3 Ways to Start the School Year Strong

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post on 5 Ways To Advance Your School & Career This Summer and now it’s already back-to-school season 🤯🤯🤯 where did the summer even go???

Today’s blog post is for all of you students who want to make the most out of your upcoming school year. This is based on my personal experience as a student who got nearly straight A’s, had a healthy social life and long-term relationship, slept 8 hours on average, and did a bunch of extracurriculars.

Plan your study schedule in advance 📅

Yes, I know what you’re thinking… it’s too early! But it’s really not. I highly recommend that you download all of your course outlines and mark the dates of assignments, midterms, and finals seasons in your calendar. Even if the dates aren’t specified yet, you can refer to past semesters to get an idea of when in the semester certain activities will fall in.

For example, my university had something called “Hell Week” which was when every student had a bunch of midterms and assignments due around the same time. I made sure to block off the weeks leading up to “Hell Week” and plan for the worst!

Check out my blog on the Pomodoro Technique and tips for time management.

Engage in extracurriculars 🎒

Your extracurricular experience helps you stand out and develop important skills outside of the classroom. Find 1-2 organizations that interest you and figure out how to become an active member that gets involved with projects (don’t be that member who joins and adds no value). Eventually, you should try to become an executive that leads a team to run those projects (develop your leadership skills).

My university hosted “Clubs Week” at the beginning of every semester where we could learn about all the different clubs that existed on campus and join the ones we were most interested in. In my 1st and 2nd year, I joined a couple of organizations as a junior member to learn. By my 3rd and 4th year, I took on VP and President roles and led my teams to deliver tangible growth in results like:

  • Ensured that 100% of members met their KPIs
  • Grew member retention by 30% YoY
  • Planned and managed a $200K national conference budget

These achievements looked amazing on my resume and helped me secure my first internship in the competitive O&G industry while there was a recession going on.

Find an inspiring mentor 💡

Mentors are great at giving you advice, perspective, and a shoulder to lean on when you’re feeling stuck. They can also keep you accountable for your goals. It’s never too early or late to find a mentor, and you can find them organically or through formal mentorship programs.

When I started my 1st year of university, I found a mentor who was a 4th year student that I thought was successful and ambitious because he was the President of my student club. At first, he pushed me to create a LinkedIn account, pursue a co-op internship, and network! Later on, he helped me learn more about personal finances. I also met other mentors over the years and learned a lot about other topics that have helped me shape my life and career.

Learn more about meaningful mentorships and read about the 6 Mentorship Best Practices You Need To Know.

You got this 💪

Here are some more resources:

Best of luck!!

Hello, I am Karen and I started this blog in 2017 to share my learnings around leadership and career development. I hope you find this blog helpful and would love to hear any feedback you have on how I can make it better! You can find me on LinkedIn or at kkarenism@gmail.com. Check out Resume Rescue if you need help with job hunting and read all of my Microsoft related blog posts if you want to learn more about my experience.