Christmas break is almost over, so it's time to start thinking about heading back to school. Some of you may be ready to get back into the groove, while others may be dreading the hectic pace of balancing school, work and outside interests. Here are some tips for everyone to help you get off on the right foot for the new semester.
Review Your Schedule
Take a minute to be sure that you're comfortable with your semester's schedule. Sometimes in an attempt to wind down the semester with as little stress as possible, it's easy to choose classes quickly and to just try to get what's open and fits your major requirements. After takiong a second look, you may discover that your schedule looks a bit too overloaded on Tuesdays and Thursdays or that you've schedule all your favorite humanities courses while neglecting any math and science blocks. Maybe there was a class you really wanted that was full. It's always possible that with unpaid tuition bills or drop outs that a space may have opened up. Give your adviser a call to see if you can set up an appointment to go over your schedule or at least check online to see if any other combinations might work better.
Get Those Books
If you're satisfied with your schedule or with most of it, you'll want to decide where you plan to buy or rent your books. The decision is up to you. There are many options, but I recommend doing some research to find out what works best for your situation. The campus book store used to be the only way to go, and it's certainly not the cheapest. Now you can buy books online, in electronic versions or even rent your books. No matter what you choose, it's a good idea to get them now so that you have them before classes start. You don't want to miss any assignments while waiting for your books to arrive.
Make a Plan
You'll feel a lot better if you've looked ahead to see just what your days will look like once classes start. If you need childcare or modified work arrangements, get those things in order now so that you'll have less to worry about once school starts back. This advice may sound pretty obvious, but I can't tell you the number of students I've seen looking to make last-minute changes to their schedules because there was some conflict they hadn't considered until it was too late. So just take a minute to review your schedule and make sure there's nothing that will trip you up once the semester gets under way. You'll be glad you took care of things now.
Good luck with your upcoming semester! And remember that a new semester is a new beginning. It's a chance to explore, learn new things and change the things you may not have been happy with in the past.
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