Well Counselor

Are you a counseling student about to start a new semester? Maybe it’s your first semester back after time spent away from the classroom setting and you have forgotten how to be a student. Or perhaps you have already taken some counseling courses but are looking for tips for staying more organized this year. There are a few strategies you should take at the beginning and throughout the semester to ensure you stay on top of all of your deadlines and get the educational support you need to successfully complete your assignments. Taking this extra time to prepare for the beginning of the semester will help you to feel a little bit less stressed once your schedule starts getting busy. If you are already a couple weeks into the semester, no worries! There is still time to prepare yourself for a great fall semester. Take some time now to implement the three strategies outlined below. Your future self will thank you! 

1. Organize everything into one calendar.

At the beginning of each semester, you receive all the syllabi for your courses. Do yourself a favor and compile all of the assignment deadlines, readings, and class meetings into one digital or hardcopy calendar. Be sure to include any personal appointments and scheduled activities with family and friends. Do this during the first few weeks of classes so that you don’t have to search through 3 or 4 syllabi to figure out what you have to complete each week. This will safe you so much time and reduce the chance you forget about an important deadline or event. Putting all of this information in one place also helps you plan ahead, especially if you have multiple assignments due in one week. You can even schedule your own personal deadlines for assignments a few days before the actual deadline so that you have a buffer to complete the assignment without rushing. 

2. Set up a system to organize your digital clutter.

Organizing your digital clutter is helpful even if you are someone who takes notes by hand in class. In today’s digital world, you will likely create and submit assignments via email or an online learning platform. You should have an organized system for storing these files while you are working on assignments and so that you can access them again after you submit them. Create digital file folders for each subject or course, and save all of your files accordingly so you won’t waste any time searching for files once you get really busy. Once you set up a way to organize your files, decide how you will save backup copies of anything you wouldn’t want to accidentally lose to a laptop misfortune (Believe me: laptops die, get stolen, or lose files- prepare for these worst case scenarios so you don’t lose your hard work). You can do this by investing in an external hard drive, saving files on a USB drive, or using an online storage platform like Google Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox (among others). Your university probably gives you free access to some type of online storage platform so double-check before you spend your own money. You can also email yourself important documents and save them in your email as a backup. If you do save your files in your email, be sure to create organized email folders! Can you see a theme? We love organized digital clutter!

3. Use your university library.

Whether you are beginning a research paper or looking for a specific book, ask your university librarian. Librarians hold a treasure-trove of information and are usually very willing to help. I was late in my educational experience before I realized just how amazing of a resource librarians can be, so please learn from my experience. You can ask librarians questions if you are having trouble finding a book or article, and they often provide trainings or other free resources that can help you as you complete your assignments. Depending on your library, there may be workshops on topics such as how to find research articles, write research papers, or improve your writing skills. Librarians are often very knowledgeable about the free technological resources that you can access while you are a student, and they can point you towards additional learning opportunities if you don’t know how to access these resources. 

Hopefully these 3 strategies will be useful to you as you start out your semester. Setting up your own personal system for staying organized is one of the most important steps you can take to ensuring a successful fall semester as a counseling student. Knowledge of your university’s resources is also so important, and your library is the key to learning a lot of that information. Well Counselor will provide more blogs for counseling students as the fall semester continues, so if you have any specific concerns or interests, please Submit a Question.

One last reminder: Take a deep breath and remember what led you to begin your counseling program. Hold on to that as your semester gets busy. Write it on a note and display it on your desk or some place you will see the reminder. Even though it may be stressful, you are living in an exciting time of personal and professional growth because your graduate program is just the beginning of your career as a counselor. Wishing you the best and so glad you are here. 

Note: Mention of specific products is to illustrate examples and is not a specific endorsement or paid advertisement.

This blog was written by Dr. Olivia Bentley, PhD, LPCC-S, Founder of Well Counselor.