Picture this – you have just been accepted to the college of your dreams, and you have spent the summer preparing to become a first-time college student as you pack up your belongings to move into your new college dorm.
It is a brand new chapter in your life filled with genuinely interesting assignments, more freedom, college culture, and more. However, despite the feeling of delving into an exciting college life, there are still some worries that come along with being a student.
Coping with college
While there is no definitive answer to whether or not college is hard for new students, it can certainly be a challenging transition. Many students find that the key to success is time management, a healthy diet, and organization.
If you can stay on top of your workload and create a healthy balance between school and your social life, you’re likely to find college to be a rewarding experience. However, if you’re struggling to keep up with the demands of college life, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed.
What can college students do?
Students will feel a lot of emotions during their first few months at college, especially as it is all new to them and they are trying to navigate through being in a new place and taking classes that are certainly not the same as their high school classes. However, despite this worry, there are a few tips out there for students to go by that may be able to help them.
Self-discipline
Self-discipline in any form can be hard to master right away as it takes practice to get it right enough to work for the individual. If you start practicing it from the get-go with small things like making sure you attend your college classes, do your class readings at a set time, ensure you have the course syllabus before class, and start your weekly assignments sooner rather than later, you should be able to keep it going throughout your school year.
Make the freedom work for you
A new student is finally free from their parents and high school rules, however, with this freedom comes great responsibility, and whilst it is great to have that freedom, you need to realize that it can work for and against you.
Don’t stop having fun to do your assignments, but set some time aside to take care of your educational health as well as your emotional health. If you do not do that, you may find that you are not getting enough sleep and will become sleep deprived down the road. A full eight hours is always important for students.
It’s also important to find the right kind of accommodation and the right people to share it with. College students need to unwind and have fun along with their study. Get the best student accommodation advice on the market to ensure that you can get the best kind of housing to suit your needs.
Don’t…procrastinate
Procrastination is the big block that students come up against when they are in college, they tell themselves “I’ll do it in an hour”, “once I’ve finished this episode I’ll get back to it”, “the next morning I’ll wake up bright and early to get it started”, and many many more that they frequently tell themselves. This can be a real issue across the board, so you may find it worthwhile to create a study plan that you can go by when you need the motivation.
Having it on your dorm room door or on the fridge can help remind you about what you need to do. Not only that, but you can bring in your flatmates to do it too, or set up a class study group. This will help fellow procrastinators go through the course material together for a couple hours with an incentive at the end, e.g. food, drinks, social event, something everyone can look forward to.
Homework
College students can find that they put off homework until the last minute (procrastination back at it again), not only can this be a bad thing to constantly do, but when you actually get around to doing it, you are rushing it which means you are not actually producing your best work.
As soon as you get it, start it. It may seem tedious and annoying (especially if it is a Friday) but if you give yourself 10 minutes to start it off, you may find that you keep it going for a bit longer, helping you to get it sorted in a good amount of time. Your time management skills need to be implemented here.
Will this actually help?
Your college classes are important, some of them are only a couple hours out of your day, so it is critical that you attend them and speak to your tutors when you get the chance. If there is something in the course syllabus that you do not understand, then let that be known so you can get help with your homework and assignments.
Your tutors are here to support you for optimal school success. It is not an easy feat to get through your first year, but in the end, it will be worth it.
Students and stress
Whilst stress does come along with being a student, it can sometimes take over with some more than others, so much so, that students have been known to drop out, neglect their health, and stay in their dorms/apartments as they feel too overwhelmed.
The statistics
Balancing school and a social life are not exactly easy to do, and whilst there are students who are able to do it, quite a few are unable to get through it without wanting to drop out.
Research.com has compiled some statistics from 2021/2022 students to see what their stress levels are during the academic period.
- 45% of American students claim to undergo “more than average stress”
- 33% – average stress
- 12.7% – tremendous stress
- 9% – no stress/less than average stress combined
These numbers are staggering, the number of students experiencing stress is awful, and all of this stress can contribute to bad grades and stress related issues.
How stress can manifest
Stress can form in many ways within a person, whether that is neck pain, back pain, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and so on, they all can cause multiple issues within one person.
Anxiety solutions
Anxiety is pretty rampant in students, whether they are trying to get through college classes or piles of assignments, they can feel the strain after a while, especially if they do not manage their workload efficiently enough or reach out for help. If anxiety is crippling a student to the point where they cannot study or work properly, then they should try medication or alternatives such as cannabis, which could be readily available at a Recreational Dispensary near them, depending on their location. They should also consider other methods to help them manage their anxiety better. Some of them are listed below:
Do not avoid situations
To help reduce the anxiety response in the body, it is important for you to not avoid your stressors, it is one thing to avoid something that is causing you major distress, but if you are avoiding a class because you don’t like sitting in a room, then easing yourself into it will help you. Try sitting by the door first, or at the back, so if you have to slip out you can do that, but always try and see how far you get, you may surprise yourself.
Self-care is key
If you have daily and weekly assignments, then you are probably full up with work which can take its toll on your health. You need to prioritize self-care when you are at a tough point in your college semester. Visiting a spa or a massage therapist from time to time can be a great way to unwind and relax, giving you just the break and me-time you need.
Don’t spend all your free time sleeping as that won’t help per se, but rather do something that makes you feel relaxed on stressful days, go out for walks, see friends, or exercise. There are wonderful benefits to seeing your friends outside of your college classes as you will get to know them better and expand on your circle.
Go to physical therapy
If you are having physical symptoms along with your stress, then that could be detrimental to your health and you will need to see someone to assess you. You may be thinking “can stress cause back pain?” and the basic answer is yes. Stress affects all different parts of the body and it can tense your muscles in certain areas, especially the back and neck. You do not want to a college class (or a couple) because you’re in too much pain.
Speaking to a physical therapist will help you tackle the issue and see what you can do to ease your symptoms so there are no more surprises from your body knocking you back. Professors tend to understand that you need some time out and they can help you during this time by offering free tutoring to help you catch up.
Speak to campus support
If you are truly having a rough time of it and are finding it hard to attend in person classes, and feel completely unprepared with how things are going, you can speak to student services to see how you can support yourself in a proactive way.
If the college has a personal program advisor, then they can help you with navigating through this difficult period, maybe seeing if you can do fewer classes or try out day to day worksheets to help you when you are not in class.
Some classes may be able to offer online classes if you are unable to attend at certain times. You could also look at finding supplementary material online through student services and your class tutors.
Don’t get down on yourself
Just because you are going through something like this, does not mean you are weak or can’t hack it. College students get affected in different ways with their work. You can find worth putting effort into what you can manage at the time. You haven’t given up and that’s a positive thing to think about. This is a major period in your life to advance your huge skill set, which you do have, even when you think you don’t.
Enjoying your college experience
Whether you are going to a community college or a college/university out of state, you should be able to enjoy yourself as a responsible student but have fun in the process. Stress can be incredibly consuming, so make sure you speak to someone so you don’t throw your entire degree away because you are suffering in silence. College makes life interesting and you will certainly find out more about yourself there.
