5 Ways To Stay Organized This Semester

1. Check your email.

Most campuses use email as their primary source of communication. Professors will email you about class being canceled or assignment due dates changing, campus groups will send emails about events (and if they offer free food, I suggest you go), and the bookstore will email about sales and clearance events on college gear.

On an average day, I receive about 15 emails to my college account, but there are days when I walk out of class with 8 or 10 new ones in the last hour. I have my college email linked to my phone so I know as soon as I receive an email, but some people would rather not be annoyed by it all day and check when it is convenient for them. Either way, be sure to check your email multiple times a day.

2. Download Google Calendar

Google Calender is a great way to manage your time so you know when you are busy. I personally like it better than the calendar that comes on my phone because it has more options for layout view and changing the color of events. I mostly use it to remind myself of when I have class. I put all my classes in it and have it remind me in enough time to walk to class if I forget. I also add the room number to the event so I don't have to find my schedule on my way to class the first couple of weeks, it's right there on the reminder on my phone.

I also use Google Calendar to tell me when I have to work or if I have other evening events for clubs. I know that I will always have my phone with me, but I may not always have my planner, so having a notification come up just like a text or email would guarantees I won't forget an event.

3. Keep a planner.

When I get a syllabus for a class, I like to go through and write all due dates, tests, and quizzes in my planner. That way I don't have to keep rifling through all my syllabi every day, it's all right in my planner. It's an easy way to see everything I have for every class so I know when my busy days are and when I might have extra time.

4. Buy a whiteboard.

I use my whiteboard for things I need to do that don't necessarily have a due date. I use my planner for assignments and Google Calendar for events, but sometimes I really need to do laundry or update my resume, but there is no specific date I need to do this by. These things I write on my whiteboard and erase them when I've done them.

5. Go to class.

This may seem simple. Or it may seem overrated. And I will be the first to admit that I have skipped classes before, but there is an art to skipping class. I know kids who figure out that attendance isn't figured into their final grade, so they only come to class when there is a quiz or test. Professors announce changes to the syllabus in class that they may not send out in an email. If you do skip class, whether it is because you are sick or just really don't want to go to class that day, ask a classmate what you missed and to pick up any handouts for you, but do your best to go to class whenever you can.