The dreaded skill of time management.

I'm sure you've been lectured about time management in the past and believe me, that's NOT what I'm about to do. In fact, I'm going to tell you that I'm still not great at time management and I've made it to my senior year of college. Some people spend too little time on schoolwork and too much time having fun. I'm one of those other weird people though. Schoolwork often takes me longer to do than it should and it's not because I have a problem with it or don't understand. I like to turn in the best work that I possibly can because I want to be able to use it for my portfolio so that I can get a job and don't have to do a lot of extra work later.

In college, you'll learn which classes you need to spend more time on and what classes you can spend less time on. The important thing to note is that it's not about being lazy, it's about being smart. I have one class that the teacher grades our homework in three points and each of those points count for having completed one of the three sections of each assignment. Obviously, there's not much point in writing the best essays ever for this class because they're not being seriously looked at for a grade. However, that doesn't just mean an open excuse to blow off a homework assignment. It's still important to do the assignments and to do them well. You'll learn though, that you should spend a shorter amount of time on these kinds of assignments than the ones that matter more or count as more of your grade or that you can use in the future for your portfolio.

Also right now, I am taking a class where I was assigned to write a 3 page minimum paper, double spaced. That's not a very long paper at all and it's pretty easy to get done quickly. However, the topic was of interest to me (internet marketing techniques) and I quickly got carried away as I often do. We were required to cite at least one source (book or internet) and I got carried away with my research too because I love doing it when the topic is an interesting one. I got on EBSCOhost and found about 10 different articles that were of interest and related directly to my topic. One of the best lessons I've learned from my English teachers here at La Roche is to never underestimate the power of EBSCOhost as a resource! You'll have unique sources that are more reliable than ones other people come up with. Looking through all my research and organizing my paper took a long time. Getting to three pages took maybe a half hour. I won't admit to how long it took me to be done with my paper, but some hours later I ended up with 16 pages!

Admittedly, I spent way too long on this assignment. The only thing that could justify this much time spent on a paper going above and beyond would be if I were to use it as part of a thesis for a senior seminar. However, I'm a graphic design student and we don't have to write a thesis for our senior seminar; we just have to present a design solution for a client. I am hoping to write a book about marketing yourself on the internet or something one day when I have some free time, so maybe this will come in handy then. Who knows? I did learn my lesson though and it's doubtful that I will overwork myself that much and that unnecessarily again.

It's that time of year...scheduling

Scheduling classes can sometimes be a real bear, but La Roche makes it fairly simple.

As an incoming freshman to La Roche, you simply take a placement test to determine your math and English course levels. It's fairly pressure-free because it's not for a grade or anything like in high school. The only thing is that if you do really bad on the placement tests, you're placed in the lowest level math and English courses. These classes require more class hours and they don't count as having completed a credit in those areas, so you have to take the higher freshman level classes at some point as well. Depending on your program, you could only have to take the bare minimum of core classes or the maximum amount. As a design major, I only needed college algebra and two semesters of English. By taking these placement tests, La Roche takes the stress off of you, the incoming freshman (as well as your parents), and creates a first semester schedule for you. If you know what major you want to enter as, they will schedule your necessary classes and if you are undecided, they will give you a sampling of classes to help expose you to different options.

After your first semester, you're on your own to meet with your advisor, look at your program guide (the official list of courses you need for your major) and pick the classes you need to graduate. This might sound overwhelming -and it should because you need to pick the right classes at the right times- but your advisor is always there to help and double check everything. The end result of meeting with your advisor  is that he or she clears you for registration. I registered for my final spring semester classes this past Monday and it was...full of its own challenges to say the least. My advisor trusts me a bit too much to pick out my own classes and doesn't usually care to double check my selections and didn't tell me how to prepare for graduation this time. The good thing about this is that there's always someone else in your department you can go to if you have questions and you can always ask to change advisors in the worst case scenario. Usually none of this is necessary if you just pay careful attention and keep track of all of the classes you are taking. After you meet with your advisor and he or she clears you to register, you log onto Project Ease, which is an intranet system that keeps track of your student schedule, transcript, GPA, and lets you register online. Each group, freshman through seniors, has their own specific time to register online. Mine was Monday the 25th, beginning at 8 a.m., which was also my start date to meet with my advisor. After my meeting, I got online and onto Project Ease, read through the information about registering and "signed" an electronic agreement, and then began to type in the course numbers for the classes I wanted in order to add them to my schedule. Several classes are offered at multiple times, so you get to pick the section that you want too, based on what time offering will go with your other classes. It's always good to get together with your friends and coordinate schedules before you register, though you can easily switch the classes out after you create your schedule.

I only had problems with registering for two of my classes. My specific problem was that the system said I didn't fill the prerequisites for the classes I wanted to take. Now, at the time I was a bit annoyed, because there will probably always be one issue with online registration because it is such a big and complex system. However, I realize that it is better to deny me a class that I can take than allow me to take a class that I am not prepared for (in terms of classes already taken). The fix for this problem was really, really easy. I went up to the Registrar when they opened at 9:30 and told them my problem. They were so kind and helpful! The woman who helped me looked my record up in the computer, had me fill in the course numbers of the classes I needed and get it signed by someone in my department (it didn't even have to be my advisor) and return it to her, whereupon she promptly put it into the computer for me and printed out my schedule for the spring semester. As I had figured, the problem only existed because the design department changed the course numbers on some of my classes after I had taken them for the class behind me. Thus, the computer had the new numbers in and couldn't recognize the old ones. It was such a simple and pain-free way to fix a little problem! Now I am happily registered for my last semester at La Roche. It feels weird to know I'll never be registering for more classes again.