Four Ways to Prepare for the Back-to-School Grind

Posted on Thursday, August 31st, 2017

We are less than a week away from the start of the fall 2017 semester, which means the end of summer and back to school for many. Because your summer schedule and school year schedule can be so vastly different, the transition back into the school year can be kind of stressful.

Today, we’re going to look at four ways to prepare for back to school, to manage stress and make your transition back to student so much easier.

1. Get Your Sleep Schedule on Track

One of the most jarring experiences of the new school year is when your alarm goes off at 6 or 7 for class, after 4 months of late nights. To combat this, start training your body now to get used to early rises.

How? The best way is to retrain your body incrementally. Go to bed half an hour early, get up half an hour earlier. Do this for a couple nights before adding on another half hour on either end. Eventually, you’ll get yourself to a point where that alarm going off in the morning won’t be the end of the world.

Getting enough sleep is key to a successful school year. Sleep affects huge parts of your physical and emotional health, from having enough energy to get through the day to being mentally prepared to face challenges. To have a strong school year, sleep should be one of your primary priorities.

2. Clean Up Your Workspace

It’s no secret that having a clean workspace has a positive effect on your productivity. When you’re a student, your ‘workspace’ may actually be a bedroom or kitchen table, and not an office. So how can you make your space ready for the school year?

First, try to create a dedicated space to work where you live. This space should be a place that you know you can go and get work done, meaning it’s clear and quiet when you need it. Try to avoid working on your bed if you can.

Then, find a space where you can store papers, notes, and handouts from class. Having a simple system to keep these kinds of things organized will make studying later in the term so much easier.

Finally, make it yours. Add a pillow if the chair isn’t comfortable. Include a framed picture of something you like. Having a workspace that feels comfy and homey will make it infinitely easier to get into the working mindset.

Keeping your workspace tidy will help keep your brain and schoolyear tidy. You’ll feel a lot less hassled when the busy season comes.

3. Make a Schedule

As soon as you know your schedule (if you go to Algonquin, yours is on ACSIS now!), start thinking about how your semester is going to look. When will you work? Go to the gym? Do homework? Have downtime?

Scheduling in advance is an excellent way to take out a lot stress from those first couple weeks of school. You won’t have to wonder what shifts your boss will schedule you for or when you’re going to fit in seeing your friends.

On that note, be sure you schedule in time for downtime. You can’t work constantly without getting close to burnout, so making sure that you have time set aside for doing nothing is very important.

4. Set Some Goals

Setting goals is a really good way of setting yourself up for success during the school year. This could be attaining a certain GPA, or only missing a certain number of classes, or working to be sure you take notes every class.

Whatever it is, having a goal to work towards will help you stay committed during the school year (especially on Monday mornings, or in -30 February conditions). It will give you something to work towards, and a crazy good feeling of accomplishment when you meet it.

If you’re interested in taking a co-op program or have questions about co-op at Algonquin College, get in touch! Please visit our website at https://www.algonquincollege.com/coop/, connect with us at coop@algonquincollege.com or call us at 613-727-4723 Ext.7623. You can also follow us on Twitter @AlgonquinCoop.


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