how 2 college (academically, financially, healthily, socially)
when you read this, I've survived a solid 6 weeks of my sophomore year. this means that I survived my freshman year, too. it's not a long time, but it did give me a ton of experience, especially as an international student. whoever you are on your college journey, I believe that you'll get something away from this. so hop on as I spill you the survival guide to college. after all the apply 2 college conversations, it's time for us to talk about how 2 college.
although this triangle is kinda true, it's not enough. depending on your background, you might get a square instead of a triangle, as you have one more factor: work and money. the center of your triangle or square is going to be time. so the outline of our discourse will roughly be this.
0. time
1. academically
2. financially
3. healthily
4. socially
now I know these priorities look a bit depressing, but think about it this way: the better you are at managing the foundational and keystone steps (school and money), the more time you'll have for yourself and your own things.
1 nov 2024 update: now that I think about it, health is actually the most important after time. college life is busy, but try to keep these minimal keystone habits: eat at least 2 meals a day and have a functional sleep-wake schedule. it'll help a lot in the long run.
you don't have to agree with everything I say, but happy reading!
0. time
regaining your perception of time
it's not how much time you have, it's how much you feel like you have them. one thing that I've noticed is that time passes away rather quickly when I'm spending time on a screen rather than doing it analogically. I find it hard to think with a screen because it's very distracting. that's why I don't trust ipads, being able to do everything on one thing also means you can't do one thing in depth with it. even when I use the note app, there's too much information. recently, I've reverted back to taking physical notes of my ideas, and it's been better for me.
your ideal work system will be a mix of offline and online things. offline is usually better for brainstorming, while online is better for adding finishing touches, managing, and storing your ideas.
against content creating
I find it depressing seeing soulless content creators dominating the attention economy (yes I'm talking about mr beast and nick avocado, scroll through their thumbnails to see what I mean). how often do you even watch an instagram reel twice? what's created online these days is super plastic, as it's meant to be single-used, and engagement is hard to measure these days. while there are meaning creators out there, the algorithmn favors the soulless type instead.
I've been rethinking how I use instagram a lot lately. if you think about it, it works on a basis of fomo (fear of missing out) and negative self perception. it drives consummerism by encouraging us to "buy to be." almost everyone on instagram, myself included, is unrealistically happy. I don't want people to come to my place and feel like they're not enough, I want what they read to benefit them and their development. then, numbers stop being a problem.
the problem with instagram is that everyone thinks they're winning the system. but in fact, the real winner is the instagram itself, which makes a shit ton of money from you feeling sad and left out. if you want a sustainable relationship with it, it's best to identify your needs and come up with agreements and trade offs with instagram. then, use it as minimally as possible to satisfy your needs.
so really, cast your vote by deciding what to spend your time and attention on.
1. academically
pre-class rituals
while it's not always possible to choose classes that (1) interest you and (2) have good professors, try to do so whenever possible. if you're going to major or minor in something, try to do so with a good department. go to faculty events to meet current majors and ask them for a tier list of every professor in that department. sometimes you don't even need to as they'd be your TAs like me with french. it's going to help so much when registration period comes. on the first day of class, try to go early. this will help you (1) get a good seat and (2) make friends. knowing someone in a class can help a lot when you need to talk about homework, discuss materials, and study for exams. you'll have someone to rely on when you're sick instead of emailing your professor.
if you're lucky, you'll end up in classes that keep you thinking outside of the classroom. if you still end up with shitty professors and classmates, that's ok too. the social part of studying is good to have, but it's not a must have. I fucked up, too. I've survived classes solo studying before. what's important is the next part: your task management system and your motivation level. it's basically a more charli xcx 360 to do list.
task management system
step 0. why google sheets?
before my google sheets era, I used to do lists by google, microsoft, apple (notes), habitica or wrote it down on paper. I also used calendars by apple and google. analog to do lists are tricky because I always have to rewrite them as I have new homework. calendars just show you a chunk of time but doesn't help you distribute your study time, and it gets messy real quick. online to do lists work fine for a while, but it's a pain to rearrange tasks based on their relevance.
a task management system should be (1) easy to update and (2) easy to see your priorities. it doesn't need to look aesthetic as that would be distracting. function > fashion.
