This blog post will also be answering the question, “what do you wish you did differently before your freshman year?” submitted by an incoming ‘25!

What I Wish I Knew

College life would be hard to navigate without long-term goals.

 

My Mistakes & What I Learned

I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so I came into college more or less goalless. My freshman year went great until I realized that I had no goals, lost motivation to do well in classes, and questioned why I was here in the first place.

 So, if you don’t know what you want to do like I did, you should pick a few fields that interest you. Even if you don’t think there’s a class for them at Dartmouth, look around our departments’ course lists. You might be surprised by what you find! Set a goal to explore xyz fields, and when you find something that interests you, talk to people in that field (such as your professors, or you can use LinkedIn to connect with alumni) to see if it’s for you. 

If you need help figuring out what you want to do, you can also talk to your Undergraduate Dean or an Academic Coach. They can help you set long-term goals that will help motivate you as you move through Dartmouth.

 

What I Wish I Knew

You are not tied to a class as soon as you sign up for it and get into it.

 

My Mistakes & What I Learned

I let fear get in the way of signing up for classes my freshman year. For example, I had taken a two year break from chemistry (because my school didn’t offer more chem classes), and I was afraid that if I enrolled in CHEM 5, I would be behind other students, so I did not explore that path. Similarly, I didn’t take a creative writing course because I was afraid of having my joy critiqued. Don’t do that. 

I’ve learned that if you are afraid of a class, you can shop it! Shopping is when, during the first two weeks, you attend more classes than you intend on taking in order to see which you like best. For example, if you are doing a 3-course term, and you are unsure if your third course should be X or Z, sign up for the more popular course, Z, that will be full (because you won’t be able to get into it on week one during add/drop period). When add/drop opens in week one, add X as your fourth course, go to both for the week, maybe for week 2 as well, and drop the one you don’t like, or take both. Shopping is a great way to try out courses that you might be scared of, while still giving yourself the fallback of another course. 

 

What I Wish I Knew

GPA is important, even if you don’t want to go to grad school.

 

My Mistakes & What I Learned

As you know, I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I didn’t do much research on future jobs that I might have wanted, and I didn’t join career-centric clubs my freshman fall. I joined clubs like these in the late winter, and in the spring, I networked with upperclassmen, who informed me that GPA can be important for landing interviews! So, not wanting to close off doors, I spent my sophomore fall constantly studying to pick my GPA back up (which, though ultimately rewarding, isn't fun). 

It is true that if you have a 3.5 or higher, networking and the Dartmouth name will probably get you the interview, but some companies really want to see that 3.7~3.8 or higher. Even if you’re not interested in going to a prestigious graduate school or working at McKinsey or Goldman Sachs, please don’t wreck your GPA. You might change your mind as the years pass. 

College is for learning, so while you’re here, aim to do the best you can each term without sacrificing self-care and sleep time! 

 

What I Wish I Knew

It’s important to explore different departments your freshman year.

 

My Mistakes & What I Learned

I took the Japanese language three terms in a row, because I wanted to go to the Tokyo LSA+ (studying abroad, which I did not get to do because of COVID-19). Between Japanese and first-year writing requirements, I only had one class for exploration my freshman fall and winter, and I absolutely squandered these opportunities. In the fall, I picked a random class because I was clueless, and an upperclassman told me it was good. In the winter, I decided I would go for an art layup to get the distributive. 

I ended up majoring in Studio Art because of this, but I find myself wishing I explored with more purpose before I took 4 more art classes. I don’t regret taking Japanese, but I should have shopped for my third course instead of picking a subject at random and sticking with it.   

A tale about why you shouldn’t take classes just for distributives: In the spring, when the pandemic hit, I thought I would go for the hardest distributive (which was QDS for me) since it was pass/fail. Despite the pass/fail condition, I took linguistics, which I had no interest in, because I was still afraid of math after taking a two-year break from it. I ended up wanting to minor in a department that requires a math class. Not only do I have to take statistics, but I’ve taken calculus* here as well. I have three different courses for this one distributive, when students only need one to graduate. 

