10 Essential Things You Need to Know Before The New Academic Year Starts
Most students will start their new academic year since September even though this year is different and difficult than ever before. I am sure that you are excited, motivated, or might even be nervous about the coming semester especially for the new students who are going to join the universities. While you are busy preparing for life at campus, here are some relevant suggestions useful for you.
1. Respect your group mates
I put this point at the beginning because it is the most important. Many of you will have a chance to study with students from different nations, races, and cultural backgrounds. It is essential for all the students to remember that respect each other is the basic principle. Listening to people with an open mind, asking about cultural practices you don't understand kindly before judging others' behavior could help you learn the cultural difference in a respectful way.
Students from different countries studying together is a valuable chance for everyone to learn about different cultures, living habits, languages, religions, and so on, so don't waste it!
2. Manage your time efficiently
Academic studies in universities could be much more intense than you imagine. During the year, you need to balance your life between lectures, assignments, research, exams, and your personal life. Therefore, time management is a significant skill.
A bullet journal is a useful tool to help you track your projects and be productive. You could mark down the final week on the first day you receive the schedule of the semester, so you can have a clear mind that how many days left before the final exam. Also, mark down the deadline for assignments and projects when you are noticed in order to track the process and allocate your time. Besides, you can also use this journal to organize your group work, the missions of different modules, your research, and your revision plans.
Dividing your time properly will make your study more efficient. Trust me, you won't want to experience the nightmare of a clueless, flustered exam week.
3. Try to make some new friends
For some of you, starting a new life on campus means saying goodbye to your old friends. The international students even have to depend on themselves in a foreign country. You might feel nervous, lost even lonely, but it is normal in the beginning.
The company of friends is very important for everyone. Having some close friends could bring you energy and confidence. You can study together, encourage each other, help each other, and share the joy of life. The real friends could support and inspire you when you are suffering. Friendship is based on the same values, principles, and trust. They don't have to be the same nationality and race as you, people from everywhere in the world can be friends.
4. Explore the world
Traveling in a foreign country is a huge advantage for international students. Experiencing a new lifestyle, learning different cultures, visiting places of historic interest, enjoying nature, all of these activities could enrich your life.
The world is much bigger than your classroom, broadening your horizons is also a kind of learning.
5. Maintain a healthy lifestyle
Don't squander your health thinking you're young. A healthy lifestyle is vital for people of all ages. We should pay attention to develop good habits in our daily life. Eat a balanced diet, don't drink too much, and don't stay up late when there is nothing important to do. The right amount of exercise is also important, it can keep your mind clear, keep you energized, and reduce stress.
Special remind girls: Don't do a diet to lose weight! Health is the most important thing.
6. Make sure your studying equipment function well
Many people think that this is not important in the preparation, and neglect to check their own devices, such as laptop, Ipad, cellphone, mobile hard disk, and the drawing board used by the design students. However, during the study, most of the tasks have to be done by laptops. You will need these types of equipment to do your assignments, share documents with your group members, contact professors by email, attend remote courses, and even do your exams. It's fair to say that you couldn't finish school without them.
Although students bring their own learning equipment to the school, each semester someone crashes their laptops right before the deadline and final exams. If you don't want to experience this kind of "darkest hour ", make sure your equipment function well, and fix the problems before it is too late.
7. There is no useless knowledge
Learning as many different fields as you can, which will help you in the future. Knowledge does not differ in importance. Knowledge in any field is useful and important. Broadening horizons during student years helps you to form an objective world view.
Schools always organize a wealth of lectures and academic exchange activities, you can choose to participate in the activities of different topics according to your own time.
8. Say no to ineffective socializing
While making friends is important, that doesn't mean all social activities are beneficial. Activities that are just a lot of people partying together to drink the whole night will drain your energy and make it difficult to concentrate on your studies. There is no need to participate. If you need to relax, go for a hike, dine out, or watch a movie with a few friends are all good options.
At the same time, you need to be aware of the people around you who always bring you negative influences. Some people always show negative emotions towards people and things around them. They have no confidence in themselves, are used to hitting others, and are often dissatisfied with things around them. They are not right friends for you and don't let them affect your life.
Try to communicate more with positive people and you will develop this attitude.
9. Establish your network
It is extremely important for business students. Look at people around you, they could be your future business partners. What you need to learn is to work together with them. Understand that you can progress with these people, learn from each other, and maybe even become career partners in the future. As you begin to build your network, you will become part of their network. As my professor of accounting and auditing said to us on the first day: There is no competition among people in this room, you unite as a group.
In addition, you can use professional social media to expand your network and meet more professionals. Many business schools have lectures on this topic, which are very useful, and I recommend you to attend them.
10. Plan for your future
Through systematic and professional study you will find out what you are interested in and what you are not. Whether you choose to pursue further education, a job or start a business later, you can set a broad direction based on your interests. During this period, you could figure out what kind of person you want to be. So don't waste your time and try different things which could inspire you.
A new life journey is always exciting and challenging, I hope you could be confident and productive. Enjoy life and embrace the future!