College Student Hacks You Need To Know

Submitted by Amber Simpkins, ’25

If you are a new college student (or even a current student), college may have you feeling a mix of emotions: excitement, nervousness, maybe even fear of the unknown. Don’t worry, you are not the only one who has felt this way. I also came into college feeling a little nervous and confused, but throughout my college journey I have learned a few tips that have made college a lot easier and more enjoyable for me. Here are a few college tips that have greatly helped me make it through college the past two years I’ve been here, and hopefully you will find these tips helpful as well.

• If you are slow with taking notes, record the lecture with the voice memos app and write notes later. 
• Use student discounts. There is an app called StudentBeans that will show you a variety of student discounts to use. Some popular things you can get student discounts on is Spotify, Apple Music, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. 
• Start essays and projects early, and work a bit on the assignment each day. Do not wait until the last minute to do a large assignment at the last minute in one setting; you will end up feeling overwhelmed and regret it. Start as soon as you aware of the assignment and work on it in chunks. 
• If you are easily distracted when studying, silence your notifications and use apps on your phone that help block distractions. You can download apps that block certain distracting apps for a set period of time. There’s even an app that you leave on while you study that grows a plant on your phone, and if you leave the app while studying to distract yourself, the plant dies.
• Take advantage of all free resources that are available. At Cumberlands, some free resources that you can take advantage of is free tutoring in The Learning Commons, free research databases, Films on Demand, The Wellness Center, the makerspace in the library (whether it’s for a class project or you’re just feeling creative), free recreational swimming (during set hours; we have a swim team that needs to practice), free counseling, and more.
• Make time to take a short nap in the middle of the day. Your body will thank you. 
• Only take an 8am class if you’re an early-morning person, otherwise you will regret it. And don’t try to take an 8am if you have blackout curtains in your room. It's a losing battle.
• Participate in events on campus! Don’t be a hermit. Getting out of your room will make your experience better and allow you to make new friends. 
• Use Grammarly when writing an essay for an easier way to make sure you have no grammatical errors. 
• Speaking of essays, use CitationMachine.com for an easier way of making citations. Just copy and paste the link, and the website will cite it for you. 
• When studying, do not wait until the last minute to cram. This will only overwhelm your brain, and you won’t retain much information. Instead, study days in advance with breaks. 
• If you have an upcoming professor that you haven’t had before, you can use RateMyProfessor.com to see what other students have said about that professor. 

College is busy, and sometimes it’s challenging, but it’s a great experience overall. Utilize these tips to make your college experience even better! You’ll be thankful you did.