With school starting back it can be an exciting time for everyone. As a freshman coming into college all the way to seniors getting ready to graduate from college, there are so many feelings of nervousness and excitement. Here are a few tips on how to make this school year both fun, yet rewarding.

Realize that you can’t do everything at once. All though this tip may seem like a no brainer you will be surprised at how quickly extracurricular activities and other involvements on top of daily school work will soon take over. On top of that, most colleges will start having back to school events or other community events on campus. First years need to understand that while there are a lot of things they may love and want to try it is okay not to do it all in fact, it is near impossible to do it all. Upper Classmen need to realize that spacing these events out is important because while you want to experience as much as you can before you graduate, you are now in your major, in which you have to pass to graduate.

Make yourself a schedule. Make yourself a schedule and make sure to include all your downtime in the schedule as well. On that second part, do schedule downtime. It is important to do something once a week just for you. Classes are going to be stressful and just pushing through is not beneficial to anyone. It will cause stress on you, which can lead to health problems and may even cause thoughts of doubt.

Watch your downtime. This may seem like I’m being hypocritical of my last tip, however, once you start having your downtime, it is easy to get sucked into that time and next thing you know it’s late at night and you haven’t done that essay that’s due tomorrow. My rule of thumb for downtime is either thirty minutes per one hour of homework or other work time. I also have scheduled one day towards the end of the week that is my day. I try and get all work mostly completed by this day, so that if I have to finish something it is not a huge task or I will have time to work on it a little later.

Self-care. Take care of you. This was a hard one for me but you can’t be the best you if you are not taken care of. Make sure you are eating more than just vending machine food from class to class or grill burgers every night. Also working out or just walking can produce a healthy mind as well as keep off the freshman fifteen. Also if you get sick it is okay to tell your professors and while at the time it may not seem like it, you can afford to go to the doctor.