After feeling like I was at a summer camp for 4 days, I realized that I am not at school to just play bingo, watch magicians and do all the fun On Iowa activities. I am at school to go to class.

I started my week and found all my classes pretty well but this was not without struggle.

So here are Merrins DOs and DON’Ts for your first week of class…

DO introduce yourself to your professor. Your professor probably has hundreds of students so introducing yourself will be very important so they can put a name to a face and get to know you as you and not just another student in one of their classes.

DON’T study in your room. I know it might be tempting to sit in your bed or at your desk while watching a lecture but trust me going even down the hall to a study room can make all the difference. I have loved having a place to go back to that is homework-free, where I can watch movies with my roommate and not think about school.

DO make a schedule. I am a person who loves being on a schedule and having a drawn-out timeline of everything I will be doing that day helps me so much. I will carve out time just for studying and then I will plan when my meals will be. Having a schedule will keep you so organized and also help you with time management.

DON’T come to class unprepared. Make sure you check ICON to see if your professor has posted anything about what you need to do before class. They also usually post the syllabus on ICON so, ready through that and see their expectation and how their class will work (ex. lecture recorded do not need to go to the zoom meeting). Trust me it helps so much knowing what you are walking into, they will probably go over it in class but PLEASE READ THE SYLLABUS!

DO get involved. If you take anything from this article please let it be this one. I have only been a college student for a week but I have already started to get involved in things. I have met so many people already through extracurricular activities. So please find what you are interested in and join something. If you can not find something you want to join, you only need 2 people to make a club. So make your own.

Thanks for reading my DOs and DON’Ts, I hope you learned something that will help with your college experience.

GO HAWKS!