I was incredibly nervous to begin classes my freshman year of college. Despite doing well in high school and feeling pretty confident in my academic abilities, I knew university coursework would be more rigorous. I learned something pretty quickly, however: the work was doable, but managing my time and focusing on the important stuff was…

Whether you chose to room with a best friend, an acquaintance, or you were paired up with a complete stranger, you’ll inevitably face a few issues when you share a small space with someone. Ideally, they’ll be minor roommate problems that you can easily get through, but that’s not always the case. No one wants…

Sure, summer is just beginning… but before you know it, it’ll be move-in day. If you’re anything like I was, you’ve already started picking out décor, consulting with your roomie about who is bringing what, and figuring out how to cram all of your belongings into a tiny dorm room – you know, the important…

Some books just manage to stick with you. They have passages, or single lines, that are seared into your mind. You finish the last page with a pang of sadness, and inevitably end up rereading them time and time again. Often, these are the books that help us through times of transition – like the…

Back in the day, I always tried to leverage my grades for extra spending money. My dad would always respond, “You shouldn’t get rewarded for doing well in school. Good grades and a feeling of accomplishment… those are their own rewards.” Of course, graduation is another story. Graduation is the grand finale – a culmination…

It’s one of the worst summertime afflictions – no, not sunburns – and it affects students of all grade levels. The “summer brain drain” occurs when you’ve been out of school for awhile and your brain, well, basically turns into a bowl of mush (and that’s official medical lingo). The most pervasive and troubling symptom…

We’ve all been there. At the beginning of the semester, you tell yourself that you’re going to do things right. You’re going to stay on top of your reading, take diligent notes for every single chapter, and when exams come around you’ll be so prepared you’ll hardly need to study. Maybe you stuck to your…

Teachers want their students to do well on their tests. Contrary to what it may seem like at times, their end goal is not to trip their students up or make their exam questions overly complicated. In fact ­­– coming from someone now married to a university professor – that is the exact opposite of…

I always loved the beginning of the semester. I had a new schedule, new notebooks, and new ideas for staying on my A-game. There’s nothing quite like a blank slate to get you motivated. The end of the semester? Well, that was another story. There were no fresh notebooks or fresh slates. Break was so…

You’re in the best predicament possible: You’ve been accepted into two schools that you love equally. Congratulations! However… now you’ve got to actually decide where you’re going to spend the next four years. It’s a daunting situation, considering whatever choice you make will impact your life in so many different ways – and that’s why…