*I took calculus AB in high school and went to MATH 1 two years later, which was hard, but it was a faster paced repeat of AB. Don’t waste your time retaking classes. I should have studied on my own and taken a placement test.

So TL;DR, what should you do? 

1. Research classes before orientation. 
2. Shop courses so you can still explore while taking a 1-2-3 language sequence (if you plan on taking one). 
3. Try not to pick classes based on study abroad opportunities because they don’t always work out.
4. Don’t take courses you aren’t interested in just for the sake of getting a distributive. Your future major/minor will probably have a required course with those tricky distribs.
5. Study for and take placement tests! Even if you don’t think they’ll be useful, they can help you get out of prerequisites for courses you do plan on taking! Many social studies departments require a statistics class (which has a calculus prerequisite), so try the MATH 3 placement test if you’re interested in that. 

What I Wish I Knew

Clubs are fun. They’re a great way to get leadership experience and meet upperclassmen, and they’re only as intense of a time commitment as you want them to be!

 

My Mistakes & What I Learned

I wish I joined clubs my freshman fall. I didn’t participate in extracurriculars because I was worried about balancing them on top of an intense workload. 

You should try out a couple of clubs during week one if you’re up to it! You can always drop them if you don’t want to go again or if they’re overwhelming your schedule. For help with time management, talk to an academic coach and check out our website’s time management page!

 

Conclusion 

Regardless of all these academic mistakes, the most important thing that I learned my freshman year, by far, is to have self-respect and to take care of myself. It’s something I already knew coming to Dartmouth, but in the buzz of the new setting, I seemed to have forgotten it, and I had to learn it again. 

There’s a lot going on here. You’ll be living in a new space, probably away from home for the first time, and you’ll be busy. Take time to check in with yourself. Ask yourself if you’re sleeping well, if you’re trusting your gut. Ask yourself anything that might help you stay true to you. 

Take care of yourself.

Productivity is sometimes seen as the ability to get multiple tasks done throughout the day. As finals approach, our to-do lists seem to be filled to the brim with assignments and extracurricular responsibilities. Hustle culture tells us that the more we do during the day, the better. It is more effective to get one crucial task done that has been on your mind for days than completing dozens of less important tasks off your to-do list.

 

How to Prioritize Tasks?

 

Technique 1: The Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower matrix is a four quadrant box that helps you separate the important from the urgent. Important tasks are those that contribute to your long-term goals and mission. Urgent tasks are those that have a strict deadline and need to get done right away. Once you fill in the matrix with the tasks you need to get done, you will see that your tasks fit into four categories:

• Urgent and important: Do these tasks first
• Important but not urgent: schedule a time to do these tasks
• Urgent, but not important: delegate these tasks or contribute less time to them
• Not urgent and not important: drop these tasks

The Eisenhower Matrix enables you to see which tasks need your utmost attention, but it can be overwhelming if there are many tasks you need to get done.

Technique 2: The Ivy Lee Method

There are four rules to the Ivy Lee Method:

1. At the end of the day write down the 6 most important things you need to get done the next day. 
2. Arrange the list in order of tasks that need to get done first.
3. Start with task #1. Do not move on to the next one until that one is finished.
4. Finish as many tasks as you can. Move the tasks that did not get done over to the next day.

The Ivy Lee Method is meant to curtail distractions, so you get done what you actually need to get done instead of spending time on insignificant tasks.

 

Technique 3: Prioritize Most Important Work during Most Productive Hours

Not everyone is productive at the same hours every day. Knowing what times you work best will allow you to schedule different tasks at your most convenient hours. The best way to schedule tasks is to place:

• High value work when energy is highest- this is the time for deep work on projects or longer assignments
• Shallow work during energy dips (afternoon slump for example)- this is the best time to accomplish tasks that don’t require a lot of mental energy like emails or phone calls
• Enough breaks- setting enough time for breaks during the day is crucial for optimal performance

Conclusion

1. Use the Eisenhower Matrix when you have relatively few tasks/things you need to get done.
2. Use the Ivy Lee Method if you have a hard time completing tasks or if there are tasks with strict due dates that you need to complete.
3. The Productive Hours technique can be used with any of the other techniques and is crucial to saving time by allocating your energy and attention in the most effective way.

