If you’re like me, fall semester is quickly approaching (next week for me!) and you’re searching YouTube videos like ‘back to school videos’ and ‘study with me’ as your new refreshed motivation for the year. I hope you find this post helpful as you get ready for another semester in college.

Before I get to any advice or my routine as a student, I want to first explain how I ended up going to college. Once I graduated high school, I had no clue what I was meant to do. During my high school years, I never knew what I was going to do after. So, instead of being like everyone else who decided to pursue school or go into the work force, I decided to take a gap year. You can read my first blog where I discuss how I got the job I currently work at. During the hiring process, I applied to a local college, my sister went there while we were in high school, so it was an easy choice for me. It was deciding what I would pick to study. The only one that stood out to me was social media marketing. I thought ‘well I do like social media’ and the more thinking I did; I was genuinely interested. That action alone has helped me make decisions for the rest of my college life. The only twist to all of this: all of my classes were offered online.

Now that you have the background of the beginning of my college life, here is some advice I would recommend to myself at the time or to anyone who is reading this far:

• Take your time. Society tells us that after high school, we are supposed to have everything planned out for the rest of our lives. And it’s okay to not have everything together at 18. You can find yourself before you go into the next chapter in your life. There is no deadline that it’s ‘too late’ to enroll into college. This also applies to how you decide your schedule to work for college. For me, I can handle two classes per semester while working part time. Don’t feel the need to rush everything, whether it is making memories or just trying to go through the motions of school, there shouldn’t be any pressure to try to be someone you see yourself as two years from now. Learn what you need to know now, so you have what you need for the future.

• Discover what works for you. Not everyone studies the same way, and that goes for learning too. In high school, they have it all structured for you. With a little over a year under my belt and almost halfway done with my degree, I found that focusing on one class at a time helps me, especially doing the first class during the first half of the week and the second class the rest of the week, leaving Sunday for rest and reset. I balance all of this before or after work that day, depending on which shift I work. I work well at the comfort of my desk in my bedroom but choosing to do schoolwork at a coffee shop is 100 TIMES BETTER! I can have the cozy atmosphere and pull on my Marshall headphones with some jazz or classical music and get to studying distraction free!

Okay, so maybe I don’t have tons of advice, I thought that I should include (Rory Gilmore core) that help me as a online college student.

• Canva This app/website is my best friend! I use this for my social media classes and making my own wallpapers for my computer (to be productive and motivated), which sets the whole vibe for me. Everyone knows of this app, and I use it frequently. I love it so much!

• Cute stationary Having your school supplies that are aesthetically pleasing to look at is crucial. I need to be able to pull them out of my desk and get excited to take notes. The places I usually buy school supplies from are Target and Amazon! I look for certain colors, textures like leather or clothbound books, zebra pens and their highlighters (you’ve seen them EVERYWHERE), washi tape, and pencils that don’t give my left-hand any pain. This can be said for bookbags too! I have a fake fjallraven kanken bag I got a few years ago and it still does the job! (they were popular at the time and really wanted one lol) If I can take a picture of my school stuff for Instagram, It’s definitely in my cart. I will link the supplies if I can at the bottom of this post.

  PRAYER
  I pray that as you get to the end of this post and the start of the new fall semester, that you find peace that never wavers, and remember that your worries can be turned into new prayers. He is always listening. Encourage your friends in your community to be together by having study dates and catching up on their stages of life.

  Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
  
  

  LINKS

• Marshall headphones Best purchase I’ve made! They block out background noise and I look very very very cool.

• Leather notebook I used this one for my Analyzing Social Media class in the summer.

• Grey notebook I thought I would use this one for the summer but only ended up with one class.

• Highlighters These are my holy grail to make my notes cute!

• Pens I love how smooth these are! They do smear but they do dry quickly.

• Washi tape These are good to use when I mess up and to decorate my notes.

• Planner This one is similar to the one I bought in store! These are a must! I can write down deadlines and days that I work, as well as finals and quizzes/tests I need to take.

Keep pouring,

Khalie x