Goals for the Upcoming Year

Student Lounge College Life
1

Hello hello again!

This thread is sort of going off my last discussion about mistakes made freshman year ( http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1799586-if-i-could-change-something-about-freshman-year-p1.html ) but instead of talking about the past, we’re looking towards the future!

So for anyone going into college, whether it be for your freshman year, senior year, grad school, or anywhere in between, what are your goals for the upcoming year? What do you want to accomplish that you haven’t yet? What bad habits did you have previously that you want to change?

Again, I’ll start:

  1. ** Talk more in class. ** Sometimes it takes me a while to formulate an opinion/answer, and once I do, the class has already moved on to a different topic. But I just want to get my voice heard from the very beginning and try to believe that my thoughts are just as valuable as those of everyone else.
  2. ** Talk to the professor more. ** I have never gone to office hours because I still don't get what you're supposed to do there. I'd love to get involved with some research or something with a professor, but I need to figure out how to approach one.
  3. ** Make in-class friends. ** Having friends outside of class is great, but it doesn't help when it comes for study groups! Plus, not knowing anyone in your class makes for a very lonely 50 minutes.
  4. ** Go out more on weekends. ** I stayed in bed and watched Netflix more than I would like to admit. Being social is a part of college, and whether it be going to parties, seeing a movie, getting dinner, whatever, I'd just like to go out with my friends more.
  5. ** Eat better/exercise more. ** I managed to stave off the freshman 15, but that was mostly luck. I was exercising more in high school (just my walk to and from class was a couple miles) but I was probably eating much worse. I had a giant cardboard box filled with a bunch of different kinds of chocolates under my bed. Do I regret that? No not at all. Should I have healthier food under my bed instead? Probably (if any of you have suggestions of good healthy food to store in my room/in my fridge, please let me know!) I also went to the gym a couple times a week last semester which was pure TORTURE but I hope to go more often this year anyway.
  6. ** Spend more time in the library and study more. ** I work in a library, so I did a lot of my studying there while at work (which was allowed). But I was semi-terrified of every other library on campus because I wasn't familiar with them and everybody there always seemed so serious. And I don't think there's anything wrong with studying in your room (which I did most of the time) but it might be better to go to a library with fewer distractions. I worked hard last year and made the Dean's List first semester, but not second. I'm still proud of most of my grades but I know that with a couple of them I could have pushed myself a little harder.

I’ll stop now before this post gets a mile and a half long, but please leave your own goals in the comments! Also, I would like this to serve as a support thread: in addition to writing your own goals down, help out others with their goals! Offer advice/methods you may have used to achieve the same goal. Basically offer words of encouragement to everyone else! College is stressful, but having people cheering you on and giving helpful pieces of advice can make the transition back a little easier.

2

I think the asking more questions in class and getting to know professors more is a great idea! Definitely my number one goal this year.

3

Don’t have much to suggest, but if you like Indian food, I highly recommend Kitchens of India ready to eat packages. They’re microwaveable ready made Indian meals that are really easy to make and really healthy! Just pour, pop in the microwave, and eat. Definitely better than stocking up ramen. If your gym/rec center has fitness classes (might cost extra) you might enjoy that more than working out on your own. I find that having a work-out buddy keeps me accountable. I’ll post later about my own goals, but since I’m moving in tomorrow, I gotta jet! :slight_smile:

4

Yay! I seriously love this type of thread! It’s so open-ended. :slight_smile: Just for reference, I am an upcoming sophomore.

1.) Lose some weight. I try not to put a number to weight-loss goals since any weight lost is a success, and adding a number I want to reach can make me feel like a failure if I don’t get there. I’ve been overweight for most of my teen/adult years (I’m an emotional eater and prefer art/music/books to playing sports), and even though I lost a good deal of weight two years ago, I have slowly gained it back. Time to recommit to a healthy lifestyle! Thankfully, I am joining a group of girls that work out together once a week - hopefully this will help me stay focused since they’ll know if I’m making any progress in my fitness.

2.) Read more for fun. I used to read novels all the time before I started college. Now, I only read on breaks. I just need to make time to read - during down time I can shut off the TV and read instead for a little while. Reading is enjoyable for me, so I want to keep doing it.