Background:

I remember taking my first Economics class at Dartmouth and being terrified. I had heard rumors of the difficulty of the class even for students with prior Economics experience. As a low-income Latina, I was nervous I would not have the resources to succeed in the class. The learning curve was steep. I remember thinking how much easier it would be if I had a mentor or someone to guide me through the course.

In high school, I got exposed to tutoring. Every Wednesday, the math organization at my high school, Mu Alpha Theta, hosted math tutoring sessions for an hour after school. I attended several of those sessions, and that is where I discovered I had a passion for teaching and learning alongside other students. 

Positives: 

As soon as I started tutoring, I noticed that reviewing the material prior to each tutoring session reinforces your knowledge of the material. You forget a lot of important concepts when you don’t use them every day. This has been helpful in solidifying knowledge for other Economics classes as well. Group Tutoring exposes you to different learning styles and ways of thinking. The spark that ignites in a tutee after they understand a concept they had trouble with is such a privilege to watch. It keeps me coming back week after week.

The community aspect of Group Tutoring separates it from individual tutoring. The participation of other students allows for collaboration and learning opportunities that would be missed in Individual Tutoring. My favorite part of group tutoring is the relationships that form between the tutors and the tutees. The dynamic evolves from the first week of tutoring to the end of Group Tutoring. At the beginning, the environment is a little awkward as people get to know each other. Over time, tutees begin to engage and ask lots of questions about the course. I love to see tutees jumping in and answering their peer’s questions. 

I love helping people that have undergone similar struggles or have struggled with similar material in a class. It’s encouraging to be able to make their lives a little easier or to make them feel more understood and heard. 

Challenges:

My first time tutoring at Dartmouth was 21W, right in the middle of the pandemic. I was intimidated by the virtual component of tutoring at first. I didn’t want my tutees to experience the awkwardness that often comes with being on Zoom especially when you don’t know anyone. The social cues you pick up in normal conversation are harder to notice through a virtual platform. Thankfully, the Academic Skills Center supplied me with a Zoom guide, which made it easier for me to practice my Zoom skills prior to my first tutoring session. It’s different being on the other side of Zoom as a host. 

I would also advise working with the professor who is teaching the course. It might be helpful if you ask for access to Canvas so you can see what your tutees are learning that particular week. It has been helpful for me to look over the problem sets and exercises ahead of time. It allows me to familiarize myself with the questions before my tutees ask me questions about them.

Concluding thoughts:

My overall experience has been so rewarding. I’ve had the chance to connect with more of my peers and provide support. If you are considering being a group tutor, I would encourage you to apply. You could make a huge impact on a peer’s academic experience.

 

Asana

Asana is a to-do list app that allows you to create projects. Within each project, you can add to-do list items, and for each item, you can give it a due date, a priority (high, medium, low), a description, a subtask, and an assignee (the person who will complete the task). You can keep some projects private, so only you, and the people you’ve added to the project, see them. You can add different people to each project, or you can not add anyone at all. The to-do list items disappear after you press the check circle, but you can find them again if you filter for completed tasks.

Pros

• Easy to set up and use
• Good for making a basic, personal to-do list 
• Has a priority feature

Cons

• Can only see subtasks once you click on the bigger task
• Task name, assignee, priority, and due date do not all fit in one phone screen

 

Conclusion

I will continue to use Asana for personal to-do lists because I can see a clear, color-coded priority and the due date beside a shortened version of the task names, but I wouldn’t use this app for collaborative efforts.

Trello

Trello is another to-do list app that works best for collaborative efforts, or projects with a timeline. You can create a workspace, add people to the workspace, then create “workspace boards,” a project, and everyone in the workspace will be able to access them. In each workspace board, you can add a card with a subtask, its start date, its due date, and its assignee. You can also add color-coded labels, attachments, and checklist items to each card. 

