As there is so much to do on a college campus, it is common to want to fill your schedule with club activities, meetings, events, and more. Typically, the further along you are in school, the more packed your weekly schedule becomes. For some, this can become overwhelming very quickly. One of the keys to maintaining a successful college career is to stay organized. By making a list of important dates ahead of time in the Notes section of your phone, keeping up with a monthly planner, or utilizing online calendars, students can ensure that they never miss an assignment or important event and use their time at school to the fullest extent possible.

Cell phone resources

One of the most helpful, and most overlooked, resources on cell phones is the Notes section. This application provides a great place to list out all the important dates for the semester in one organized location. In order to give yourself a general overview for the semester, it is helpful to make a list of the courses you are taking this semester as well as all the organizations that you are a part of. Under each of these, you can make a bulleted list of upcoming important due dates or meeting dates and times.

This serves as a convenient resource to refer to during the busy times of the semester or finals week. My favorite personal feature of the Notes section is the option to create a to-do list. With this option, you can put bubbles beside each date or assignment and check it off after completion. This serves as a good motivator because you can see all of the difficult or fun things you have completed throughout the semester!

Keeping a planner

Another way to have all your important dates at hand is to keep up with a monthly planner. Planners are a great way to stay on track as they give you the option to display your information as detailed or long-term as you choose. You can select a planner for the calendar year or academic year, plus choose the layout you prefer: monthly, weekly, daily, or a combination.

Having options is nice because you can flip ahead to any given point within the semester and know what to expect coming up, as well as what you need to be working on day to day to ensure that you do not fall behind. As these are generally pretty small in size, you can put it in your backpack and carry it around with you anywhere. I bring my planner to class and write down homework assignments as they are assigned so it is not as overwhelming all at once.

Schedule reminders

If you want your phone to send you digital reminders, and you have a generally repetitive schedule, online calendars make organization simple as you can assign tasks and block out times every week for recurring events. Google calendar and the Microsoft Outlook calendar are just two examples of organized online resources that can be color-coded and set up however you choose. You can set up these to send you reminders everyday at set times that you choose. In addition, these are often free of charge so they can be a good alternative to planners. My favorite feature is that these online calendars are shareable with whoever you choose. This makes coordination with groups, friends, or teams a lot easier as you don’t have to manually detail your whole schedule out over text!

Being a student in college can be extremely busy and overwhelming. One of the big fears that comes with this is falling behind or missing assignments. There are many ways to help yourself stay organized, including the Notes section on your phone, yearly planners, and online calendars. If you choose to use even one of these methods, you can save yourself the stressful task of trying to memorize events and due dates and you can work smarter, not harder!