5 Tips on Getting Back to the School Work Mode After Vacation

Laura Li
STEM Consultant
Career Services Center

I always find it a difficult transition to get back into the school mode after a long, relaxing vacation. Here are some helpful tips that can help get you back into your school routine in no time!

1.     Preparation is key: A few days before returning back to school, check your email to see if your professors post any syllabi, that way you have a general overview of the curriculum of the courses you are taking as well as planning out your semester by listing dates of exams or projects in your academic planner.

2.     Catching up with friends: Meeting up with friends after the break is always fun because everyone dishes out their fun vacation stories, but this is also a good time to see if you have any classes with your friends or classmates. That way you can form study groups with them for upcoming exams during the semester.

3.     The Planner: The first few days back to school from vacation will be hectic since you are slowly adapting to your new work and/or class schedule. Writing in your planner or creating a task list will take some of the stress off your shoulders because it will help keep you organized and prevent you from getting too overwhelmed.

4.     Eating Healthy: You know what they say, “Breakfast is the most essential meal of the day.” Having good nutritional habits provides the body with energy throughout the day. It is incredibly important to eat a hardy healthy breakfast on your first day back to school so that you can give your body the proper fuel to start off the day right.

5.     Don’t take on too much: Though it may be tempting to plan out your whole semester’s events all in one day, you don’t want to swamp yourself by taking on too much all at once. Sometimes it helps to focus on one thing at a time. Check off the assignments that you have done one by one, in no time; you will find yourself doing things in routine that will be easier to follow and get use to.

New Beginnings

Welcome Back Bobcats!

Once again we are all back into the business of the semester: navigating through classes, reuniting with friends, checking emails incessantly, and everything else that comes with college life.

For some, the spring semester can be a little more overwhelming then the fall. Maybe this is because there isn’t that long gap of summer that we have with the fall semester. It’s easy to revert into the same pattern of the last semester: same study habits, same weekend routine, etc. For some this may be a good thing, but for others that concluded the last semester with not the most desirable outcomes, this semester can be daunting. 

We might be tempted to look at this semester as a continuation of the past one, but I feel the danger of this, is it keeps us from understanding our mistakes and making the changes needed to be more successful.  I have found that the best way to have a successful semester is to reflect and start fresh, make new goals, and focus on the opportunity of new accomplishments that only the new semester can bring.   

But this advice isn’t something I can claim as my own; I feel very lucky to have had a friend, a couple years ago, fill me in on just how important this message is.  It was the spring semester of my freshman year, and I hadn’t done so well in my classes during the fall. When I got back from break, I felt discouraged and certain that the new semester would probably be no different.  Even though the new semester had barely begun, I already felt like giving up.

I sought the help of my friend, Katie, a junior who was really involved on campus, with great grades, and a very positive outlook on school. I felt like she knew something I didn’t and asked her how she was able to do so well. I explained to her how I had received a couple bad grades, and I was really stressed that I would repeat last semester’s mistakes again.

She told me a really simple, but profound lesson that I carry out even now as I am finishing up my own junior year. She said she didn’t always get the grades she wanted, but that it was so important to go into the new semester and start over. Begin every semester as if it were the very first, with renewed confidence and motivation. The past semester doesn’t dictate how the next semester will go, unless you let it. I realized I wasn’t doomed to repeat the past; this was a new semester and I would do things differently. And I did! I got organized, managed my time better, went to tutoring; and at the conclusion of the spring semester, I did really well. After that, I made a decision that each semester, good or bad; I would take it as a fresh start.

This doesn’t just apply to school, there are many other areas of life, including in our future career endeavors that this lesson resonates with. If an interview doesn’t go so well, or if you get reprimanded at work, that doesn’t mean you are bad at interviewing or a bad employee, it means learn from it, then move on. Do not let the past dictate how we feel in the present, and what we accomplish in the future.

That being said, I hope you take the time out to reflect on this past semester, and get excited about the “new beginnings” that Spring 2013 offers. 

The Summer Internship Hunt

Gillian Kay Lopez

Management Career Consultant

Career Services Center

People always say, “So you’re an expert at landing a job, right?” I may have background knowledge about the career field with my part-time job and some experience, but that doesn’t mean I can land a job quickly. Applying for a summer internship hasn’t been the easiest journey for me, but with persistence and hard work I have a good feeling that the right internship will come around.

I’m currently exploring the entertainment side of management such as event planning, public relations, and marketing. I’ve applied to two public relations firms earlier this week and the suspense of just waiting around is quite nerve wrecking and exciting at the same time. Before I applied to these internships, I had to do a ton of research on the companies’ culture, clients, and work projects. I wanted to be sure that the companies I was applying for were right for me.

When you really want something such as a job, you’ll find that the application process will take some extra time and care because who knows how many people you are competing with for that one position. Just recently I strolled upon my summer dream internship, with a small but charismatic PR company. The position I’m applying for is experimental marketing, which entails some event planning assistance, client promotions, and marketing development. If anyone knows me personally, they know that once I set my mind to something I’ll try my hardest to accomplish that goal. Getting just an interview with this company would bring endless amount of joy and slight relief.

So as I was doing research homework on this PR firm’s website, I stumbled upon a previous intern’s article titled, “My First Day.” After reading the wonderful article I decided to reach out to the author via LinkedIn to ask for advice about the company. The author gave me the best advice that typically would not be found in an everyday job description. Some advice she mentioned were how to stand out in the application process, what to put as a salary estimate, why the company is so wonderful to work for, and more. Not only did I gain assistance with my application, but I also established a new network.

The key idea to my personal experience with this internship job hunt is to do your homework before applying. Identify if you have any networks within the job you are applying for. If you don’t have any connections within the company and you really want the position, don’t be afraid to utilize great social network tools like LinkedIn, but make sure to stay professional and respectful towards the person you are asking assistance from.