step 1. list out all the tasks
your task management system will be a mix of
- what profs want you to do, aka every kind of homework known to man in that class (check grade breakdown)
- what actually helps you learn, like making your own notes and practice problems. these are neither homework nor graded but they prepare you for exams
good classes tend to have a great overlapping of these. bad classes have little overlapping, even mutually exclusive.
step 2. classify them
every task in your system won't deserve the same amount of attention. I mainly categorize my tasks as
- deep work
- fuck around
you can alternate between these to preserve your focus. or you can finish all the fuck around tasks in batches (all in one go) and in advance to make way for deep work. I tend to do the latter approach when I revise for exams.
you can also come up with a moral or ethics code to make you more at peace with yourself. for things that don’t help you learn, feel free to use technology to finish them so that you have time for deep work.
step 3. update their status
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CHEM 211 |
readings → quizlet sets |
EXAM |
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review quizlet |
EXAM |
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practice problems + recitation |
EXAM |
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CHEM 216 |
prelab |
👌 |
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postlab |
👌 |
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FREN 003 |
readings → quizlet sets |
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review quizlet |
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book reading → vocab |
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creative writing |
👌 |
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workbook assignments |
X |
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fix workbook assignments |
X |
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conversations |
X |
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table française |
X |
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FREN 213 |
keywords → quizlet sets |
👌 |
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readings + films → notion |
👌 |
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MATH 201 |
readings → quizlet sets |
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review quizlet |
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practice problems |
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pccg |
X |
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edfinity |
👌 |
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computer assignments |
X |
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humanizing math |
👌 |
tip 1. the next step, not the whole staircase.
one tip to not lose your mind in college: learn to look at the next step instead of the whole staircase, and get used to not having everything done.
there'll be times where you feel the temptation to finish everything on the list, but it won't be possible as new materials get released every week. I used to be like this in freshman year and that perception of the finishing line destroyed me. now I just try to get the minimum done so that I can have time for myself and other people.
good prioritizing > getting everything done.
tip 2. do the hard things over the weekends
1 nov 2024 update: I now roughly divide my list into 2 parts: what I can get done in the week and what I should get done in the weekend. what I can get done in the week are things I can compress (cram or do in one go). what I do in the weekend are stuff that are not urgent (clear them before they become a roadblock) and things that needs time to steep in (conceptual stuff, like organic chemistry or multivariable calculus).
tip 3. anticipation makes the heart grow fonder.
1 nov 2024 update: one thing I also find helpful is to purposefully create intervals for work. schedule things that break your days down into little work sessions, whether that be breakfast or dinner with someone. I work better in sessions than doing one long stretch.
in a video that I watched by haegreendal or her 86m2, they talked about happiness laying in anticipation. their kid was growing a tree, and watching that tree grows every day brings about happiness. by setting up little rewards, you have more energy to push through a work session.
what if I still procrastinate?
although this is potentially the best system that I came up for myself, I still procrastinate despite knowing exactly what to do. this is a result of not resting properly, so your body is pulling out revenge bedtime procrastination™. you have to carve out time for yourself to fuck around, however minimal, so that you can keep going with the workload. if you still procrastinate after all the break, this means that you're doing things that you deeply hate (like me with calc 3). when this happens, don't wait for inspiration to strike, as motivation comes after you work, not before you work. it's also the same thing with working out.
but that's when you don't have a choice. when you do have a choice, know that the real cure to procrastination as doing honest with yourself and doing what you actually love. that's why you should take time to research class thoroughly.
step 4. have yourself a mini calendar and a weather forecast
I don't understand time in terms of number, I'm more of a word person. I understand next tuesday better than 1 october 2024. that's why my calendar is a list. it saves all the wasted space and give you that charli xcx 360 view. you can also add one-off homework here in case you forget. I find calendars more useful for tracking people's birthday than to manage work. also no need to write friday week 1 or friday week 2 because the flow itself is intuitive.
