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I wouldn’t say that I am the best student at Keuka College, but I have gone to just about all of the workshops on how to improve your time management skills.  From those workshops, I can say that  I’m pretty good at knowing what works and what doesn’t.  I’ve developed a list of tips on how you too can be a pro at managing your time.

1. Make a ‘To-Do’ List. Every Day.

Put the most important thing first and make sure you get it done. Preferably use this strategy in the beginning of the day, so you’ll be less stressed later on. If you need to break down your “to do” list into smaller tasks so you can have more things to do, you’ll be able to check more things off quicker. It’s easier to keep something on your list when you see that you’re making an impact in what you have to do for the day.  MOST IMPORTANTLY. When you are done with the day, get rid of your to do list and start a new one for the next day. You can copy over the most important things you need, but have a new list with no marks on it at the beginning of each day.

2. Plan Out the Times You Have Between Classes

During my sophomore year, my adviser told me this strategy during a meeting and it’s a great idea. Every morning (or even the night before), plan out little small tasks that you can do between classes, like a worksheet that you could fill out, an outline you could start, or even just a chapter you can read for a class.  Keep these items in a folder in your bag during the day. Between classes, or while you’re waiting before a meeting, you can pull that work out, and get a little something done in your extra little free time. It definitely adds up.

3. You Don’t Have to Say ‘Yes’ to Everyone

This is important. I had a friend that had a really hard time saying ‘no’ to people when they would ask her for help. She was offered quite a few jobs on campus as a tutor, and she just didn’t have to time for it. She had a very difficult time putting herself before someone in need, but she finally realized she had to in order to keep her grades up.

4. Review Your Notes Every Day

You’ve probably heard this before and thought it was bogus  or a waste of time – that’s what I thought.  You learn so much more when you take the time out to actually review your notes. Your little notes in the margin will make sense if you go over them the day that you wrote them. I’ve found that typing out my notes and putting them on notely.com is really helpful.

5. Keep a Notebook Handy with a Pen

When you’re doing your homework or studying, odds are you are going to think of something that you have to do. It will bother you and prevent you from focusing on what you need to be doing. With the notebook you are keeping with you, you can write down what you need to remember to do and then forget about it until you’re done. Just make sure to always review that notebook and add things to your ‘to-do’ list.

I’ve decided that I might as well start off this year with the lessons that Keuka has taught me in the past two(ish) years.

1. It’s never too late to change your major

1.5 You can finish a major in two years if you have all your gen eds done.

2. In about three months the new friends you meet will suddenly feel like best friends.

3. Sleeping with a stuffed animal is really actually not that weird.

4.Facebook is the reason for procrastination.

5. The library is a beautiful thing!

5.5 They have syllabi in the library, so if you lose yours, THEY HAVE ONE. How awesome? Now you don’t have to ask the teacher.

5.5 Part Two: And sometimes, they have the books you need for class on reserve. Ergo, You don’t necessarily have to go all the way back up to your room, you can just go ask to borrow it for two hours.

6. Using food in presentations is how you get an A.

7. Happiness is your choice. No matter where you go, you’ll find someone you don’t like. Don’t let it bother you, and just keep swimming.

8. Take time out of every day for yourself. Going down to the lake during downtime is wonderfully relaxing.

9. Time management is the key to eternal happiness.

10. Always make sure you have friends that aren’t just your roommates.

11. I should not be an English major. Communications is so much more fun. For me.

12. Make time to exercise. Even if you don’t really want to.

13. Don’t forget to clean out your fridge. Or put the twisty tie thing back on the bread. Bad bad things will happen.

14. People care about whether you call it pop or soda.

15. DO NOT wait until ten minutes before an exam to study.

I get asked this all the time by incoming freshmen, so I thought I’d put it up on here, so you ALL can know. This of course, is not a complete list, but it’s a pretty accurate list.

The people here really care. Like I know everyone I’m going to graduate with, and the teachers know your name, and make exceptions if you need them.

I can still listen to Britney Spears if I feel the need.

Living in Davis freshman year was the best experience of my life. I don’t really want to ever live there again. Ball is like a hotel, I can never leave Ball now.

They pressure wash the walls here. Seriously. Also! They clean EVERY day. I love college.

The lake is way better than any landmark I have anywhere near my hometown. Lilac bushes are amazing too. Or are they trees?

We have a black squirrel. I named him Timmy.

You’ll find at least one person that will end up in your wedding here, if you give them a chance.

Every RA wants you to succeed. Ergo, if you have a roommate you don’t want to live with, you can just move out, or find a new rooming arrangement.

If you forget your phone charger at home, odds are someone in your dorm will have a charger you can borrow until you get a new one / your parental mails it to you.

If you don’t want to see your parents, you can just tell them you have too much homework. If you want to see your parents, you can just go home. It’s brilliant. You don’t HAVE to keep your room clean (although you should, for your roommates)

More to come!

