<p>Happy New Year to everyone. I was wondering how the transformation was from high school to College in the first semester. How did you manage your time, with all new friends, new experiences, distractions etc? Also it is generally considered more difficult to get high grades in College than in High School. What did you do differently in College to study?</p>
<p>Happy New Year to you too, QuietThinker! </p>
<p>Having just finished my first semester at UA, I can say that the transition has not been 100% smooth, but I have enjoyed it, and I am looking forward to another semester! One thing I did this semester which took some effort was stepping back a bit from how I did things in high school. I was in almost every club and a leader in about half of them my senior year. I recognized that in college this wouldn’t exactly be possible. Instead, I sampled a bunch of different clubs this semester, and now I am ready to choose the ways I will spend my time. Stepping back did feel a bit odd for me, and I have resolved to dive headfirst into more opportunities this semester. However, I am also glad that I didn’t overload myself with involvement. The final month or so was tough enough as it was with the CBH project.</p>
<p>As far as allotting time goes, a planner is a must-have. I live out of my planner; but then again, I’ve done that for years. The only difference now is that I write down some things that might conflict with each other, and choose based on how things are going closer to the meeting/event time. I learned to say “No” to some things.</p>
<p>In addition, I left a considerable amount of time for fun and friends. At the start of the year, it was a bit tough for me, being in an environment where I didn’t really have a best friend. That all sorted itself out, of course, and I’m much happier now. However, I’m still an extrovert, and sometimes I just can’t resist things like Late-Night Lakeside. :)</p>
<p>When it gets down to the wire, of course, I will force myself to hole up in my dorm room for study time. And being the queen of distractions, I lost my fair share of sleep on occasion. But I made it through!</p>
<p>Studying wasn’t a whole lot different for me, really. I read the chemistry book as I was supposed to, and I did all of the recommended problems for Calculus. Teachers don’t always require that you do certain things - for instance, calculus book problems, outside reading, questions from the textbook - but you have to learn to do them anyway. Luckily I learned a bit of that in high school!</p>
<p>Hopefully that answered your question! :)</p>