Freshmen sometimes ask: “How do you keep up at the university? You have to go to all the classes, do labs, write papers, do homework”... Indeed, the first year of university is a big step, one that not every high school graduate gets to take.

Let’s look at the main differences between studying in school and at a university. Over 10-11 years of school, we get used to care and heightened attention from parents and teachers. Certain control measures have been developed and are practiced: regular parent-teacher meetings, written certification of the child’s successes for the week in the diary, as well as quarterly in the report card, one-on-one meetings between parents and teachers on the street or on public transportation, since everyone conveniently lives nearby. Hardly any fact, however small, about your studies will escape your parents.

There is no such control at the university. By and large, nobody gives a damn about the students. For example, it is considered beneath one’s dignity to call the parents even after a student has been absent from classes for a month. This is what we dreamed of all through our last years of school: “If only we could get the hell out of here and be free.” This is where many students make the biggest mistake. They confuse “freedom from” with “freedom to.” In the case where studying at the university becomes freedom from excessive control at school, we can observe how straight-A students slide into mediocrity; they can no longer deliver the productivity they delivered at school. Maybe it seems to them that the store of knowledge they accumulated in school will be enough, but that is a delusion, because university requirements are much higher. But there is no control, and there is no person nearby who will say: “Slow down!” On the other hand, I know many cases where studying at the university becomes freedom for self-realization in the required direction. Here even C students and layabouts from school can reveal their talent and become good specialists.

Students often underestimate how hard university studies are. Some see the university as a hobby club: have a smoke by the flowerbed in the morning, hang out at the extender in the afternoon, have a little beer at the stadium in the evening. My attitude toward studying at the university is as toward a full-fledged job, with a 40-hour workweek. For example, if during the week a student had 12 class periods (18 clock hours), then he should work another 22 hours at home.

Let’s look at a few simple, practice-oriented tips that can be useful immediately after you start applying them.

Time planning

In life, we cannot increase the number of hours in a day. We can only spend the 24 hours we have. You can spend them effectively, or you can spend them any old way. You can draw an analogy with money. If you don’t plan your spending before going to the store, you may end up without some necessary thing, because the money will already have been spent on something empty and unnecessary. A proven method is to get yourself a planner and write down in advance all university classes, independent work, personal meetings with friends, helping your parents, going to the movies, sports, and so on. Those who say planning itself takes a lot of time have probably never actually tried doing it. I can’t say planning takes me more than five minutes a week. Students with laptops or smartphones can use numerous programs that automate personal time planning.

If you take the trouble to schedule your time for a week or more, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that, as it turns out, you can manage to do far from everything. It is exactly the same in life: you will not be able to do everything. So, in order not to miss the goals you have set in life, you need to set priorities correctly.

A simple way to prioritize tasks

There are urgent tasks, and there are non-urgent ones. There are important tasks, and there are unimportant ones. Since you are a student, your important tasks are going to classes and doing homework. Usually this is made the number-one priority. No less important are sports and various work at home, such as helping parents and loved ones. Tasks can be ranked by urgency: “for today,” “for tomorrow,” “this week,” “this month,” and so on. It is very convenient to write all tasks down in a table, as shown below. The upper-left corner is important and urgent tasks; you need to focus on them and do them first. The lower-right corner is unimportant and non-urgent activities. You can skip them altogether.

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You have no money, but you have time

Most likely, neither your parents nor, all the more so, your instructors will be interested in your fate. Therefore, you will have to answer to yourself. Maybe you have no money, but you have time. It turns out time can be invested too. Invest it in yourself. This means that if you devote several years to studying and practicing programming, the dividends will be success in the profession. If you spend time on stupid hangouts near the institute, if you don’t listen to the professor in lectures, if you play solitaire in labs, then that spent time will never come back to you in any way. You can deceive your parents and friends, but you are unlikely to be able to deceive yourself.