In addition to having an awesome photo gallery for Open House, I found one for the Fashion Show that was last weekend. Brandon (also a blogger here) was also in the show.

If you want to see all the pictures click here.

Have fun viewing! More to come soon.

Procrastination is the killer of all 4.0s in America. It’s a horrible thing. Even this blog post, I was going to write tomorrow because I didn’t really feel like writing anymore today. Anyway, back to the topic. It’s really not that hard to overcome procrastination with a little motivation. What you have in the beginning of the semester could honestly push you all the way to graduation. You can do it in a few short steps:

1. Do the hardest task you have for the day early. I’m talking like wake up, and just belt it out. If you get something done in the beginning of the day, odds are you’re going to be very motivated for the rest of the day, as well as be in a better mood.

2. Remove distractions. This includes roommates, cell phones and music. Go to the library and turn off your phone. It’s the best thing you can do to get anything last second in on time. If you’re not checking your favorite fourteen Web sites to see if anything is new (we all do it) than you’ll have more time to get everything done.

3. Do something before it’s due. You’ll feel so much better it’s kinda ridiculous. If you get a paper done Monday when it’s due Friday, you’ll be much less stressed, and you’ll be able to go out on Thursday.

4. Split up big tasks. Don’t expect to be able to get a 25 page paper done in one night, the night before it’s due. Yes, you may be able to get it done, but it will not be a good paper. You won’t feel so overwhelmed if you get a little bit of a big project done before the due date.

• Make a list of the bigger task you have to do
• Make a list of what you would have to do to finish the bigger tasks.
• Fill in small things that you can do to work towards a bigger task, to get the biggest task done.

5. Set up due dates for yourself. Much like all the other steps, this means just prioritize. Set time out for a paper and get it done. You may even want to work on your time management skills in order to really be able to get anything done.

It’s been super busy around Keuka lately. There were tons of deadlines right before break, and now that we’re back, we’re looking at tons of new deadlines, like picking roommates, and deciding our schedules. It’s been a little crazy around here.

Scheduling. My favorite time of the year. I’ve been contemplating a minor in sociology for some time now, and finally decided that I’ll have it, and I’m glad I did. This is the best advice I can give you right now: Pick your minor before your junior year. If you don’t, you will not be able to have said minor most likely.

As an English major I’m used to ridiculous schedules, like some of the upper level classes only being offered once every two years, so you have to plan accordingly. Well, apparently that’s not just an English thing. Clearly, the upper level sociology classes are the same. So I’ve been pretty busy. My schedule is a little on the messy side right now. I’m looking at some pretty rough English classes for the next year, with a few of the easier sociology classes, then my senior year, I’ll just be taking three English classes, with a bunch of harder sociology classes.

I think I’m doing alright so far. Obviously college is a lot of work, and I didn’t really figure that out until my sophomore year (this year). So this is my other bit of advice for the day: Learn how to study while you’re in high school. It will definitely make things so much easier when you’re in college.

HOWEVER! If for some reason you don’t teach yourself how to study, we do have a convenient Academic Success at Keuka (ASK) office here. So fret not! Keuka has your back. You can have awesome smart students tutor you, or you can have a weekly meeting with the ASK professionals (mine’s today actually). It’s free, comes with your education here at Keuka, so take advantage of it.

Here’s a link of what they do at ASK

I am currently enrolled in Intro to Sociology this semester, a class that I wasn’t even supposed to take to begin with, because of other classes I took that were going to fit into all of the spots that I needed that Sociology could have worked for. It turned into me having to take it, or at least, me too lazy to drop it? I’m not sure.

Back on track, so I talked to all my friends about it, a few saying that it’s not going to be enjoyable, which is understandable because every professor has SOMEONE that doesn’t like them, and then one in particular saying that it was the best class she’s ever taken. She said that it was the reason she became a sociology major. So I decided to give it a try, I had two weeks to drop if I didn’t like it anyway, so I went to class.

I don’t think I’ve even been so in love with any Introduction class in my entire life, and this class isn’t even English, my major. We haven’t really gotten too far into the class yet, but I have found that rather than assignments just being tedious and annoying, like some other classes I’ve taken, they are useful.

The first assignment that was due was an outline of the chapter. Who in their right mind wants to write an outline of a whole chapter? Normally, I just take notes, but an outline? I was very skeptical. But it turned out to be great, with that outline (which he collects three randomly, so it’s a good idea to just do it) I have a better understanding of the text, and I understood what was going on in class much better. I could just take that outline, and use it for my notes, just adding in what I need out of class in the margins.

The class is fun and fast paced, in my opinion. Mr. Bower is a great teacher, and although we have had some disagreements, I have always understood where he is coming from, and he has presented his opinion in a respectful way, always.

