Managing Time as a BIMS Major
I’m
almost half way done with my first semester of my sophomore year as
a biomedical science major. Looking back to the start of the fall
semester, I anticipated a lot of exciting things when the semester
began: another Fightin’ Texas Aggie Football season, taking courses
more geared toward my major, the sophomore wildcat (a way for
students to show class pride), earlier registration for classes,
and not wandering around campus looking completely lost. However,
after a week in, I realized I had a lot to balance, as well: a job,
demanding classes, honor societies, organizations, officer
positions for honor societies and organizations, volunteering,
shadowing, and training to become a certified first responder.
In high school, I was extremely involved, took
advanced placement classes, and also worked, and I still had time
to sleep and actively maintain a social life. In college, I’m still
extremely involved, taking hard classes, and working, but I barely
have time to sleep and actively maintain a social life. The reason
I haven’t completely shut down is because of my time management
skills. Time management is necessary, especially in college. Even
though I’m always shuffling myself from one part of campus to the
other, I still make time to study for classes and squeeze in a
couple hours of sleep and playtime with my two dogs.
The one piece of advice I always give to any
incoming freshman is to learn how to manage your time efficiently
and early. I didn’t learn how to manage my time until the end of
the second semester of my freshman year. During my first semester
in college, I always procrastinated, not really studying for my
exams as much as I should have; at that point in my college career,
my classes weren’t as hard, I wasn’t as involved, and I didn’t even
have a job. I just simply didn’t know how to utilize my time to the
best of my ability. Therefore, a drop in my grades wasn’t a
surprise, but it was a huge wake up call for me. I realized I
needed to change the way I was doing life. I stopped
procrastinating, started getting ahead in my classes, and spent
less of my time going out or watching Netflix and more of my time
in the library or volunteering at the hospital.
In short, I began making the most out of the hours
of my day and encourage everyone who may be struggling to work
toward actively managing your time; it really is the best way to
make college less stressful.