I entered college in the fall of 2019, with all the hopes and dreams of a young girl from a small town entering a dream school in a big city. I entered college in the fall of 2019, with all the hopes and dreams of a young girl from a small town entering a dream school in a big city. I made incredible friends, explored new places, tried new foods, and found time to study somewhere in between. Until March of 2020 hit, and well… you know. The idyllic glass castle of freshman year shattered. Fast forward to today. I’ll be graduating in December of 2022 and will have earned my degree without ever having had a full year of being in-person on my college campus. My freshman year was cut off in March of 2020. My sophomore year was entirely online. The fall of my junior year was in-person, but we had two weeks of remote work at the outset of the spring semester. I’ll be finishing college in December. And that’s it. 3.5 years, and almost half of it done from the desk of my childhood room, two-thousand five hundred and seventy-three miles away from campus. People pity the class of 2022 and 2023, saying that we never had the “full college experience,” as if we’ll be missing some vital part of our young adult lives. And perhaps there’s a part of that statement that might be true. However, I also believe it’s granted myself and my classmates a unique skill set that will last a lifetime—and be incredibly useful in today's ever-changing work environment and economy. Here are a few of those skills: We know how to pivot quickly and adapt to new situations and circumstances. This past fall—while being completely in-person and on-campus–came with many ups and downs. Covid cases weren’t nonexistent on campus, and there were some weeks when class would be canceled 20 minutes before it began. But there’d be no chaos or panicking. Instead of walking 10 minutes to my classroom, I’d walk 10 minutes to the library or the student coffee shop, pop open my laptop, and class would resume as if nothing changed. Covid testing is now required twice a week? Of course! New mask policies set in place? Sure thing. The dining halls are closed for a week and robots will be delivering our meals? Sounds great! Every curveball that is thrown at us, we’ve learned to take it in stride, adapt quickly, and let it not actively disrupt our purpose and goals for each day. We are able to efficiently execute quality work across all in-person and remote platforms. I and my fellow classmates learned Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and our school’s academic platform, Brightspace, in the blink of an eye, moving on to even assist our professors and advisors on how to best utilize the platforms for their and our advantage. We’re fluent in classroom learning on these technological platforms, but we’re also fluent in classroom learning in-person as well. I know how to effectively collaborate with a group on term-long projects in study rooms, Zoom breakout rooms, and a combination of both. We’ve learned how to measure tasks and decide which ones would be more valuable to work on in-person, or which ones would best be discussed while sharing a screen on a video call. We’ve learned how to create our own hybridized systems of learning and working to maximize our efficiency on campus, which will surely translate into any future careers we may also have. We’ve built up incredible emotional resilience. When my school announced that we’d have two weeks of remote classes in the spring of 2022, I remember feeling heartbroken and scared. Would these two weeks of remote learning be eternally extended, like in March of 2020? Thankfully, it was not, but the possibility of closure would always be there. Through it all, I remember thinking in the back of my mind, We’ve done that before. We can do it again. We know what it’s like to have the rug pulled from under us, our routines disrupted. We now know how to plan accordingly, quickly develop and find new routines, and shape our days in the small spaces of our rooms or dorms. We know how to pay attention in meetings and classes that feel like they’ll never end. I’m not naive enough to say that we’ve seen it all, but we sure have seen and felt a LOT these past two years, Instead of dwelling on and grieving what we cannot do, we focus on what we can do. This applies to college and beyond. This is what’s going to shine on our resumes and job applications post-graduation. This is what makes the classes of 2022 and 2023 unique, strong, and resilient. WRITTEN BY Gwyneth Bechunas Loyola Marymount University Gwyneth Bechunas is a rising senior at Loyola Marymount University, graduating in December of 2022 with a major in screenwriting and a minor in business administration. She is very excited to turn a lifelong love for reading into a career in the publishing industry and is always eager to talk books with anyone and everyone. Gwyneth is currently an intern with the Macmillan Trade Field Sales division in the Independent Bookstore Channel.     ... View more

I like to consider myself something of a modern day Da Vinci. I like to consider myself something of a modern day Da Vinci. I don’t mean this in a ‘genius inventor-artist-architect-who-knows-what-else’ sense. I mean it in the ‘took so long to decide on what to major in that I’ve changed minors five times’ sense. And while the man himself might have been one of those crazy geniuses who ends up with 5 PhD’s by thirty (in my humble opinion, Bruce Banner really needed a hobby that wasn’t academia), I like to think he would have empathized with my struggle of being around the academic block.  In my time doing random minors I found interesting, work-study, research-assisting, and most recently, interning, I’ve discovered that a lot of what can go on a resume are the skills and experiences I’ve gained while being in uni. I’m not about to kill myself doing ten thousand things. Instead I’ve gotten very good at selling what hobbies and experience I do have. So, if you’re just starting college and don’t have work experience, or are focused on your academics, or have a thousand hobbies but no clue how to make someone see the value in them, here’s my secret: Sell them like they’re the most valuable part of you.    