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LN

August 16th, 2022

My top tips to organise yourself in the first year

0 comments | 1 shares

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

LN

August 16th, 2022

My top tips to organise yourself in the first year

0 comments | 1 shares

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

To start university feels daunting and exciting at the same time. There are a lot of things to think about, and it is likely you might feel overwhelmed at the beginning. In this blog, I share with you my top tips to make your first weeks of university more organized and enjoyable!

1 Use Google Calendar (with reminders!)

If there is a single app I recommend you download on your phone before university, it would be Google Calendar. It is super useful to put your timetable for the year as well as planning all your events. What I really like about the app is that it has a reminder function sending you a notification, say, 30 min before your class starts. This already helped me multiple times!

2 Write down on your agenda an event as soon as you have heard of it

This is something I realized only after missing out on a few events because I completely forgot to note them down on my agenda. Do not trust yourself to remember everything in your head, as you will inevitably forget things. To tell yourself “I’ll write it down later” also does not work. The only way I found not to forget things was to write them down straight away. Trust me, it really does help, and you will feel less stressed because you will have less things in your head.

3 Read your departmental newsletter and all emails you receive from LSE

Honestly, it is quite important – and a lot of students omit to read them as their mailbox gets fuller. There are a lot of cool opportunities people miss out (including me) because they simply do not read carefully enough those emails! They can contain a lot of information and be tiring to read, but I recommend you put 5 minutes of your day aside to do it, at breakfast for example. You will be happy you followed this advice when you will be the first one to get free stationary or free food from your department!

4 Have a cloud backup

Some people think that their computer is a survivor which will never break. But if it does – and it happens to the best of us – and all your documents are not backed up on some Cloud, losing them can become very stressful. LSE provides a free Microsoft online storage solution, OneDrive, synchronizing your emails on Outlook as well as your notes on OneNote and your essays on Word. It is very easy to use, and I highly suggest you to register your notes on your LSE Drive, as it could save you a lot of trouble. Also, OneNote allows you to organise your notes in folders, that you can then divide into sections and pages. It helps me find the information I am looking for more easily, as I can divide each week into different pages for my lecture notes, my readings and my notes from the class.

These were my tips to organize yourself at the beginning of university, and I hope you found them useful! Lastly, I want to point out that you should not stress too much if you do not have enough time to do all the academic work you want to. First year results do not count as much as in second and third year, so prioritize making friends and doing fun things😊

About the author

LN

Hi! My name is Hélène, and I am currently a second year Management student at the LSE.

Posted In: Student life | Student Life: Advice | Study: Undergraduate

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