Most people start going back to school in August, and after reading previous posts I’d done on this topic, I just wanted to add/emphasize a few things. 

In my Letter to a Student post, I shared how you should take good notes and keep them organized, make good relationships with your professors, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and to always remember to share God’s love with those around you. I always had such a bad habit of starting off my semester great – organizing my notes into different books or folders, but by the second month or two, my notes would be scattered on any piece of paper I could find and shoved in my backpack. Not great for when you’re trying to study for an exam and can’t find where you put down important information! It’s a great thing to try and start your semester off great…but it’s even better if you keep up with it. 

Making good relationships with your professors and not being afraid to ask for help goes hand in hand. If your professor knows who you are (especially in those harder classes), and you show up to office hours or email for further clarification, they remember you and it builds a good rapport for if you’re just on the edge of a letter grade. If they know who you are, remember all the times you asked for help, and how hard you worked to succeed, the professor is more likely to bump your grade up. But your professors are also going to be people you can reach out to for references! I’ve had some students reach out to me before, and then I’ve had others who I’ve never even met ask me to be one. I had to turn them down. How could I write them a glowing reference if I didn’t know a thing about them?

In a world where everyone is given lists of what they need for school – whether it’s pens (I will say I love a good gel pen), notebooks, textbooks, rulers, post-its – there is one thing that I would put at the top of my list…a planner. 

I thought I had a good memory, I was never late for anything and kept track of my assignments. But after I missed an interview a few years ago because I’d forgotten about when it was, I realized that I needed a better way to keep track of what I had to do when. Luckily, the lady who was holding the interview was very understanding, but still – that didn’t really set a good image of me from the beginning. 

Now that I’m working a couple of different jobs, volunteering with 4-H, hanging out with friends and family, going back to school, and have very ambitious ideas of what else I would like to accomplish, I keep a planner with me pretty much everywhere I go. Maybe you’re really good at remembering things and don’t need one, which is great! So did I! But when I was in grad school and missed an interview to be a violin instructor on the side, I realized that my brain could only remember so much. 

One last thing – remember to show God’s love to those around you. You don’t have to stand on a corner of your campus and hand out tracts. You can let the love of God shine through you – people notice. You may not think people do, but they pay attention to how we act, especially if they have an inkling that we are Christians. 

A couple of articles I’ve already written that may help out this year 9 Ways To Get Your Textbook For Free (Or Really Cheap!), How To Write An Initial Discussion Post, How To Ask Your Professor For An Extension, and 5 Ways to Spread the Gospel. I have many more posts on college and school related topics, so feel free to check those out – and if you have any specific questions/topics I haven’t gotten to yet, let me know!

If you are not 100% sure that you’ll go to Heaven when you die, now is the time to repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you have any questions or doubts about your salvation, click here to learn how you can be saved!

Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions below or you can contact me here! I love hearing from you!