Project Management  Have you ever considered that everyone in college constantly practices project management? Each class is a huge project. You likely have several you need to balance, in addition to having a life. Those projects need to be broken down into sub-projects, like homework or reading. They all have due dates and varying priority levels. A small forum post does not have the same weight on your grade as a midterm or paper. This, too, needs to be considered. To make matters worse, some of those bigger sub-projects need to be divided further! You have to research for a paper. You have to write a first draft. Oh no, there’s a bibliography too? And then you have to edit it. And if your teacher really wants to hear students crying, there might even be a presentation attached to the end. You have two options, really. You can emu-stick your head into the ground and weep or you can emu-win the war with Australia. And that requires solid project management skills. So, how do you do it? Planners? Calendars? Ten-thousand to-do lists? If you ever get asked, “Give us an example of project management”, you will be more than ready.  (Yes, I know. It’s popular culture ostriches who stick their head in the ground. They don’t do it in real life and neither do emus. It’s a metaphor. I’m trying to be funny here.)   Knowing to Reach Out For Help Knowing when you need help, and seeking out others when you need help and not being ashamed to do so, are more valuable skills than you think. (And if you are ashamed, please don’t be. Office hours, career services, peer tutoring, and all the like are there for a reason).   Critical Thinking Classes teach you how to think in certain ways. This applies to future STEM scientists, but also researchers (psychologists approach research differently than anthropologists, for example), and members of the humanities as well (How to analyze a text. How to summarize it. How to communicate ideas clearly and concisely.)   Conflict Management If you’re a freshman with rose-tinted glasses, hate to tell you, but you will probably dislike someone over your time in uni. A classmate, a teacher, maybe even your roommate. Navigating these instances is a valuable skill to have. Specifically: navigate them by not making a public mess of it, unless unavoidable or your safety is in danger. As always, context matters! But usually you want to talk to the person in private, maybe with a mediator present to iron out your differences. Conversely: How to be friendly! No one wants to work with a jerk. Even if you and your team aren’t best friends, you still want a good working rapport. Trust me, work culture matters for a reason. (And if you blank about what questions to ask interviewers, work culture is always a good go-to).   Networking I know, what a slimy word. But it’s as simple as going to office hours and asking your teacher questions, and thus making a good impression. It’s even as simple as finding a good club you enjoy and making friends. In other words: not simple at all, but may come naturally as a result of being in university.   I’m blanking on more, but I’m sure you, dear reader, are having college experiences I’ve never had. Maybe you can out-debate anyone. Maybe you can name a hundred mineral types. Maybe you’ve won competitions, gotten awards, sailed across the Pacific in nothing but a tiny boat. When looking for a job, internship, or position, you are your biggest advocate. Are you that loser who spent six months doing nothing but fishing or the awesome person who overcame insurmountable odds through skill, dedication, and tenacity, and is also now a pretty good fisher? You’re human, so the answer is both. But there’s only one that you should view yourself as, and that’s the one you need to sell. WRITTEN BY Melissa Marcus University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Melissa Marcus is a crazy cat lady moonlighting as a rising senior citizen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Over the summer she’s been the Humanities Media Editorial Intern for Macmillan Learning. The rest of the year she studies Anthropology by day time and reads, writes, paints, plays games by night time. Her dream for the near future is to learn Japanese and get better at German, so she doesn’t stutter through hello and fail every other conversation beat.   ... View more

“10…9…8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…2…1!” “10…9…8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…2…1!” The last bell of senior year goes off, followed by a chorus of cheers and whoops from the class of 2019. It’s a mess of tears, laughter, and breathless cries of “we did it!” as the familiar tune of the Sweet Caroline anthem plays us out of four long, exhausting high school years. I look around one last time at the people I have grown up with for the past seven years. It’s not hitting me quite yet that life is about to change so drastically for every single one of us. It didn’t hit when I saw last year’s graduating class go through this same ritual, nor did it the year before that, or even before that. I always imagined it would be now, in this moment, that the collective realization would strike us speechless. But it doesn’t feel like that. I suppose it won’t yet, not until I’m looking back at these memories four summers from now, reminiscing over old friendships and the walls I used to call home. And this moment. I’ll never forget this singular, loud, excruciating moment. ______________________________________________________________________ As we slowly resurface on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic and the almost two-year “time freeze” it imposed on society, there seem to be a lot of buzzwords floating around like “return to normal” or “back to how things used to be.” We’re now beginning to see the implications of such a return and uncover some of the complications that we may not have foreseen. I don’t remember hearing of a graduating class before mine that didn’t participate in that jovial, last day ritual. Every