How to Handle a Credit Hour Overload

Seeing that I was a junior-transfer student when I arrived at UNC, my credit hours didn’t transfer quite as I had planned.  To make matters worse, I switched my major not long after arriving here.  With all of these changes, graduating on time without attending summer classes was next to impossible unless I planned to tackle semesters that demanded credit hour overloads.

This is my second semester tackling a semester of eighteen credit hours.  Coming from experience, eighteen credit hours is not easy.  If you have found yourself caught up in an overwhelming amount of credit hours or may face this in the future, here are a few tips to help survive with sanity and a successful GPA.

• Time Management: This is the number one key to surviving a credit hour overload. You must be able to manage time spent on reading, homework, breaks, exams, fun, and sleep.  One way to accomplish this is to take one week at a time.  Look at your requirements and work load that is required for each class ahead of time.  Once you know what you have to tackle, create a schedule and plan for how many hours you will spend on work, fun, and sleep.  Schedules help me greatly!
• Organization: This goes along with time management. Keeping your notes, syllabi, and textbooks organized helps you de-stress because you will always know where important things are located.  One way to complete this is by purchasing a large binder and separators.  These will allow you to keep all of your notes in one place while separating them by each class.  Another suggestion is to purchase a planner or calendar and make personal notes and labels for each assignment and exam so that you can plan your weeks way ahead of time.
• Establish Ties with Professors: Talking with professors about issues that you face is important. By establishing credibility and a connection with professors, you can approach them without fear when moments become too overwhelming.  They will know you by name and face.  Talk to them about the amount of work you have had to take on and the situation that you are in.  Some professors are very understanding and if a particular deadline becomes nearly impossible to meet, they will work with you and may allow you an extension.
• Take Time for Yourself: No matter what life throws at you, you must take time for yourself. You will need to take breaks between readings and assignments so that you can manage your sanity.  Though you need to take this time, you don’t need to procrastinate or excessively goof off.  You could attend a basketball game, watch an episode of your favorite show on Netflix, or meet a friend for coffee.  These are all examples of breaks that you could take that allow you to let your brain rest, but they don’t take hours and hours so that you lose a lot of time to work.

With these four tips, you can learn to manage busy semesters.  Manage your time wisely, stay organized through planning, establish lasting connections with professors, and take time to let your brain rest but not too long.  Remember, if your workload becomes too overwhelming that you have an advisor and counselors to help you make decisions that benefit your future.  They’re there to help you, to listen to you, and to help you succeed in every way.  Best of luck with the rest of your semester and enjoy every second of this journey that you can because it ends much more quickly than you think!

– Written by Kendra Orr

Spring Break ToothK15

My parents have this incomparable talent of ruining birthdays and vacations of mine.

On my birthday, during my junior year of high school, my parents sold my first car at one of our moderately successfully garage sales.

On my birthday, during my senior year of high school, my parents had me scheduled to have my wisdom teeth extracted.

During the first week of my summer vacation before college, my parents sold my all-time favorite cardinal red Jeep Grand Cherokee (my second car).

During my family’s vacation to Punta Cana—the first we had taken in seven years—my mom accidentally deleted the entire digital photo album, and thus thwarted my attempt to utilize all the perfectly Instagrammable photos we (I) had taken.

In addition to these many parentally inflicted calamities, it felt like every time I was coming home I was going to appointments or getting shots or blood drawn.

I was fine with the fact that this year most of my peers would be setting sail for places like the Bahamas or Panama City Beach, hashtagging #SpringBreak2K15 and attending concerts on the beach, while I watched SVU and Dr. Oz with my mom.

But, in relation to my own health, the only plan I had for break was possibly landscaping the newly blossomed shrubbery that was my unibrow.

However, for my parents, this vacation was no different.

On Friday, March 10^th, I was scheduled to have a root canal procedure. The dentist was reluctant to tell me the official title of what I considered to be a major surgery since I was probing each nurse as to whether or not anyone has died from this on his or her watch.

Maybe my parents had inadvertently overlooked the fact that I was 500 miles from home and genuinely cherished the few times I was able to come home to New Jersey.

Probably not.

I tried pleading with my dad to cancel it by relating it to how scuba divers can’t fly after scuba diving. I said that it was unhealthy to get a root canal because I was flying back to North Carolina the next day and the pressure would heighten the chances of my mouth possibly exploding. He didn’t buy it — probably because I told him this root canal was not as bad as spending his day off with him.

When I finally sat in the chair to get this procedure done, I tried calming myself down. The only thing that made it hard was the fact of what song was playing: The First Cut is the Deepest.

Thankfully, I survived.

– Written by Ryan Schocket

A Spring Break Well Spent!

My Spring Break involved the APPLES program here at UNC Chapel Hill. I was enrolled in a service learning class which prepared me for a service trip.

As the APPLES Website shares:

APPLES Service-Learning is a student-led program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that transforms educational experiences by connecting academic learning and public service. Since 1990, APPLES has strengthened civic engagement by bringing together students, faculty and communities in sustained and mutually beneficial partnerships. APPLES offers a variety of programs, including alternative breaks, service-learning initiative, internships, courses and fellowships.

The highlight here is the alternative break. I was opportune to get into the APPLES service learning course this Spring 2015. I learned, and I’m still learning a lot from this class, about service learning. During the spring break, it was time to bundle-up all the knowledge acquired during the class and make it practical.

I met great people with whom I ventured to the “Rural Communities”  to make visible the love in my heart through service; for indeed, service is love made visible.

Moving from community to community and meeting different community partners, I got to learn a lot about the communities. Of course, that was the vehicle through which I could learn the community and provide the service in a noble way.

The service experience was phenomenal but it was coupled with a lot! I mean a lot of fun with the awesome people I had as peers. The spring break was worthwhile – it’s been my best spring break so far. I can’t help but to think about the joy and excitement there is in giving “the gift of yourself.”

I strongly recommend APPLES service learning experience, or any other service opportunities available. There’s always a need for help somewhere somehow, find it (them), and give the gift of yourself.

– Written by Smith Ngeve
APPLES ASB – 2015