My sister is going to college in the fall, and she has not asked me to give her advice. She won't ask me to give her advice, and when I try to give her advice she also probably won't listen to me, but I can't blame her. I'm so bad at taking advice and she's like me so there will be no advice given in our family. I have tons of advice that I can give to my sister, but she's not going to listen to it, so I'm right here. After all, that is why I started writing for Odyssey. (It's not, but I'm going to use it to my advantage because no one can stop me.) Also, I have a cousin going to college in the fall and there's a chance he might see this so my knowledge won't go unused. I've thought this through, everyone, I promise.
Eat breakfast
I've said this multiple times, and been told this multiple times, so I am going to say this again because there is no one stopping me and it's good advice. The only reason that I go to about 30% of my classes right now is that I bribe myself with breakfast and coffee, and it works. I'm not saying I'm a better person in the morning if I wake up an hour earlier to get breakfast, but I'm definitely better around 3 when I have some FOOD IN MY SYSTEM. But like actually, in your first two years of college you'll take a good amount of morning classes and the only way to not kill someone in them is to eat. And have caffeine.
Get an eye mask
Everyone is going to say that I am weird for saying this, but I have a point. I kind of have a point. It's not really good advice but I never said that I was giving good advice and this has been working for me. Buy one of those sleep eye masks things so you can fall asleep with the lights on. Sometimes you and your roommate will have different schedules, and it's easier to just get the sleep mask and let them keep their lights on than get in the fight. Also, it kind of helps my sleep. I don't know why, but it works. My sleep has improved.
Don’t do homework in your bed.
I understand that dorms are small and you really only have one place to sit and do things but if you try and do homework in your bed and it won't work. You'll get in your bed all ready to do homework and then you'll realize that your bed is really comfortable and it feels like a good time to watch TV and you'll never get any homework done because you will fall asleep. That's just what is going to happen.
Have decent snacks in your room
Sometimes, you will realize that going outside and talking to people is the absolute worst thing that you can do. Often times, it will also be snowing. It might be cold. Or, you might just have had to do a lot of homework and you might not have showered and you just can't risk seeing someone who you can't look gross in front of. Just get some good snacks, like hummus or good granola bars or some microwave Annie's MAC or bagels or something and you'll be able to make it until the next time that you can acceptably leave your room. It will work.
Get a good planner
I take, at any one time, seventeen credits. That's a little high, and depending on your major you might take even more, so that'll be a good amount of homework to keep track of. Get a decent planner and right all your assignment in it and aggressively plan for everything that is going to happen. It works. It works if you actually do it so just do it. Family members reading this, I will literally buy you a planner for your respective birthdays so you can do a good job with time management.
This advice isn't really groundbreaking but it's all that I got and so it is here. I hope you enjoyed it but if you didn't, my bad.
