Your Cheat Sheet for Success in College

I'm running short on ideas in the 'blog post topic' department and I don't have a good enough camera to share OOTDs, so I'll stick with what I know and share some of my organization and study tips for college. I don't know about you guys, but some weeks I'm really on top of things and other weeks I'm an unorganized mess; however, recently I've been trying to get in the habit of keeping things organized. So, without further ado, here's my hodge-podge of tips:

1. Keep a planner. You're going to get a lot of syllabi thrown at you the first week of classes. They will become your bibles. This isn't high school; the professor is not going to remind you of test or essay dates. That's something that you need to keep track of yourself, and the best way to do that is input all of your important dates into a planner or calendar. Personally, I love Google Calendar.
2. Make to-do lists. I live my life according to lists. I make lists for the week, for the day, for the summer. There's just something so satisfying about crossing things off a list. It also allows you to visualize how much work you actually have to do which helps with time management.
3. Study in the library. It may be a long walk from your dorm, but the trek is worth it. I know this is a novel concept, but the library is actually a great place to study ;). I can't do silence so I go to the group study level and just plug in my headphones. It's a lot easier to be productive in that environment than in your dorm room filled with distractions.
4. Make study guides. I actually just started doing this for my midterms this week, and they were my saviors. I don't know why I had never made a study guide for myself before, but it is the best way to reinforce what you previously learned in an organized, compact manner. Make sure to color-code!
5. Use folders (or binders - whatever floats your boat) for each class. You might end up with a lot of folders but it will be a lot easier to keep track of everything. Also, then you don't have to take all of your class work with you when you only have one class on Thursday.
6. Keep all your supplies in a pencil case. This is a hard habit to get into, but I was tired of always losing my pens. It's just easier to keep everything together in a pencil case (bonus points if it's cute). I would recommend having a few pens and pencils, a few highlighters, sticky notes, binder clips, and white-out. 
7. Pack your backpack the night before class. You won't forget things as you are hurrying out the door and you'll be able to get a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning. Enough said.