Hitting the halfway through college so far has been a great experience filled with many great memories and now even more looking forward to the second half of my college career. Time flies and it is important to make the most of it in college while working on your degree.

*Would love to hear your input if you are also at your halfway point in comments area below or if you liked this post, please share for others to enjoy.*

I wanted to reflect on my halfway mark and share some points that I hope you can also relate to and most importantly hope this post will help out newcomers that are just entering college and set them off with successful start. I wish I read this post before I started college, and I hope it will help you. Mistakes is a learning process, so nothing is wrong with that either! I also wish that high schools taught these “personal finance” lessons, instead of classes that are irreverent to real daily life.

Are You Deciding Whether You Should Go to College? Ask Yourself these Questions?

1. Start Out Strong

There is a reason why I am posting this first. You are just starting out college and this not only will boost your confidence in college but also will give you some leverage when it will come to big assignments like essays, midterms, and finals. If you start out strong and keep up the great work, you will see the results as your grade become heavier and the heavy weighted assignments won’t hurt you much.

Cant tell you how many time I ended up with 88-89% grade and received a “B” because it is not 90%. Then, I took a look at my assignments and if I put 20 minutes extra the whole semester I had for extra credit assignment I would have gotten an “A”. Trust me, this really hurts ending up within few percent from an A. Check out my post if you Want Perfect Scores on Tests? Here are the Top Study Hacks for Students.

DO EVERY EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT!

Now, if the class consists of mainly tests which is becoming very common in college, then you need to focus on learning how to study which I talk about next.

2. You Need to FIND your Best way to Study that Actually Works!

If you still haven’t found best way to study, then you need to find it now! Have you wondered about  “A students”? Well, the secret is that they found a way to study the material that will be coming up.

Are you good in group? Do you need to be alone and quiet? Maybe some relaxing music in the background as you study? 

These are just example questions for you to consider, you can find so much more by simply searching for it. My best way to study has been listening to relaxing songs on very low volume and at a quiet place with no distractions.

This is serious now, it is costing you money and time, so make sure you find best way to study that actually work or else you will learn it the not-so-good way.

It’s not just about finding way to study but also have fun, dedicate time to having fun, because this most likely the best time you will every have in your life! Which brings me to another point…

3. Have Fun in College!

I don’t care what or how prestigious school you are going or how heavy your school work is, but one thing I know for sure is that you need to have fun in college! This is the best time of your life that you will be living with your whole life. This is number one advice I get from people who graduated decades ago.

Don’t just dedicate your time to school work, have fun! Go out and party, meet new people, join clubs, and do new & existing things  that you enjoy to do.

4. Getting Enough Sleep

In college, attendance for majority of classes will not be mandatory and sleeping in to skip the class should be your last option on the list. I talked about having fun in college above, but don’t forget that studying still comes first and you need to make sure that you are able to balance everything you have going on in your college life together.

Getting enough sleep is crucial not just for the benefit of not spacing out in class or not remembering anything from the classes lecture, but also for your health and future self.

I found the hard way that sleeping is crucial especially before exams. So, being able to manage your daily routine with enough rest is very important for you to be successful in college.

5. Don’t Get Discouraged if You Fail

Theres nothing worse than giving up on school because you did bad on exam or even class itself. If you quit just because of that, then school is definitely not for you! Everybody fails and there should be absolutely no reason to quit like that. It’s not all straight road, there will be bumps and hills along the way. Here are some motivational quotes for you to keep learning.

Another thing I wanted to point out is don’t waste your time on thinking about how other person did better than you, got into better school than you, or in other words, don’t get discouraged by anyone. Keep doing what you doing and the rewards will come your way. Don’t ever think that somebody is better than you! See why social status items are a waste of time and does not make people happy.

The reality goes like this: If you are lazy, you won’t get anything. If you work hard on whatever you do, you will see the results. I get it, school is not for everyone and here are the highest paying jobs with no college degree.

When you fail something, learn to grow on it and learn from it instead of giving up.

6. Start Building Your Credit if You Haven’t Done so (ONLY IF YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE)

Ok, you must be wondering why did I put this one on here. Well, because it is really important to start building your credit early.

As you might already know, I am finance major and everything that touches money just excites me. In fact, this is why I started this Student Financial Blog.

See, your credit takes time to build and if you apply for a card at the age of 18 and maybe use it for $10-20 a month even, then paying it off at the end of the month is already building your credit! As I mentioned before, many employers now a day run your credit before you start your employment .

Being young and already building your credit will already put you above other prospective students that are hunting the same job. I posted so many articles with everything you need to know as a student managing a credit card that you can always refer to, including:

I hope you are getting idea of where I am going with this. So many students really don’t care about the credit, think they don’t need to worry about it, but in reality you can build your credit by doing almost nothing and younger you are – the better.

If I got your attention on this and you want to open a credit card, then I recommend my top pick for any student as their first credit card to be Discover It Credit Card. You get $50 after making your first purchase through my referral.

7. Earning Money while Studying

If you are one of the lucky ones and don’t have to work, then great for you! But if you are like majority of student and need to make money then welcome to the real world! If you need to make money, there are so many ways to earn, you just have to know what would you prefer to do more. Even if you don’t need to make money, still consider taking some kind of job because that won’t hurt to make something extra.

I have written very in-detail posts on how to make money as a student, including:

Reality is there are so many opportunities out there that will pay you bonus money just for signing up and doing few minimum requirements. For example in my post “Have a Car? 5 BEST Ways to Make Money with Car” for Uber/Lyft signing up as a driver you can make over $1,000+ in bonus. I think this is absolutely amazing.

You just need to know exactly what you want to do and then look for opportunities. Also, don’t forget to refer to my Money Saving & Deals page.

8. Take Advantage of Every Resource Available on Campus

You are paying money for your schooling and you need to make sure that you are also making it worth it. No matter what size your school is, there are so many resources available at your hands if you just look for them.

Expensive book? Your library most likely have it. Top websites to rent books from.

Looking for an internship/job? You will also find information on campus.

Bottom Line

Don’t be one of the people who sit in dorm all day long, go out and have fun, experience new things, and most importantly enjoy your stay in college. This is once in a lifetime opportunity, take advantage of everything that comes with it.

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