There’s no other experience quite like college. Filled with new people, places, experiences, and ideas, college is truly a crash course for the rest of your life. But while college is exciting, it can also quickly get hectic and disorganized. With classes, deadlines, jobs, and of course your social life, how do you keep it all together to succeed?
There are many ways that college students can get organized. Using an online organization app, for example, can help you get organized by offering a convenient space for you to save, organize, and even share all your digital files. Organization apps are ideal for managing your assignments and collaborating with others on group projects. You can even use them to organize your own passion projects. College isn’t just about good grades, right?
Here, we’re taking a closer look at some effective (and surprisingly simple) ways to get you organized for college and to help you stay organized. While college presents so many new, exciting, and unique challenges, you’d be amazed at how more manageable it becomes when you finally get your schoolwork—and life—organized.
5 Ways for College Students to Get Organized
While college is certainly a wild ride, you’ll find that it becomes much more manageable (and enjoyable) when you’re able to get your life organized. Organization is critical to success, especially in college where you’ll no longer have teachers and administrators ensuring you’re getting work done. In higher education, you truly take control of your own education and fate. You decide if you sink or swim. And while this new freedom is certainly liberating, it can also be a little overwhelming.
So, how can college students get—and stay—organized before their first semester even begins? Just take a look at our 5 easy methods:
1. Set up a calendar: while it may seem simple (and pretty obvious), setting up a calendar early on will save you a ton of time and headaches in the long run. A calendar is an easy way to help you set deadlines, remember important dates and events, and plan out future weeks, months, and entire semesters. Calendars can also help on a visual level. Some college students pin up huge monthly calendars on their walls so they can plan out their upcoming weeks to help get an idea of when times will be the busiest.
2. Use a planner: to supplement your weekly monthly calendar, consider adding in a daily planner. These handy little books can cover a semester or an entire year and the daily breakdown helps you focus on more immediate tasks as compared to a month-by-month calendar. A planner is an effective little tool that you can carry with you pretty much anywhere. Whether using a conventional book planner or a digital version that you can download to your phone or laptop, planners help you map out your days on a more miniscule level. Plan out your busiest days down to the hour with a planner. This can also help you take a step back and identify your busiest days and which days you actually have more available bandwidth.
3. Create a schedule: while the college life may be notoriously unpredictable, this doesn’t mean that your organization has to be. Try to create a schedule, whether this is on a daily or weekly basis, and then stick to it. Sure, some days will throw new challenges at you that you can’t predict, but a daily schedule can help you feel better about your overall time management. Of course, don’t forget to include activities like eating, exercise, and spending time with friends to balance out your time.
4. Clean up your space: a cluttered desk signifies a cluttered mind, right? Well, while this old adage isn’t always true, many college students do struggle with maintaining a clean and organized space. Whether it’s your dorm room, apartment, or an entire house, cleaning up the space where you live and work can make a big difference on how organized you feel.
On top of that, a messy desk makes it way easier to misplace important notes or papers—remember, not EVERYTHING is digital these days in college. Carve a little bit of time out of your day to get your dorm room organized (at least start at your desk) and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel. Folders, drawers, and extra shelves can help you bring it all together.
5. Use an organization app: in addition to those previous steps, many students are now taking advantage of organization apps. Easy to download to your phone, laptop, or tablet, digital organization apps allow you to take your organization with you wherever you go. Store, save, and easily access any of your digital files from any Wi-Fi capable device with a cutting-edge organization app. This means you can store and organize all your photos, videos, class notes, documents, and important links in one convenient space.
On top of all that, organization apps also make sharing a breeze. This means that you may even start to like group projects. Collaboration is made easy when you can all store your files in one accessible spot so you can work together as a team. You can even easily share the finished product with classmates or professors. Organization apps are all about making college life easier, more convenient, and at the end of the day, even more enjoyable. When you’re organized, you’ll find you finally have the time and energy to enjoy the college experience even more.
Conclusion – 5 Ways for College Students to Get Organized
College is a truly exciting and unique experience. But as most college freshmen quickly discover, it can also get pretty hectic—fast. Stay a step ahead of your deadlines and classmates by getting organized ahead of time. Follow some of our tips for helping college students get organized so you can find more time in your day to actually sit back and enjoy the experience. Because before you know it, you’ll be getting ready for graduation.
