Whether you’re an undergraduate in a traditional on-campus environment or a student pursuing your master’s degree online, your experience is sure to be filled with both excitement and challenges. There are a few tips you may want to consider to help make the transition into your new endeavor stress-free.
Adjusting to campus life
If you’re a first-time college student, you’re likely away from home and on your own for the first time in your life. This can be a difficult adjustment, but it is one that millions of students have made before.
Here are a few tips that may help ease the transition to college life:
- Join study groups. College learning is much more self-guided than the high school experience. You can help make your studying experience more exciting and effective by putting together a small study group with some classmates.
- Stay in touch with family. It’s easy to get caught up in campus life and feel too busy for phone calls home. This can quickly and suddenly lead to homesickness. It’s a good idea to call or FaceTime with your family at least once a week to keep the homesickness at bay.
- Stick to a budget. For many, college is the first time being responsible for their own budget. Running out of money can add enormous stress, which can feel overwhelming on top of academic stress.
- Socialize. Whether you join a fraternity/sorority or simply make friends with a group of classmates, the adjustment to campus life can be made much easier by simply being social. The primary goal of attending college is your education, but the experience is much more than that.
Online degree tips
Rather than attending traditional on-campus colleges, you may instead be enrolled in an online degree program. This can present a new set of challenges as these courses rely on the student’s ability to manage his or her own time from home.
Following these quick tips can help simplify the experience:
- Have a dedicated learning space. It’s tempting to grab your laptop and sit on the couch to study and complete school assignments. This isn’t ideal, though. You should have a dedicated learning space, such as a home office, to provide for the proper distraction-free atmosphere.
- Chat with other students. Get to know your classmates, and communicate with them. Any online class tends to have a way for students to talk to one another, and this is the closest way to simulate the on-campus study group experience.
- Schedule study time. When you’re studying from home, it’s easy to procrastinate. A helpful tip is to use your phone’s calendar to schedule dedicated study times to help keep you on track.
Take advantage of hybrid learning
What is hybrid learning? Simply put, the hybrid class definition is a combination of in-person and distance learning. You may have one weekly session in the classroom, then another virtual session from home over a video conferencing app.
Here are a few hybrid learning tips to consider:
- Invest in the right tech. The remote portion of your hybrid learning experience will require some technology. Make sure your laptop and webcam are up to standard and utilize productivity apps such as cloud-based note-taking.
- Use in-person time wisely. Your on-site sessions may be your best opportunity to have a conversation with your professor. If you’re having any struggles or have specific questions, make sure you bring these up to your professor during your classroom time.
- Always attend remote sessions. It can be tempting to skip a few of your remote learning sessions, since you will always have your in-class time. This is not a wise decision, though. It’s critical that you stay committed to attending all sessions, both in-person and virtual.
You Can Do This
Continuing your education through undergraduate or graduate school can be both rewarding and challenging. In the end, if you take care to focus on your education and follow the advice of those who have been in your situation before, the rewards greatly outweigh the challenges.
Utilize all of the resources available to you, take care to remember why you are on your educational journey, and you’re sure to be successful.
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