The “Glorified Babysitter”: Meet Your RA

If you watched the video above, you heard Jeffrey use the term “glorified babysitter” to describe your RA. (He’s a former RA, so he has the right to say that!) Although not the most flattering of terms, it’s true that your RA is like a babysitter. Think back to when you were young. You probably had some great babysitters and some not-so-cool ones. With RAs, it can be the same situation, although this time you’re much older and hopefully wiser than you were when you were six.

As Jeffrey says, there are different types of RAs. Some have great characteristics and take their job seriously (even a little too seriously perhaps), and others not so much. Either way, there’s one secret to getting along with and living with any RA: don’t cause trouble! You’re in college now. You know what’s right and what’s wrong, and those 57 dorm building rules are mostly common sense anyway.

If your RA’s cool and you don’t cause trouble, you guys will get along fine. If your RA is overly strict and you stay out of trouble, even if you guys aren’t best buddies, you shouldn’t have any problems with each other. Sometimes, as Jeffrey says, there’s the RA who’s frankly lazy and passive about his or her duty—don’t think that this means you can get away with anything! Keep in mind that in many schools, RAs take rounds together, passing through dorm hallways to make sure everyone’s safe and keeping the peace. Even if your RA won’t catch you doing something, another one might. So be sensible and, like your RA will probably say, make good choices.

Mastering The All-Important College Skill Of… Effective Napping!

Sometimes college students aren’t known to pick up the most positive of habits, such as drinking too much or procrastinating work and then performing poorly. While those topics and habits deserve their own discussions, not all college-related habits are negative. Once you’re in school, you’ll inevitably start napping, which done correctly, can be one of the healthiest habits to pick up!

The nap though, like any habit, is too often abused. Since college life is associated with not enough sleep, longer naps seems to be the solution, at least most students think. It’s true that if you slept only two hours the night before, the power nap just won’t cut it, but try not to let those naps stretch into marathon sleep sessions. At some point, naps become sleep, as in that they’re just like sleeping for a night… except it’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The best naps will last you 10 to 30 minutes, giving you that boost of energy that no matter what the latest marketing trend says, will still be better than an energy drink.

The time that you nap is also important. Taking a nap too late can make it difficult to fall asleep at night. The best time to nap is around 2 or 3 p.m., which can really be nice if you get sleepy after lunch. Sometimes your class schedule won’t permit an ideal nap time, but that’s why if you keep it short, an evening nap can still help reinvigorate the rest of your day. And if you’ll be up late anyway, that evening nap is just what’s needed. If you’re worried you’ll sleep too long, set an alarm; it’s an obvious yet underused solution. Instead of risking it, set your alarm and wake up before it’s too late and that nap becomes a hibernation.

Naps aren’t for all students, though. If you’re already not sleeping well or enough at night, a nap can sometimes further cause problems to your sleep cycle. And if despite your use of an alarm, if you know that nap will turn into an hours-long activity, you’re probably better off focusing more on trying to sleep well at night. Naps are all about trial and error. If you find you sleep better in the 4 to 5 p.m. range and it isn’t worsening your sleep at night, aim for that time as opposed to the earlier afternoon. Fortunately it’s easy to tell when effective napping is working: you’ll feel better and more energized.

If napping can help learning, memory, and mental acuity, as a college student who’s there to learn a thing or two, napping sounds like a healthy habit, and it is. But if napping replaces regular nighttime sleeping, you’ve crossed the line. Only use naps supplementally for the healthiest and the most feel-good results.

Does Everyone In College Seem Smarter Than You?

Even if you were the straight-A student in high school and were the one who people were always going to for homework help, college is different. With some solid effort and studying, there’s no reason you can’t excel there too. However, you might have to make some room at the lunch table, so to speak. There will be plenty of other smart students at your college, and some will be smarter than you.

This shouldn’t be seen as a challenge however! Even if you were your school’s quiz bowl champion, no one’s out to dethrone you. When entering college, come in with the mentality that you’ll be meeting plenty of other students who are smarter than you, and plenty frankly who aren’t as smart as you, whether in the classroom or when it comes to making life choices. So be prepared to embrace this diversity.

Whether you’re in the classroom, the cafeteria, or at a club meeting, you’re bound to meet people who know more than you or are downright more intelligent. So when you do meet these fellow students, think of them as just that: fellow students. You can learn just as much from other students as you can from professors and teachers. It can be a bit of a pride issue for anyone, but admit it, you’ve met someone smarter than you, so now see what you can learn.

