Studying Late? A Dorm Desk Lamp Will Keep The Peace With Your Roommate

What do you get when you combine a gorilla, a tired college student, an an inconsiderate roommate? This video below! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ZJDakMSU4

You’ll want to avoid the outcome that’s shown in the video above. Yes, it’s a rather scary and unfortunate ending for the poor college student who neglected to have some common respect for her tired roommate. So don’t be that roommate. Have a little respect when it comes to late-night studying in your dorm room. With the right dorm supplies, it’s easy to study late at night and not have to worry about disturbing your sleeping roommate. So make sure you’re well prepared.

The key college supply here will be a dorm desk lamp. It’s a pretty straightforward, basic dorm item, but will be just what’s needed when it comes to not disturbing sleeping roommates. A desk lamp will make it so that you don’t have to worry about keeping your roommate awake; quite simply it’s an essential for college if you think you’ll be staying up late and studying in your dorm room. While it’s quite obvious, an overhead light isn’t very conducive to sleeping. A desk lamp for college can, however, be placed on your desk and can be aimed right at your desk, ensuring there’s no brightness spilling out and making it hard for your roommate to sleep.

When it comes to choosing your desk lamp, though, there are some lamps for college dorms with extra features. Be sure to choose one that you can adjust. Most dorm desk lamps have an adjustable neck so that you can aim and adjust the angle of the lighting. Some are also clip-on lamps, which provide a cool and useful feature. You can clip the lamp right on the edge of your dorm desk or even on your bed frame if you wish. By clipping on your college lamp, you won’t have to worry about taking up any additional desk space.

The whole issue of dorm desk lamps and not leaving the light on at night ultimately comes down to an etiquette and respect issue between you and your roommate. It’s easy to say that you should be respectful to your roommate! But think about it how you were told back in kindergarten: how would you like it if someone left the light on when you were trying to sleep? C’mon, you can’t say you didn’t notice your roommate trying to sleep. So prevent any incidents and harsh feelings between you and your roommate. Just get a desk lamp for college and your problem’s solved!

Like variety? Keep That Schedule Flexible In College

When you’re headed off to college, you’re probably looking forward to not having to wake up at 6 a.m. every day like you had to for high school. In fact, you’re probably downright excited to not start classes till noon! We don’t mean to put a damper on things, but not every class in college starts at noon. Yes, there are still 8 a.m. classes, and some schools even have Saturday classes! The horror!

Don’t fret it. Throughout your college career, you probably will have the chance to not have to start class until 11 a.m. or noon on some days; that’s one of the benefits of a college schedule. But don’t expect every day or every semester to unfold this way. In fact, you’re better off staying flexible with your schedule. As tempting as it might be, don’t let your sleep schedule determine your class schedule! Stay flexible, takes classes that you need to take, and recognize that sometimes you’ll have to wake up at 8 a.m. and other times you’ll get to sleep until noon!

Every major will have required classes. Those required classes, however, will vary greatly in the time slots that they’re offered and in the frequency that they’re offered. So to make sure you get all your required classes, prepare to be flexible. When you need to take a class and it’s offered only at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m., prepare yourself! Like it or not (probably not), you’ll have some early-morning classes. But think of it as training for the “real world.” Also, if you started class at noon every day, the appeal of sleeping in would get old, believe it or not.

You’ll also be better off if you accept the fact early on that you just won’t be able to follow a “normal” schedule in college. On some days you’ll have lunch at 3 p.m., your bedtime will be 2 a.m. and you’ll take a nap from 1-4 p.m. That sounds like a normal schedule for … probably no one. It’s a bit crazy, but get used to it! In fact, embrace it! Some students find having the same schedule every day can get rather monotonous and dull. In college life, that won’t be happening. However, if you’re one who likes a more routine schedule, you should at least be able to schedule some breaks in between classes, breaks where you can do normal things like a have a meal or take a one-hour nap.

If your required classes have left you with a schedule that you just don’t like or find that you can’t get used to, don’t worry. The nice thing about college is that that schedule can take a complete 180 each semester. If you have a crammed schedule of early morning classes one semester, next semester you’ll have the chance to start off fresh. Well there’s really no guarantee that you can make your ideal schedule any semester, at least you’ll get the chance to switch things up, hopefully for the better, each semester.

Just remember, be flexible! The variation you’ll have each semester can even be refreshing and fun. It’ll keep college interesting, to say the least. High school can feel so monotonous since you’ll be on the same early-morning schedule each day. That probably won’t be the case in college! Some semesters you’ll have a great schedule, and other times, not so much. Either way, stay flexible and you’ll enjoy the changes and variation that college life delivers.

