Time Management for College Freshmen

Michael Smith/ August 3, 2023/ College, Executive Functions

By: Michael Smith & Georgia Bozeday Ed.D.

The word PLANNING spelled out using Scrabble pieces.

This past May, millions of students across America graduated from high school and many of these students will be heading off to 4‑year college or university in the coming weeks. This transition often fills students (and their parents!) with a mix of excitement and anxiety.  In college, students have more control over their daily schedule and have much more self-directed time to get their coursework done.  However, failing to manage all of this “free” time, will lead to missed deadlines and stress.  This post will explain why you need a planner and examine the pros and cons of a paper vs. a digital system. Also, I would encourage any new college freshman to do the activity described at the end of this post contributed by Dr. Georgia Bozeday, Director of Educational Services at Rush NeuroBehavioral Center. 

Choose a Planner System (Paper, Digital, or both!)

Every college student needs a planner system.  Our brains are not designed to remember all the details and deadlines of every assignment, paper, and exam.  Luckily, if we write this information down in a planner or enter it into a calendar app, using our Executive Function skills, our brains are designed to see our upcoming tasks and make plans to get our work done.  With this in mind, students should decide what system will work best for them… paper or digital.  Here are a few pros and cons for each:

Paper Planner

Pros

  • Writing by hand helps you process information better
  • Paper planners are highly customizable
  • You won’t be interrupted by notifications from other apps

Cons

  • It’s one more thing to carry around
  • Making changes can be messy
  • If you lose it, there is no “Cloud Backup”

Digital Planner/Calendar App

PROS

  • You will always have your planner available on your phone
  • You can access a cloud-based planner from multiple devices
  • Automated reminders can alert you of upcoming due dates
  • Online calendars are easy to share with others if you are trying to coordinate a study group

CONS

  • Apps are less flexible than paper and can sometimes have a steep learning curve
  • It’s more difficult to see the “big picture”. (The activity below will address this!)
  • Notifications from other apps can be a distraction when you are trying to make a plan.

Hybrid System (Paper & Digital)

Personally, I use a hybrid system to manage my time and tasks.  I use a calendar app to keep track of deadlines/appointments and a paper journal to help me manage my daily tasks.  This system really works for me and I think it could be a good fit for a lot of college students as well. To use a hybrid system in college, students should enter anything that is happening (or is due) on a specific day and time, into their digital calendar app. Encourage them to reference and update this app regularly. On days when they have a lot of “free time”, they can use a paper planner or blank notebook to make a list of activities and tasks that they want to accomplish that day before hanging out with friends or just enjoying some downtime. 

The Big Picture

In addition to her role as director of educational services at RNBC, Dr. Bozeday taught a Study Strategies  course at Loyola University for several years.  Below she describes one of her favorite time management activities from that course… 

Creating a Semester Timeline to see The Big Picture by Georgia Bozeday Ed.D. 

During the first week of class, I would give each student a long piece of butcher-block paper, about three feet long and a set of colored markers.  Using their syllabi, students would then create a semester timeline, plotting due dates for their assignments, papers, and exams. I instructed students to use the black marker to create the timeline and color-code their coursework and assessments making it easy to distinguish between different classes. 

Creating this semester timeline provided students with both the big picture for the whole term and the details regarding specific assignments. Additionally, the timeline allowed students to easily identify those time periods when due dates for assignments and exams are clustering – during mid-terms and finals weeks for example, when students will need to be diligent in applying effective time management strategies. 

Students would often roll their eyes at this activity comparing it to a 6th-grade history project.  But once they completed the activity, they had a very different perspective.  “This makes it feel real”, one student remarked.  Some students told me that they taped their timelines up on the wall of their dorm rooms and shared, “I am definitely doing this every semester!”

(Photo Acknowledgement: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA)

Share this Post