If you weren’t the genius in the classroom while in high school, that means you’ll have even more opportunities to learn from other students. While you won’t be taking classes from other students, pay attention to their ideas and approaches. Whether analyzing literature or working your way through an organic chemistry problem, other students will have different means of coming up with an answer and different answers too. So don’t just pay attention to the teacher; pay attention to your fellow students just as much.

You and another bright student can both get to the same correct answer, but how you got there can be different too. Even if the course material is the same, reasoning can be different, and that’s where every student can take his or her own approach. Indeed, other students can be just as valuable learning resources as your teacher and your textbook.

Oh, The Places You’ll Walk And Other Means Of Staying Fit In College

No matter how big or small your college campus is, you’ll be doing plenty of walking throughout college life. Even if you commute to college via car, unlike in high school, class locations aren’t exactly down the hall from each other. This means you should have your walking shoes ready! If you couple that with wearing a heavy backpack, it can even be a bit of workout going to class!

But don’t stop there. Walking should be seen as supplementary exercise, in addition to some other fitness-based activities. If you went to the gym in high school, college won’t seem all that different. It seems practically every dorm has a gym affixed to it. Gyms around campus are about as common as on-campus cafeterias, meaning there’ll be at least a few, and some should be pretty decent.

But maybe you don’t like the gym. No problem. Most schools probably have at least a pool or two that’s open for students to use. There’s nothing that grinds out the stress better than an evening at the gym or some time spent swimming after a day of class. A lot of students who weren’t gym goers before find that they love the gym after they start going in college. College life is all about trying new things, so make a healthy choice and start going to they gym. And unlike before or after college, you won’t have to pay for a membership to the gym!

Physical fitness-based activities based around college life are so common. Look at how popular longboarding, for example, has become on college campuses. And there are plenty of biking and jogging groups to get involved with at campus. Plus, since there’s such a culmination of new activity happening around campus, why not try a new, perhaps less common sport such as fencing or squash? Your school probably has gyms and activity rooms and courts devoted to sports beyond more common ones such as basketball and tennis. Try something new and find a new means of exercise that you actually enjoy.

When it comes to developing healthy habits, college is the ideal place to start. If you didn’t really exercise or work out much before and then you start to in college, that could be a tough habit to break once you’re out of school—and that’s not a bad thing of course. So whether you find yourself going off to the gym or trying a new exercise activity or sport that you had no idea you’d enjoy, use your time in college for some exploration and keep that freshman 15 at bay.

On The Job While In College? How To Keep Looking On The Bright Side

College is expensive. That can be stated as fact. So if you have a part-time job while in college, you’ll at least be making some extra money to offset that tuition bill. Still, if you’re working while in college, it can be tough to balance work with school.  Juggling time is the biggest issue, and for that sometimes there’s no great advice other than do your best and be prepared to have to stay up late studying some nights! However, it can be just as difficult to keep yourself motivated, and for that, keep the big picture in mind while you’re and you should pull through.

Most part-time college jobs aren’t all that fun. Whether you’re working in a restaurant, a store, or a gas station, you’re probably working hard and not exactly making millions. But the money that you are making is important; it’s the reason you’re working after all! College isn’t getting cheaper, and remember that every bit helps. In all honesty, hopefully you’re not putting all your earnings toward your tuition. You’ll need some money too for when you go out with friends and want to have a good time. Using all your hard-earned money on tuition would take the biggest chunk out of those bills, but then again you’d have to really be disciplined to pull that off. Plus, spending a little of your earnings will make you feel good; you’ve earned that money after all. Put it to work.

Hopefully when you’re finished with school you can find a job that you find more enjoyable and fulfilling. In the meantime, that job you’re at now is good experience. Not only is it another slot for your resume, it’s also preparing you for life after college, the dreaded real world. Even in the real world , you’ll have bosses, some routine tasks, and workplace culture. Your college job may not be your job of choice, but it will still get you acclimated to a workplace environment, which is important since it’s different than the classroom.

If you’re able, find a job while in school that you can actually enjoy, and one that might help with your academics. For example, if you’re a science major, see if you can get a job in a science lab on campus. Even film studies majors working in movie theaters can learn about their chosen industry in field. If it relates to your college career, that part-time job will be all the better for you from a learning standpoint, and you might well enjoy it more, which never hurts.

At the very least, that part time job could be a fun one if nothing else. If you like kids, you could work in an area daycare or make every night a party by becoming a bartender. You might as well enjoy that part time job, and it also feels good to get paid for doing something you enjoy, even if it’s not enough to cover all those big tuition bills!