Managing Missed Classes: Don't Let Your Grades Suffer

For one reason another, you’ll have to miss class at times—notice the difference between

“miss” and “skip.” Skipping class is voluntarily not going, despite the perhaps hundreds of dollars you’re spending for each educational session. You’ll probably find yourself guilty of that on occasion too, but missing class can happen for all sorts of legitimate reasons: you have an event with one of your extracurricular clubs that day; you had to head home for a few days; you’re sick, which given dorm living’s close quarters, getting sick will inevitably occur.

All’s not lost when you have to miss some classes, and that A should still be within reach. But like all aspects of college life, it’ll take some effort. If you’re going to be away from your school or preoccupied with some club’s event for the day, you know ahead of time you’ll miss class. This gives you the advantage of preparation. During the first week of most classes, your instructor will give you the class syllabus outlining the class-by-class or week-by-week schedule. Don’t lose this handout! With it, you can see exactly what you’ll be missing and do your best to actually pay attention to the textbook reading corresponding to that missed class.

We all know it can be tough teaching yourself form only a textbook, however. So try asking someone in the class if you can borrow his or her notes. Some students take notes continuously as professors speak; others sit back and soak it all in … or daydream. If it’s a class where you don’t have any friends whom you can ask to borrow notes, keep your eye out for students who look like good notetakers. Those students who bring laptops and type up their notes are great candidates; sharing notes is as easy as sending an email … that is unless they were secretly playing computer games the whole time.

Especially with smaller classes, teachers prefer to be notified that you’ll be absent from a class. This shows that hey, you actually care about the class and are politely informing the teacher you’ll be gone—without notification, that teacher might well think you’re skipping out! He or she can give you any handouts and briefly tell you what material you’ll be missing. Since most teachers have open office hours, your teacher might suggest you stop by to catch up on what you missed. All of this takes a little extra time and effort, and yes, it’s easier to just not show up for a couple classes and pretend it never happened. But it’s that little bit of extra effort that will keep you on top of the material and give you a better impression with your teacher—grade-wise, it’ll pay off.

Just how much or how little catching up you’ll have to do will depend on what that trusted syllabus says. If you’re going to be gone the class before a big test, you know you’ll have plenty of reading and review to do! Professors frequently hold a review-based class session before an exam, so missing those means more study time later. However, it also means you won’t miss any new material. Either way, professors are apt to change test dates due to all sorts of factors, which is again why it’s important to tell professors you’ll be absent; they can keep you up-to-date on material and on the schedule. Try not to let missing class become a habit, but for when you know you’ll be gone, be prepared. It’s just another easy way to make college living, your grades, and that whole four-year experience that much better.

Living Small And Learning From It

Living in a dorm room while you’re in college means you’ll be living small. The room is small, your closet will be small, and even your dorm bed, while Twin XL size, will still be not very large. But living small isn’t a bad thing by any means. In fact, there’s a lot to be learned from it.

When you’re living small, it means that you’ll have to maximize efficiency. Learning to be efficient, in any regards, can honestly never be a bad thing. One of the challenges of dorm life relates to a simple question: where will you store all those dorm supplies? That answer can vary quite a bit, as you’ll need the right storage supplies to ensure that that dorm room isn’t a mess. It also means that space can’t be wasted, and if you can manage space, you can manage other things too.

It’s really no stretch to say that if you can keep a dorm organized, you can keep other things organized too. Being efficient with your living space means that you’ll be the type to keep syllabi in line too and all those textbooks. After all, you won’t be able to use the excuse that the dog ate your homework while you’re in college! So get in a good habit by keeping your dorm stuff organized. From there, other things will follow, making college life more efficient all around.

While it may be taking a grand view, that little dorm room can act as a microcosm of your college career. Will you be a student who stays organized and gets to class on time while having the reading done and has been diligent not to lose any important handouts? Or, will you be the student who loses the handout the minute you receive it? It’s probably somewhere in that stack of papers that’s mixed with your snacks, shoes, and who knows what else, right? If this sounds like your dorm room, it’s time to make some changes.

Living small also often means appreciating more of what you have. That big closet back home? Gone. A big bead to spread out on? That’ll be swapped for a twin XL bed.  But you’ll realize that, hey, it’s not so bad at all, which is a good realization to come to. Living small means making sacrifices at times, but you’ll see that it’s all that’s needed. It’s also a good lesson to learn, as your college apartment that you live in later on might not be much bigger!