus or just need a refresher on where things are in the building.
If you want to avoid walking into the wrong class, being late for your first class, or having to awkwardly leave a class because its not the one you signed up for – then you should ensure that you know where you classes are located before you go.
You can search your campus for your class before the day of the class or you can look at your campus’ online maps to determine where you classes are. Do this to ensure that you don’t have to be frazzled for your new class.
RESEARCH POTENTIAL JOBS
This wouldn’t be thephmillennial.com if I didn’t talk about starting your job search right now. I think we too often get carried away with being students that we forget the end is nearer than we think.
The best way to increase your likelihood of landing the job position you want after graduating is by looking early. This helps so that you are familiar with the job landscape and the sorts of jobs you want to apply to in the near future.
Start using your LinkedIn account to turn on job alerts. This can help just so you know what jobs are out there and you can look at the skills and experiences required and try to tailor your coursework and work experiences (internship/volunteerism also) along these lines.
(Related: 4 Steps to Secure a Job After Grad School)
When Classes Start
There is one simple action every student can do to boost their semester before handing in any assignments.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Introduce yourself to your professor and TA at the first class.
This is going to make all your future interactions with the professor be that much easier and natural. Not to forget, this may set you apart from other classmates when asking for a letter of recommendation or reference in the future.
This will make it easier for you to go to office hours if you are struggling with a topic or concept. We are all going to have a difficulty in more part or another during our university careers, but remember your professors are getting paid your money to teach and help you.
So definitely don’t shortchange yourself. Use your professor or TA as a resource if you feel lost or need a bit of assistance.
ORGANIZE YOUR COMPUTER FILES
Another great way to kick off your semester when classes start (you can do this before too) is to start to organize your computer files.
We live in a digital age where we are always downloading content whether that is for school or pleasure. So it’s important to make sure that you have your school life organized.
Make a new folder for the semester and new folders for each of the courses you are taking in order to start yourself off on the right foot.
FIND A STUDY LOCATION
Starting off the semester the right way means that you have found yourself a study location that you will use during the semester. This can always change as the semester goes on, but having one will help to keep you on track of your work.
Another consideration for this is to learn what resources are available in specific locations at your university or public library. Also you would want to keep in mind to know places you could meet with several people when working on group projects.
Find out what makes you the most productive when studying and find a place that assist in this. Eliminate unnecessary distractions to make your studying more beneficial.
Habits You Should Try To Develop
I know the student life can be very rough and taxing. Therefore it’s important that you start your semester off with habits that will keep you healthy and thriving.
CONSISTENT STUDYING/REVIEW
One of the simplest ways to ensure that you are on top of your courses is simply to be be consistent with your studying and reviewing.
When you go over a certain concept in class and then you don’t review it in a timely manner then you are losing the opportunity to solidify this knowledge in your head. As a student you are going to be taking four or more courses at a time so being consistent in your review will truly help you to put the acquired knowledge into long term memory.
Whether you make a schedule to review work or just review new coursework after each course, this can truly help you to have a good grasp on various concepts when exam time comes around. This also can be used to do or start new assignments as soon as you get them so that your brain is fresh with the content.
Having a consistent method where you are reviewing the work you do throughout your semester can be extremely helpful when finals come around. The more you can do this, the more beneficial it will be for you in the long run.
SLEEP SCHEDULE
I’m probably going to get some of heat for this, but anyway sleep is hugely important to each and every one of us. We should not take this for granted as students either.
Having a set or semi-flexible sleep schedule will be important for you so you can be energized throughout the day, reduce chances of burn out, and obviously so you can look great!
We should all be aiming for around 6-8 hours of sleep a night. Usually I would say 7-8 hours, but I know as students our lives can be very dynamic changing from week to week with school, work, social life, and other things.
Aim to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night so that you are able to work pretty close to the best of your ability every single day.
FOOD PLANNING
Another big element of getting the best out of your body, mind, and budget is to have a solid food plan.
With food generally being the top 3 expenses for people. It’ll be important to plan how often you want to go to spend each time you go to the grocery and how often you are going to eat out with family/friends.