I usually use these for due dates and one-off tasks that are not in the main list. also for scheduling homework meetings and office hours with professors. you can use office hours as a time telomere (time cap) for your assignment or deadline. see office hours as fixing mistakes time. this forces you to start earlier and have something to bring to office hours. it helps minimize mistakes and also helps you turn in stuff earlier.
something I've just added recently is a weather forecast. it helps you stay aware of the big waves that are coming. for example, I have a triple kill on week 10 starring calculus, french, and orgo on the same day. thank god 2 of them are take home exams.
you can also list out things you need to print weekly so that you can batch print them.
26 nov update: I now add a fun things column to detach myself from work. also all the tasks will be simplified as you navigate through the semester and see what you actually need to do
class-specific advice
classes that I took during the last 3 semesters are mostly stem, language, and humanities. I use quizlet for stem and language classes to review concept, then really spend a lot of time doing practices. after a school year, I copy my quizlet sets to my archive account. this helps a lot because lots of my notes these days are improved upon my notes since high school.
for humanities classes, organic thinking is very important because you have to come up with ideas. screens aren't good for this so I stick to pen and paper for my readings and taking notes of ideas in class discussions. the knowledge management part comes after class ends.
what you use depend on how fragmented your reading is. if your reading is only 2-3 books by plato and aristotle, then you can just write out paper excerpts you find interesting. if your reading is very fragmented (lots of excerpts and authors), you may want to use obsidian and the zettelkasten method as it helps link ideas together and help a lot when writing essays.
obsidian worked wonderfully for me, but the annoying thing about it is that it saves files locally and all my notes are gone as I delete files on my computer. I now reverted to notion instead. when you take notes, try to write it in your own words and sort them in whatever way that makes sense for you.
post-class rituals
fill out that evaluation forms and rate your profs on rate my professors. spread lore to lowerclassmen if you have to. just give back to the community to make sure everyone has a less shitty experience.
2. financially
learning how to spend money > learning how to make money
you can't really put a price on comfort.
it's not how much you make (income), it's how much you retain (net worth), and how you spend money.
there's this dynamics between time, money, and effort. you spend time and effort to make money, and you spend money to restore your time and effort. we often sacrifice our comfort (time and effort) to make more money, but there are times that you must and should spend money. as trịnh lữ said, don't procrastinate the little things that make you happy. for example, buy that heater and humidifier that help you sleep and study better in your room when winter comes, or that handwarmer to help you go to classes more comfortably. buy that fairy lamp, sunset lamp, lava lamp that make you happy as you enter your room to study or relax. for me, it also extends to spending money on pens that I like. you use your pens more often than you think.
understand that if you're not paying for something, then you're the product. and when you think that you are saving, you are not. by spending money on the right things, you save your future self from spending money on other things, like therapy, medications, hospital bills, etc. prevention is better than cure.
but it's also here that you have to be careful, and your brain is really good at justifying your wants as your needs. before you buy something, add it to the wishlist and wait a few weeks. you can also think about the move out day and see if it's worth spending summer storage on it. owning things is a commitment, so think carefully.
and after you've spent money on something, keep track of it on google sheets, so that you can see what your spending habits is like. I usually divide mine into necessities, luxuries, and meaningful (for others) and I make a pie chart out of it.
this was me last semester after understanding the value of money. working any job at all will help you change your spending habits: spend less on luxuries and more on necessities.
purchases that improved my quality of life
whenever possible, try to buy things that are foldable so it doesn't take up a lot of space
the hulken bag - my ultimate laundry and trader joesing bag
reusable moving bags - be a lil careful they might burst when it’s too heavy, but otherwise they’re great
door stopper - lesser chance of remy showing up in your room
humidifier, space heater, rechargable hand warmers, eye drops, eye mask, airpods - these things help me sleep and save me from skipping work and classes a ton of time by making it easier to wake up and operate in cold weather
fairy lights, sunset lamp, and mathmos lava lamp - erdman has never been less depressing
also, remember that the most sustainable way to keep warm is to insulate from the inside, that is, eating enough (more on this in the next part).
3. healthily
regaining your perception of self
he did not wish to be believed to be the best but to be it.
