Well would you look at that, you finally made it through your first year of college and are now ready to take on a whole new experience! You are slowly moving up the food chain that is the college years, and can on longer be called the "little guys" on campus. It may seem like a case of "here we go again" and while that may be somewhat true, there are some aspects of the transition that are going to feel a little different from your first year.
The first days.
Let's face it, this is most likely going to be the time where that sense of "here we go again" is going to kick in. You just finished the last days of your summer break, you have put away the bathing suits and have broken out the notebooks and pens. However, unlike the first days of your sophomore year, you are going to be walking onto campus actually knowing a lot more about the people around you. You are going to know the students that you are going to immediately going to set up study times with, and the others you will most likely want to keep your distance from. On top of that, residence students are going to be familiar with the steps to setting up their dorm room, even if it is not the same dorm room you had the previous year.
Starting classes.
I suppose they had to start back up eventually. The big question is, "are classes going to be different from my freshman year?" The answer to this question is yes. It may feel the same during the first week due to the introduction of each class's syllabus, but you will begin to notice that professors will expect more from you. They will sometimes show more leniency towards freshmen because they are just getting used to the college life, but you, well, you have been doing this little dance for some time now. Obviously they are not going to expect you to know the content of the class day one, but they will be expecting you to be able to handle larger amounts of work in shorter amounts of time. If you thought time management was a big deal during your freshman year, it is going to have an even bigger toll if you have not improved by the beginning of your sophomore year. On top of this, in most cases you will start taking higher-level classes that require more work from you. So think twice before having to many "goofing off" periods.
Getting around the stress.
Classes might sound scarier now that you have moved up a level in college, but it is best to find ways of getting around that stress and make getting through your sophomore year much simpler. First off, don't forget that you do have some experience in your grasp from your first year and it is best to use some of the strategies you used in your freshman year again. Writing up a schedule to manage the time you have can be extra helpful when it comes to getting yourself organized. If you find yourself running around not knowing what to do next, it can drive up the anxiety. Another way around it is to create a physical checklist of all the work you have to do for the week and check them off as you complete them. There is nothing better than the feeling of getting something done, and checking something off of a list will give you this feeling. A third, and probably most important tip is to set aside some time for yourself. Take an hour to read one of your favorite books, play that new video game that just came out, or most importantly, hang out with some of your fellow sophomore students. These are the best people to spend time with because they are in the same position as you and also have some experience under their belt. Being an absolute workaholic can create unnecessary stress which can affect you as a person, and worse case scenario, affect your school work. So just remember to relax, and to also take advantage of the experience you have , and the experience of your peers. You will find that your sophomore year will go by even quicker than your freshman year.