Although it is still a new class for me, I am excited for the future of it.

When I was in high school I was a little bit of an overachiever, at least when it came to picking a college. No one can really blame me though, everyone just wants to get into their top choice . . .

I looked everywhere to find where I wanted to go, every Web site that my high school gave me to find where I wanted to go, and what we were going to major in. I kinda went a little overboard, and needless to say my parents flipped when I told them that I was going to apply to 32 colleges, and that I needed money for applications.

One night my parents and I decided what we both wanted from a school together, which is smart to do ahead of time, because they normally do help out with the bills. I narrowed my choices to six colleges, plus two my parents liked, that I had no interest in.

I ended my junior year with eight folders, which had everything that all of these colleges had ever sent to me, placed in order of which college I wanted to go to the most, to the least. On top was Siena, followed by Keuka.

You’re probably wondering how I ended up at Keuka, when I wanted Siena. Did I get rejected? Nope, I have only been rejected by SUNY Oneonta. That summer I visited a few of my top choices, with a notebook and a list of expectations, a good idea if you’re indecisive. I visited Siena first, and I fell in love with it. There were flaws, it was too big for me, I wanted something small, and it was too close to home. I got less interested the more I thought about it.

Then I visited Keuka. I’m sure anyone who’s visited Keuka knows that it is beautiful, small, perfect in just about every way. After I visited Keuka, I lost interest in the other colleges, including Siena. Even my mother told me she liked Keuka better than Siena, which really helped to solidify my ideas that Keuka was perfect.

After a few more visits, I started senior year, and applied to five schools the schools my parents wanted me to apply to, and a few others. I never even filled out an application for Siena, because I realized it’s not where I wanted to be. None of the other applications mattered to me except Keuka, once I got accepted in December, and I didn’t apply anywhere else, I achieved what I had wanted the whole time, which was getting into my top choice.

I am the youngest member of our blogging crew here at Keuka, being only a sophomore. So I remember probably the best just what it was like before I got to Keuka, and how unbearably nervous I got. I remember on August 21, 2007,  I couldn’t sleep, and I was in a hotel, so that I could get there early to unpack and get the bed I wanted. I couldn’t wait to meet my roommates, and to meet all the people I had been talking to online on the Keuka 2011 group on facebook.

Transition Week turned out to be the best week of my freshmen year. Looking back I can’t help but smile, my mentor was amazing, and all of the freshmen in my mentee group ended up being some of my closest friends, and the freshmen had the whole campus to ourselves. My mentor group was all undecided majors, just like me. Some of them ended up being majors that share classes with me a lot, like one of them is a communications major. It was amazing. I skipped a few of the events because I thought they would be boring, and I ended up regretting it, all the freshmen talked about some of the events in such a positive light I wish I could go back in time and go to everything.

I loved it so much I decided to become a mentor myself.

Transition Week sophomore year was totally different, but I got the same feelings the night before, not being able to sleep, excited to meet my mentees, and one of my roommates, who transferred into Keuka. I was even excited to live with my roommates that I picked, because I never lived with any of them before that. My mentees and I clicked very well, and some are still my very good friends, even at the end of the semester, I still eat lunch at least three of them a week. They still come to me for advice, especially about their new schedules, like what classes they should take, and what teachers they should avoid.

I did get very frustrated though when they missed things, and I felt bad for my mentor, knowing that just a year ago I was doing the same thing.

I am so glad I got to experience Transition Week twice, from both perspectives, as an incoming freshmen and as a mentor, because it made me realize that every single thing that is planned is important, and to skip them is really dumb, because you learn so much from everything. We don’t ask you to just go to things for us, everything is for you. So when you get here, go to everything you’re required to go to. When we say it’s very important for you to follow the Transition Week schedule to a T, we mean it.

Not to scare you, because it really was a great experience, honestly. I plan to be a mentor again next year, just so I can experience it again.

So I went home three weekends ago for the first time since I got here, which was in the beginning of August. It was rather sad, I didn’t really want to leave, but I had to get things finalized (or actually, just really start figuring things out) for my field period, which I’m doing January.

Not only did I miss hanging out with my amazing Keuka friends, but I also missed out on the Breast Cancer Walk, which I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. Also, there was a leadership conference that I was invited to. I was pretty upset about that, but I guess it’s just a sacrifice you need to make to go home.

But I learned it’s just easier to stay on campus and I just won’t go home again until December, after finals. Thankfully I have awesome roommates that want to take me home. Not that it’s really that hard, you’ll find that most people are anxious to take you home to meet their families, as I’m sure you probably are too. Just about everyone you meet will have a little niece, younger sibling, or animal they want you to experience. So it’s rather easy to not go home for a whole semester, but just make sure if you do pick this route, you call your home loves and tell them how much you love them at least once a week. Parents like to hear that mushy stuff.