— aeschylus talking about amphiaraus, seven against thebes 592–94
something we've been talking a lot in my french classes these days is the idea of performance. gender as a performance. posting things online as a performance. dressing up as a performance. we do certain things because we want people to see, and being seen by others gives rise to pleasure. there's also performance and proficiency. what you try to be seen as versus what you actually are.
the thing about performance is that it is not true, and being too theatrical can do harm to your self perception. to know whether you're acting, ask yourself, would you still do it when nobody is watching? if the answer is yes, then keep doing it. dressing up is not bad, dressing up solely for the looks of others is. if what you wear makes you physically uncomfortable, you need to stop. don't do it for the gaze of others. I dress up for myself, and whether the others like it or not is their business.
I don't really trust the broke artist trope, where you sacrifice your current mental health for future advancements of humanity. don't do it for the future generations. only you know how happy you were when you're alive. as thích nhất hạnh said, there's no way to happiness, happiness is the way. we don't achieve things to get happiness, we use our happiness as compass to see what we want to experience and achieve. switching the two doesn't work.
on pride
talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it.
to go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.
— fyodor dostoevsky, crime and punishment
a lot of people I met identify with this quote. they can come across as blunt or assholes, even, but they're attractive, because they are confident and know who and what their values are. people that aren't afraid of their existences taking up too much space. recently, I've been finding people asking permission for simple, basic things a major turn-off. can I go to the bathroom? would you be pissed if I help you stack these bananas? like bro just be yourself.
you should be celebrated for who you are. so go where your scholarship is celebrated.
you don't need to prove anything to anyone, including yourself.
life is not a game with checkpoints. you don't need anything to validate your existence. if you need to post online to validate something, whether that be friendship or relationship, then I don't think that something is even real in the first place. if you're happy, instagram doesn't have to know. and if you're happy, you should be the first one to know it.
anti-work
stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence.
— alan watts
I know it's ironic with the first part but we'll try.
physical health. try to eat 3 meals a day, get enough sleep, shower, skincare, cook for yourself when you have time
the most sustainable way to keep warm is to insulate yourself from the inside, or to eat enough. dining hall food can get progressively worse at times, in terms of waiting in line, spending time in the absolute same space every day and the food that it offers. to combat this, you can cook by yourself and consider moving off-campus.
mental health. journal, meditate (I use tide before bed and I highly recommend)
I trust tide streaks more than duolingo streaks. I think consistency is good but streaks are dumb, because there'll be days that you need to not do that one thing at all before you can get back to doing it again. if you find meditation boring, you can also try doodling or coloring. anything that takes your eyes off the screen and allow you to chill.
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| I've been using this app since 2020, and I only spent 33% of days with it. one thing I've noticed is that my mental health were very bad in periods where I didn't use it. |
4. socially
the way you want to feel
what it means to have a social life varies from person to person. what's important is not what it means for them, but what it means for you. people are pretty much like clothes, the older I get the less I care about what it looks like to be with them but what it feels like to be with them. care less about your instagram followers and more about the people that you'd feel safe calling when you're on edge in the middle of the night. these people are very important. treat them well.
what means to be socializing also varies from person to person. partying is a kind of social event. so is having dinner, cooking, walking, or having a movie night with someone. it doesn't need to be hardcore. each kind of outing has its own fun.
if you need help seperating the dreg from the cream, imagine yourself being sick and think who would give a fuck. or imagine your funeral. who would come? however popular you are, only a few people truly care about you in the darkest of times, these are families and close friends. take good care of your old comrades, and don't worry about people that are not coming to your funeral.
the art of social engineering
according to stacey flowers, the 5 people you need to be happy are
- a cheerleader, who believes in you when you struggle to believe in yourself
- a mentor, who points you in the right direction when you’re feeling lost
- a coach, who takes you out of your comfort zone so you can maximize your potential and make things happen
- a friend, who hears out your dreams and deepest desires
- a peer, who keeps you focused on the task at hand
have a social calendar
einstein says nothing happens until something moves. I say nothing happens until that shit is on my calendar. I find it helpful to keep my academic and social calendars separated. I used to merge them in the past and it was horrendous. my social calendar also includes stuff I want to do in my own time with myself.
the best time to ask someone out is usually saturday morning, or saturday in general. the weekend's just started and people tend to feel at ease with themselves, unless it's a totally crazy midterm week. if it's too busy you can always ask them out in breaks in advance.
so that was it.
hope you thrive, or at least survive, champ.
yours truly,
croissang
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