Double Major? Two Minors? Know Which Subjects To Focus On

College life can feel overwhelming if you look at all the choices that you have to make within just a few short years. When it comes to deciding your major, that’s a big choice but fortunately one that your school will provide you with a few semesters to decide. You might start school off knowing what you’d like to focus on. Or, it might take a couple semesters to figure out. Either way, sometimes it’s not about knowing what to study so much as it’s knowing how much to study! No, we’re not talking about how many hours you should put in hitting the books; we mean how many different subjects and areas you should focus on.

If you choose to double major, you might think that you’re in for a whole extra set of required course and a much heavier workload. That might be true, but check out the requirements for each major before making that decision. Not all majors are the same. Some will require overall smaller numbers of credits, meaning fewers classes and less work. Some, however, are sufficient in providing plenty of studying and material for a full four years. Keep in mind that your school will have some general education classes that you’ll have to fulfill as well. Those general education classes will in themselves provide enough work and class time to make up a separate major, except you can’t major in gen. ed classes!

Pairing two broad fields of study to create a double major really might not be the best choice; you should at least be cautious and careful if you choose to do so. If you find you’re working so hard that it’s too much to bear, it’s a situation best not finding yourself in in the first place. Speak with an academic advisor before you take on this task and review the course requirements as well. If one field really catches your eye but you just don’t think you can handle a second major, there’s another solution: add it on as a minor! Many subjects and fields that you can major in at college can also be studied as minors.

Adding a minor is a great way to better round out your education and is overall less burdensome than adding a second major. A minor will let you more than dabble in a second field, as you’ll take enough classes in that field to really learn about it. Plus, having a degree with more than one area of study can in no way hurt you. Some students really choose to mix things up here. If you’re majoring in a science field, add on a minor in literature or something entirely different. It will show that you’re diverse and able to think critically in different fields. Plus, adding on a minor can just be plain more fun. If your major is a rather dense subject, choosing a minor that’s entirely different can help assort your workload and studying.

The possibilities are all up to you. If you do choose two similar majors, you’ll learn even more in your field of choice. And if you opt for diversity, trust us, it’ll always raise eyebrows when you say you’ve majored in biology and children’s literature, for example! (The raised eyebrows will be a sign of positive surprise!) If you do stick with only one major, you might even regret not adding on a second field of study, whether as another major or a minor. You’ll be spending at least a few years in college, so get the most out of it that you can!

Have A Plan While In College ... A Daily Plan, That Is

You don’t need to be super smart to realize that you’ll be busy throughout college life. Hopefully you’ll get involved with some groups and student organizations. On top of classes, it can lead to one rather full schedule! Even if you don’t join any clubs and don’t get involved—which isn’t recommended—you’ll still be pretty busy. If you don’t get involved and don’t study for your classes, well, then you won’t be busy, but that’s really not recommended.

So to keep your daily schedule straight, give yourself a hand. Amid studying, club responsibilities, and remembering to hangout with friends, you’ll need something to keep your mind in order. We don’t care how organized you think you are, you’ll need some help. How you choose to stay organized, though, is up to you. But just do something!

In high school, you probably had a school-provided agenda. Did you actually use it? If you did, don’t neglect one while in college. Although your school won’t give you one for free, most likely, pick up a cheap agenda book from your school’s bookstore. Those little books are perfect if you still find that writing things down is the easiest way to keep track. Some students will try to write down their homework plans and other activities in a regular old lined notebook. This never ends well. Make sure you get an actual agenda, the type with calendar days on the pages, otherwise your attempt to stay organized will be just that … a nice attempt.

Or, perhaps you’re all about the tech. No problem. Your cellphone probably has more calendars and organizational apps than you even know about. We know you know how a cellphone works, and how all those beeps and auto-reminders can really come in handy. If that’s what you prefer, then by all means. Electronic means of organization do have a tendency to be neater in general since they won’t have scribbled text and random cross-outs that tend to frequently appear in agenda books. Plus, using a calendar in your cellphone or on your computer will provide way more features than can be done with a pen and paper, such as automatic weekly reminders and more. We don’t have to list all the features for you, lest we start sounding like some sort of cellphone commercial!

The biggest combatant to not staying organized is being inconsistent. If you like using an agenda, use it. If you prefer to use your laptop reminders, do that. It’s the students who attempt some of each and then scribble some reminders in the margins of their books who end up utterly disorganized and confused. Find the method that works for you, and stick with it. It’s a bit funny to think about, but you’ll need to organized how you stay organized. As long as you’re consistent, you shouldn’t have a problem, as there’s little worse than forgetting entirely about a test or a project due date. Staying organized will make college life only easier, so take some time to figure out what works best for you and stick to it.