3 Useful Tips for Survival in College

Sure, college is a walk in the park. It’s just that in this case, the park has a lot of rocky roads, steep slopes, wild trees and wild animals lingering around, and bodies of water filled with nasty creatures waiting for you when you fall down the cliff.

Ok, that is a bit of an exaggeration. But you get the point, right? It is one of the toughest parts of being a young adult because you are somehow torn between being a responsible and independent young adult and being an old kid that needs to be told what to do. I’ve been there and I survived it after all. As much as I want to tell you that it would get easier as the years pass, it wouldn’t. In fact, it will get tougher and more difficult. As the level of difficulty increases though, the sight towards a good ending also becomes clearer. So if you are stuck somewhere and the end seems so cloudy, I am here to share with you three useful tips that I got and applied for myself that helped me keep my sanity when I spent five and a half years to get my degree.

 

Tip #1:  Be good to yourself.

This tip is actually said easier than done. I put this as the first tip because this was really the one I struggled with but after overcoming it the rest of my college years was a breeze.  Being good to yourself means not to overwork yourself. I know you have to beat deadlines, study for the exams, and even do some extra-curricular activities. But you don’t need to beat yourself up just to accomplish all these tasks. Take some good rest from time to time. Treat yourself to some good food and coffee and even some time out with friends and family. Do not forget that you’re a young adult too and have to enjoy your life. When approaching difficult tasks and big school projects, do not cram all these to the last minute. This is one of the reasons why I always ended up beating myself up when I was in college. I did not know how to manage my time wisely until I learned a very useful trick from one of my professors. He taught me to break down a big school project into small manageable tasks that I could divide throughout the entire project period. Instead of dealing with one whole chapter in a night before the deadline, I deal with 1-2 sections a night, weeks before the deadline. By doing this, I got more control over my project and it was easier to tackle on than actually dreading on doing one whole chapter in just one night. This is why I spend more time planning my strategy on how I would tackle on a project than the time I spend implementing my strategy.

“For me, a problem that is properly defined and identified is a problem half-solved. “

This tip also means to forgive yourself easily. College is where most of the honor students in basic education years suddenly become just average students. I used to be the smartest girl in class but when I went to college it turns out I was just a very small fish in a big pond. That should not stop you however to explore that large pond. When exploring you should expect to encounter obstacles along the way that you weren’t meant to succeed in the first try. So when you fail, forgive yourself and come back right up. There were a lot of times when I felt like my failures are the end of me. I almost lost my scholarship and the chance to finish my degree. After a series of mental breakdowns and panic sessions, I took a deep breath and started again. I used to punish myself for not getting my target grades and target scores in the exam. These punishments would range to skipping a meal, or not taking a favorite food for a month, or grounding myself in my own room. It took a lot of practice but eventually, I learned to tap myself on the back when I fail my own expectations. I talk with some of my closest friends about it and sometimes get myself an ice cream to give myself some comfort.

“Loving myself actually gave me a confidence boost to try again, expect the worst but still hope for the best. “

Tip #2: Learn to appreciate your professors.

I wasn’t always the good student, to begin with. I always spoke my mind during my early college years and this did not gain me popularity among my teachers. I used to gain my teacher’s favor back when I was in high school for staying true to myself but when I was in college my future relied heavily on the end of my teacher’s pen. When I don’t get good remarks from my teachers, I used to hate them to the point that I blame their ineffective teaching style for my low remarks. I was so focused on putting the blame on them and hating them that I lost space in my mind for new learning. I started to keep my opinions to myself and gave them the benefit of doubt. True enough, after removing my biases and opened my mind, I finally understood them. I understood where they were coming from and why their teaching styles are such. I adapted to each of them and continued to give my best in my studies. I used to wait for them to spoon feed me with knowledge since it is their job to share what they know (Right? This is my immature sense of entitlement talking right here. Wrong!). But I learned that it doesn’t go that way in college. We are taught an overview of the topic and how the mathematical laws and relationships were derived. But it is our duty as students to dig deeper into how these concepts are applied. I converted this hatred to awe at how my teachers tried to act tough in front of us to teach us to be strong. Now that I have finished my degree, going back to school to visit teachers and to celebrate achievements is actually kind of liberating. They were no longer the beasts I have imagined in my head. They were actually Godmother and Godfather fairies in disguise. I would not have done it without them.

I just wish I would have spent more time on appreciating them more rather than hating on them. This is why I am sharing to you this second tip so that you could enjoy learning longer. Seeing past their tough image actually made me adore them even more. No, they weren’t the soft pillows that give comfort to me at the end of the day. They were more of the hard cold floor that I fall on to more often than I would like. But I actually did not need the pillows. I had my classmates, my friends, and my parents who gave me comfort when I was down. My professors were the iron fists that taught me a lot of discipline and passion for my craft. They were my eyes to the real world. I became strong because of how they taught me. And now, I am able to face the challenges one at a time in this real world beyond the four walls of the classroom.

After all these years, my teachers just wanted me to stand on my own two feet and spread my wings. What better way to teach me that than to allow me to make my own mistakes and also take responsibility for my mistakes as I learned from them. They taught me things beyond concepts and theories. They taught me to become a better individual with the hopes that I could be of good impact to the field I chose. I would not have done it without their tough lessons. I would not have been able to stand up with head held high if it weren’t for the many confidence-building oral presentations and questioning sessions. Whatever the case, I am where I am right now partly because of their teaching and guidance.

“It’s never too late to show gratitude to your teachers. The moment I learned to appreciate them was the moment that I saw their actions in another perspective. It made me grow more mature and eventually enjoy learning even more. “

“Learning under their guidance after I got past all the bitterness shed a new light. I could never unsee how good their true intentions really were. Learning then became a series of AHA! moments I would never forget.”

Tip #3: Love your own pace.

This is actually related to Tip #1. I know you’ve read this many times but let me just say it again here. College is not a race as to who finishes the fastest. It is about getting out your comfort zone and pursuing the craft you are passionate about whether be it in arts, engineering, science, business, and the like. You really don’t have to be the smartest and the fastest. We all have our own different pace. Learn to love it. Stop comparing yourself to your peers. Instead, focus on your growth. How far have you come from the last semester? Appreciate your little achievements and do not let the pressure get the best out of you. Quality education and great things take time. So, take your time.

But this does not mean however that you’ll procrastinate as much as you want because you want to take your time. This tip is actually the opposite of procrastination. Although procrastination can be a good time to generate creative ideas, it also means lost time to actually do these ideas. So don’t spend too much time procrastinating. Taking your time means making the most out of the time you have. A time wasted is something you could never take back. What I did was focusing on my own pace. I used to compare myself a lot to my peers but only ended up getting more frustrated with myself and thus a start of a blame game. When I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere with my thesis and plant design and the rest of my classmates were already done with it, I looked back to the pages I had already written and with what I had already finished. It helps to feel like you have made progress than to keep on focusing how far you are still. I channeled my efforts into making progress a day. Although it was significantly little at first, slowly but surely I made it to the finish line.

“Loving my own pace made me appreciate the progress I made so far rather than dreading on the things I haven’t done yet. I took my time and made the most out of it. By the time I reached the finish line, I did not have any regrets because I was happy with my achievement.”

Thanks for reading up to this point. I hope these tips could be of help to you. I would love to know what other tips you could suggest to our fellow struggling college students as well in the comments section below. Until the next!