3.) Revive my piano ability. I used to take piano lessons and was a decent pianist, but now when I play it sounds like I’m banging on the piano with my fists or something! I think music is an important skill to maintain, and I have to pass a piano proficiency test my senior year anyway.

4.) Be bolder in my field experiences. I’m in elementary education, so I have a field experience where I go into the classroom most semesters. It can be hard to know what my place is with regard to the students and the teacher on whose classroom I am intruding. I want to be bolder about asking for different opportunities during my observations/light student teaching.

Can’t wait for the new school year to start!

5

Also hoping to make health a thing this year. I really don’t think I’m willing to change my diet (except maybe forgoing a few cookies here and there), but going for a run on the treadmill or something shouldn’t be too difficult. IDK.

6
  1. Waking up and getting to my 9 AMs on time, lol.
  2. Related to #1, going to bed at a reasonable hour. The worst feeling is that conflicted feeling you get when you *know* that you have no good reason to be awake, but your conversation with your friends is too interesting for you to leave.
  3. Taking my academics more seriously: Doing my readings before class and studying a little bit every day instead of waiting until a week before the exam (if I'm being particularly productive, lol). And really treating each assignment as a way to check my understanding of the material instead of trying to get it done as quickly and with as little effort as possible.
  4. Getting to know my professors.
  5. Making sure that my health doesn't take a backseat to my schoolwork. That means consistently going to the gym and learning to eat healthily (e.g. no more candy at 1 AM, lol).
  6. Trying new things and learning to relax.
7
  1. Join more activities outside of the music department ensembles, which are actually classes that I just don't register for. I wanted to do more last year but I was afraid I wouldn't have time to participate, since I'm in 4 ensembles (5 for the fall). I'm hoping to join possibly one of the a cappella choirs, maybe glee club (I know, I'm a geek). I'm also auditioning for one of the theater shows.
  2. Kinda related to above but get involved with some of the issues I'm passionate about, particularly LGBT+ rights. This means join SCOPE (which is kinda like gay-straight alliance), getting Safe Zone ally certified, and attending Safe Zone and Common Ground events.
  3. Actually reading the books and articles for my classes. This will be particularly important in my music history course.
  4. Making an effort to hang out with my friends more. I won't have any academic classes with a lot of my friends semester since I had a schedule conflict and won't be in music theory with them. I'm hoping I can have dinner with them most days.
  5. Being more careful about what I eat. I probably need to lose weight, but I'm more concerned with not gaining any more weight. I went up like 2-3 pant sizes last year. I blame the dessert bar.
  6. Kind of related to 5, but making a better effort to avoid gluten. I'm gluten sensitive and if I eat too much, my acid reflux comes back, which is super painful. It also makes my ADD worse. It's just so hard to avoid when there are so many tasty options at dhall that mostly contain gluten.
  7. Practice my instruments more. I seriously didn't practice as much as I should have last year. I don't practice much of my ensemble music, but I need to practice stuff for my lessons.
  8. Wear my contacts or at least my dang glasses. Seriously, last year my glasses pretty much just lived in my dorm room. They need to at least stay on my person at all times so I can use them if I need them. I don't know if I'm patient enough to put in my contact. Plus, I have a 9 am this semester, so I don't know if I want to be putting my finger in my eye that early in the morning. Some disastrous might happen.
8

Most of my goals fit under the umbrella of “become a model student.”

  1. Attend every class. I'm a commuter, and last year I took two classes through cross-registration at another university. There was a lot of traveling back and forth on the bus, and it was altogether too easy for me to rationalize skipping lectures. This year, all my classes are in the same place and there aren't any significant gaps between them.
  2. Start my assignments as soon as I know about them. I'm already finished with my first homework assignment for one of my math classes. :)
  3. Go to office hours and get to know professors so they can mentor me and write recommendations.
  4. Learn the LaTeX typesetting language. My classmates turn in these beautiful homework solutions that look like they came from a textbook, and here I am with my Word equations.
  5. Apply to math REUs and hopefully get into one.
  6. Get more involved in student organizations.
  7. Get a work-study job.
  8. Practice driving.
  9. Do something about my (Diet Coke) drinking problem. Maybe I'll save that for next semester. :-\"