There are two primary elements around food planning:
- Budget Prep
There is no better time to start learning how to budget your food expenses than when you are in university. If you have any sort of meal plan then you are basically getting a food subsidiary (although you pay for your meal plan) and this can help you learn about planning your money on food expenses. You will want to budget out what you think you are spending on groceries a month and also do this for when you are going out to eat and snacks. Try to stay in whatever range is reasonable for your budget. - Food Prep
Food prep is one of the best ways to not only save money, but enable you to eat healthier. Typically, when you food prep then you are buying bulk food items so that you can make meals for like 3-6 days at a time. Meaning you only have to cook big meals about twice a week. This not only saves you money, but will save you time in not having to worry about making or buying food since you know you have a healthy meal at home. Generally speaking, food prep meals tend to be healthier as you are planning them with your health in mind.
PLAY
You may be thinking, I’m in university what are you talking about play. But in fact play is something that is vital to our growth and development. It helps us to get out of our ordinary monotonous ways.
Play as defined by Greg McKeown in his book, “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”: Anything we do simply for the joy of doing rather than as a means to an end – whether it’s flying a kite or listening to music or kicking around a football.
As McKeown continues to say in his book, play is important as it sparks exploration and creativity. It allows us to to “germinate new ideas or see old ideas in a new light.”
3 Reasons he states play to be important in summarized words:
- Play broadens the range of options available to us by broadening our minds and our perspectives.
- It is the antidote to stress – helping us to think a lot more clearly.
- It also has a positive effect on the brain’s executive function – including planning, prioritizing, scheduling, anticipating, delegating, deciding, analyzing.
(I highly recommend reading the book Essentialism in the link below)
Think Towards The Future
When starting the semester I think it’s important to keep your eye on the long game. Cause in fact you are going to school to presumably get a job afterwards. So you have nothing to lose to put some thought into what this may look like in your near future.
COMPETENCIES & SKILLS
You will want to know what competencies and skills you have acquired from the specific courses you took. On the other hand, you will want to know which ones you did not acquire and if need be how you can bolster them outside of the classroom environment.
Looking at the sorts of jobs you want in the future can really help you to plan how you want to approach this semester and tell you what skills you need to get before graduating.
JOB OR INTERNSHIP INTERVIEWS
Inevitably, jobs and internships usually need you to go through a formal interview process to get hired for the position. Knowing this ahead of time, why not prepare for this?
The two things you need to think about are:
- Interview Skills
See if your school offers free interview training or just practice with a friend. - Interview Attire
Start to set aside money for the things you think you’ll need for a job interview.
NETWORKING
Simply put the job markets are seemingly being saturated in certain places. Therefore its on you to approach job searching through means beyond the traditional applicant.
Get to meet people that are in positions you are interested in. This can be in person or through LinkedIn. Speak to your professors. Use your schools alumni network.
Just start talking to likeminded people and see what positions could be available in the future.
JOB ALERTS
Putting on job alerts is key to know how the job market is at a specific time and to gain a better understanding of the skills and experiences employers are looking for.
It does not hurt to go to LinkedIn, Google Alerts, Glassdoor, Indeed and turn on job alerts for certain search terms. I would suggest sticking to broader search terms and geographical areas unless you are in the pursuit of a specific job or further along in your job searching journey.
Job alerts was how I found my position and it could be the same for you. You can always unsubscribe or turn them off if you don’t like it (which I don’t recommend).
Conclusion
In concluding, preparing for a new semester there are two important parts: planning and preparing. You will need to do a little of both in order to get the most out of this new semester.
By starting early you are able to take a handle on your semester and can weather the storm when issues and set backs arise.
Make sure to plan and prepare so you are on top of your school work throughout the entire semester. Develop healthy habits early on to ensure that you are getting the most out of your body and mind throughout the semester.
Lastly, always keep an eye towards the future as this will soon become the present. Gain the skills you need, look for the position that fits with your passion and experience.
How are you going to kick off your semester on the right foot?
