As much as you tried to deny it all summer, here it is: another school year. Jumping back into school after three months of vacation can be difficult on good days and a nightmare on bad ones—sometimes you honestly think you forgot how to write an essay. But you ease back into it, and as you do, it’s time to start thinking about what you want to make of this year.
Do you want to be more organized?
If you don’t already have one, get a planner. I know you’ve been told this 15 times, but here’s the 16th. And also, important detail: actually use your planner. Plan out when you want to do that homework so that you don’t feel like you have a thousand things to do in the next three hours. The thing is, you don’t: you just have to strategize. Also, you can keep big projects and papers from sneaking up on you if you know how much time you have left to complete them.
Do you want to join a new club?
Whether you want to get more involved or just want to branch out past your comfort zone, consider joining that new club that you’ve heard about. No matter how much time you have left at DePauw, you can still find a new group or activity to fall in love with.
Do you want to make more connections?
Just as you never have to stop joining clubs, you never have to stop making friends. Even when you’ve got a crew that you wouldn’t trade for the world, don’t shut yourself off from the friendly faces you see around campus. Whether you finally become friends with that person that you always saw on your way to class but had never actually met, or end up being a rode-model for a first-year, you can never form too many bonds during your college years.
Do you want to change your major/minor?
This is a question we would all rather ignore, especially when we’ve already put work into our previous major (and planned our entire future around it). But if your summer internship related to said major had you bored out of your mind and a completely unrelated class is the highlight of your week, think over what you want. Make a visit to the Hubbard Center and research potential careers. But most of all, don’t stress. You deserve a career that you love, so don’t be afraid to rethink things and experiment.