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College Life: How to Reduce College Stress

J. Gomes — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:40:09 +0000

Stress is an integral part of life. If you are a student at College or even High School it can be difficult to sustain high grades with an overwhelming course load. What is needed to sustain your goals and aspirations is a stress management system that helps you cope with day to day pressures of life and school or both. It is important to have the ability to focus on your College experience.

Time Management

Without good time management skills, life can get quite chaotic. With bad time management comes more problems which can lead to depression, loss in confidence and dropping out of College all together. Recognize your lack of organizational skills it is essential to prioritize your school work and free time accordingly. With all of our advanced technologies including iPhones and Blackberries, there really is no excuse. Learning how to take notes quickly and efficiently is another important key to success at College.

Be Realistic about your Goals

Let’s be honest, having goals are a great way to be successful, but they are stressful. It can be even more stressful if your goals are unattainable in the short term. Sit down and assess your goals and aspirations and make sure they are broken down into attainable, motivational goals. This will do wonders for your stress levels

Live a Healthy Lifestyle

Just because you are a “starving student” does not mean you have to be an unhealthy one. There are many ways to keep healthy at low cost. Starting a morning jogging routine, eating lean proteins, drinking lots of water and consuming a diet loaded with fruits and veggies will do wonders for your stress levels and your grades!

Positive Stress Relievers

Taking time to zone out of reality with a focus on keeping calm, releasing negative energy and turning it into positive energy is a learned skill. Meditation, Yoga, massage therapy and even talking about your stress with a close friend are all positive ways to release stress. It can be challenging at first, but once you learn the fundamentals of positive stress release it will become second-nature and you will wonder how you survived without it!

Surround Yourself with Support

Nothing is better than having a few good friends that can give you advice, support or most importantly a lending ear when you need it the most. Remember, this is what friends are for and it is important to know that talking about your stress with others can make you feel less alone and on the path to being stress free.

The College Lifestyle

Matt Vint — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:02:02 +0000

Being a college student you are going to have to somewhat change your current lifestyle to match your new needs. You need to start thinking about how you’re going to fit it all in!

You’re going to most likely be at parties every weekend, filling in tough papers an hour before their deadlines, and going to concerts for free due to your student status. These are all things we all do at college. However, a lot of time you’ll feel pretty broke or financially weak.

Take a look at your monthly income and start by thinking about how you could cut down on food and drink. Get some sleep and cut out the energy drinks. Keep a simple and consistent (and affordable!) diet in mind.

Walk a bit further. Go to bigger stores – not just the ones next to campus. These will most likely offer you much better discounts due to their more monopoly status, and you’ll also be able to use your student discount probably more frequently.

Don’t keep buying brand new books, you’re only going to be using them for a few years if that. Buy pre-owned ones, they’ll do the job and save you a lot of money.

You don’t need flashy clothes either, just buy bulk jeans and white shirts, find a good brand and use them. Let’s be honest, no one really cares what you look like. A plain white shirt and jeans will do the job indefinitely. Stop wasting your money before you get a job!

It won’t just make you save money but it’ll also make you look a lot healthier. Try to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, it’s really easy. Most college students eat out all the time because they can’t be bothered to make their own healthy meals. Honestly, it’s best that you just eat well – it’s also better for your wallet in the long-run.

Remember, do enjoy yourself. You need to save money, but don’t cut out all of your luxuries in your life. Enjoying life is very important, and so you should take these tips with a grain of salt because you need to enjoy these years as much as you can – and don’t worry, you will!

For more information on paying for college, visit our College Scholarships page.

Shopping for College: Tips to Make the Move Easier

Ken — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:00:06 +0000

Packing for College

As college admissions decisions begin to come out, many high school seniors (and transfer students) are looking towards attending a four year university away from home. Thoughts of freedom from home and living in a new environment start to become a realization for many students. However, along with ideas of living away from home come the thoughts of what to shop for and pack for college. For many, the college shopping experience is exciting and fun, but it can also be very stressful for some students. In this article, you will find tips and advice on how to maximize your budget as well as your carrying space.

To begin with, it is important to create a budget and checklist. This will let you know how much you are able to spend, and provide you a number to stay within when going through your checklist items. After you have created your budget, a great way to expand your buying power is to look through your checklist and cross off anything you already have, or anything you would be able to borrow from either your siblings or friends who have already finished college. It is important to note that when creating your checklist, being realistic about what you need and what you would like to have will ultimately be the deciding factor between whether or not you are within or over your budget.

Once you have purchased all the things you need to live away at college, it is time to think about how you will transport your stuff. For some students, college may only be a couple of hours away, and a couple road trips would solve the matter. However, for students attending a college or university cross-country, options such as shipping items, air freighting, or even purchasing your things upon arriving at college come to mind. However you choose to do it, remember to keep your checklist at all times, for taking an inventory while at college and even leaving college to come home for the holidays is the best way to make sure you have all the things you purchased.

A few extra tips on making shopping and packing for college easier include:

Prepare early: this will reduce your stress level and prevent you from running around frantically at the last minute worrying about whether or not you have all the things you need
Bring your sentimentals: many college students experience homesickness, especially when the realization of not being able to visit home for entire semesters or quarters sets in. to help with this, you can bring pictures of family members, or things that remind you of and make you feel at home
Contact your roommates: many times, college students will find themselves with two mini-fridges or coffeepots and not know where to place them. To avoid this, contact your roommate ahead of time and decide on who will bring the larger, sharable items

Get to Know Your UC Campuses

Ken — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:13:24 +0000

San Bruno, CA (CollegeToCareers.com)- It is now December, and if you are like most University of California applicants, you have already filled out and submitted your online UC application. So what’s the next step? Upon submitting your online application, the University of California has sent you an email with various reminders including:

Watching out for Application Acknowledgment
Review Scholarship Opportunities
Inform UC of Changes
Report Your Test Scores
Check Your E-mail Often

Besides these reminders, there is not much else one can do after submitting. However, for those confident in their chances of admission, or simply curious as to the various University of California campuses, a bit of research is always a good idea. Doing research on the various campuses will allow one a better sense of each individual university, and provide some assistance in choosing between two or more UCs if the time comes for it.

A helpful resource in researching the various UCs can be found on the UC website itself. Under the “About UC” section, there is a link titled “UC Campuses”. Following this link will bring you to the UC Campuses webpage, providing links to the nine individual UC campuses. Upon visiting the website containing these links, be sure to explore the numerous categories and topics regarding each individual UC. You might be interested in knowing things about the campuses such as:

Campus Culture/Life: this can include anything from Athletics and Recreation to Housing and Dining
Academics: this can include the list of different majors available, academic departments, libraries, and advising/tutoring services
Research: this can include any research programs, museums, and publications from the campus
Campus Goals & Visions: this is always an important aspect of a university to look at as it provides insight to the overall education goals, strategies, and beliefs of the campus

The general idea is to obtain a better view and understanding of each of the UC campuses you may be interested in. It is always helpful to visit the UC in person, and take a UC Campus Tour. The hard part is over, applications are in, and now it’s just time to wait for decisions to come back. Until then, take some time to get to know the UC system better, and prepare yourself for the experience of higher education.