Pros

• Don’t have to add everyone to projects each time you make a new one 
• Assignee’s initials, start date, and due date fit in one phone screen
• Can view workspace board’s activity (which tasks have been added/completed, who has been added, etc)

Cons

• No option to prioritize tasks  
• Harder to mark tasks/cards as completed
• Harder to find which tasks have been completed

Conclusion

Though it is difficult to keep track of which tasks have been completed, the workspace board activity somewhat makes up for that by acting as a history for the board. I recommend using Trello for collaborative pursuits. This app works well for a large project with many subprojects that have time-sensitive tasks. Trello is perfect for creating project timelines and establishing who’s responsible for tasks.

Focus Keeper 

Focus Keeper is an app that helps you study using the Pomodoro Method. If you’re not familiar with the Pomodoro Method, you will study for one Pomodoro which is 25 minutes, take a five minute break, then do another Pomodoro, and repeat until you have finished four Pomodoros. Every four Pomodoros, you will take a longer break, often between 15 and 30 minutes. The Pomodoro Method  helps you maximize focus and productivity during your study periods.

Pros

• It already has the 25 minute Pomodoro set.
• It has the 5 min short breaks and 25 min long breaks preset. 
• It allows you to set a goal for how many Pomodoros you want to do in a given session.

Cons

• If you want to change the goal from the default of 12, you have to pay for the premium version of the app.
• If you want to change the length of your breaks or Pomodoros, you have to pay for the premium version of the app.

Other Things to Know

• While you are studying or on break, the clock ticks for the entire 25 or five minutes. If you don’t like the ticking, you can always turn your volume off, but if you do, you will not be able to hear when the alarm goes off. 
• The app will go straight from the 25 minute counter to the 5 minute counter and back to the 25 minute counter. You do not have to press anything to transition from a break to a Pomodoro.
• You can pause or skip your breaks and Pomodoros. 
• You can see a chart showing how many Pomodoros you’ve done over the last 3 days, and if you want to see a chart for a longer period, you must pay for the premium version.

Flora

Flora is an app that allows you to set timers for Pomodoros and breaks. This app uses positive reinforcement and punishment to incentivize you to not use other apps on your phone during Pomodoro sessions (by growing you a tree during your session and killing it if you do not complete the session). The app also lets you create to do lists, and it can send reminders to complete your to do list items. 

Pros

• You are able to change the number of minutes in your Pomodoros and breaks for free.
• Your seedling grows into a virtual plant if you finish your Pomodoro, so you get some sort of reward for your focus time. 
• You can make your to do list and set goals for hours of productivity for free.
• You can use Flora with friends and grow plants together during your focus sessions.

Cons

• After each Pomodoro, you will have a “story.” This story is like a post on your feed, and it will say, “Killed a tree,” if you did not complete your Pomodoro. However, it does help incentivize you to finish your Pomodoros.
• If you want to see new plants grow during your Pomodoros, you must purchase the Amazon Rainforest world tour for $2.
• You cannot pause the clock. You can pause the session, but the clock will keep going, and your screen will change from green to grey.

Other Things to Know

• If you leave the app during your Pomodoro, your story will say you killed a tree.
• This app does not make noise during the Pomodoros or the breaks, and it does not sound an alarm when they are finished.
• When you begin a Pomodoro, you will see messages under the clock. Some are positive, such as, “You are amazing, you are brave, you are strong,” and some are scolding. For example, “Don’t you dare leave this room!”

Conclusion

After using both apps, I think Focus Keeper is good if you have solid self-discipline and want the clock ticking in the background as you study. However, if you need an incentive to stay off your phone while you study, Flora is the better choice. (Alternatively, if you find the ticking noise in Focus Keeper annoying, or you want to change the number of minutes in each Pomodoro and break, I recommend using the basic clock/timer app on your phone).