year that I got to witness it, there were differences and modifications, but the end result was always the same: the graduating class gathered in their beloved lounge on the last day of classes, counting down the last ten seconds until the final bell rang. True to tradition, our own class followed suit, as we expected every class after us to do. We never saw an alternative. Herricks High School’s class of 2020 did not get the opportunity to carry out this beloved tradition; nor did the class of 2021. My sister, three years younger than I was, can still recall as a freshman watching my class count down to that last bell in 2019. When June of 2022 rolled around, I waited at home on her last day, expecting to hear about her own version of this bittersweet milestone. But her version never happened. As she tells it, her grade simply did not do it. Maybe half of the grade hadn’t even seen the tradition play out three years ago. Maybe those who did forgot of its existence. Whatever the reason, listening to my sister talk made me wonder somberly: was this tradition lost forever? After all, as most traditions work, we learned from those before us. But with nothing to observe, would the next graduating class even know about this tradition, let alone others? Would they realize all the things that they never would experience because they never learned of them? It doesn’t stop at high school. As a twenty-one-year-old just dipping her toes in the sea of corporate life, I find myself wondering: What workplace traditions may I be missing out on? What workplace nuances got left behind when everyone packed up their offices in a frenzy in March of 2020? What is it like to physically visit your boss’ desk for two minutes? What exchanged glances across the office or inside jokes will I never get to “watch and learn?” How does happy hour even work with your colleagues? And with an odd mishmash of employees who are cautiously beginning to return to in-person work and employees who have permanently set up camp in the comfort of their homes, how can I – or anyone else in this up-and-coming generation of the workforce – reasonably expect to learn all the ins, outs, and in betweens of the office? Do we even want to? Because all this talk of drifting away from the old brings in a whole other topic of discussion: drifting towards the new. Will we, as the new generation of employees, seek to dig deeper into office roots to uncover the subtle traditions and conventions of years past? Or will we abandon these ideas altogether and brainstorm new and innovative traditions of our own? And if we choose the latter – leaving old rituals to gather dust in the bottom drawers of our supply closets – do we risk resentment from long standing employees who crave, as we hear in the midst of the buzz, a return to their idea of normal? WRITTEN BY Vineeta Abraham Stony Brook University Vineeta Abraham is a rising senior at Stony Brook majoring in Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing. She is also a lover of music, sunsets, food, dogs, and meeting new people whenever possible. Vineeta is an intern in the Human Resources department at Macmillan.     ... View more

You’ve had a long day at work or school. You woke up early, headed off to work, got chewed out by your boss despite doing your best, and went home. Most people in this situation might reach for the wine bottle. The cultural trope is the hard-working father coming home to drink a few beers or the tired business woman pouring herself a “well-deserved” glass of red wine.  Drinking has become a social event, with bottles of wine appearing at weddings, social gatherings, and nearly every big holiday. Maybe it’s part of your coping mechanism. Maybe you simply enjoy it. Regardless, most everyone will view alcohol in moderate quantities as a harmless substance that can take the edge off when life knocks you astray. For the most part, this is true. One glass a week isn’t going to send you to the emergency room. But alcohol abuse can lead to a host of brain issues, starting with cognitive decline. And wait – there’s more! The problem becomes much more severe as we age. Because when we’re older, our bodies are different, which means our brains are different, which means the way our brains deal with alcohol is – different. We can now take a closer look at some of the biggest ways alcohol affects the brain, more specifically, the aging brain.  Our brains don’t quite “bounce back” as quickly from something serious, and it takes more time and cellular energy for older people’s brains to perform as efficiently as their younger counterparts. When you add heavy drinking on top of that, the situation starts to get  sticky. This very well-cited study found decreased white matter tracts in older chronic alcoholics.  Let me break that down for you.  After looking at brains of 49 veterans who consumed a lot of alcohol daily, the researchers found that, compared to healthy control participants, the alcoholic group had significantly fewer brain cell connections. This means that different parts of their brains weren’t talking to each other as much. And that’s the most crucial step to getting anything done.  Surprise! Communication is key, even inside our bodies.  These same researchers also found higher cortical cerebrospinal fluid and diminished cortical gray matter in the veterans group. In other words, this group had more fluid in their brains, and less of their brain cavity (the space in their heads) was actual neural tissue. Basically, the alcoholics had more water and less brain in their heads. What about other parts of the brain? Glad you asked!  There’s a small but incredibly important area responsible for memory called the hippocampus. This little seahorse-shaped bundle of tissue is responsible for anything from remembering how your mother used to read bedtime stories to you to learning how to drive. Unfortunately, it’s hurt by age and alcohol speeds up that effect. Some researchers from Stanford used a technique called MRI, which is basically a giant magnet that lets scientists see the inside of someone’s brain, and found less hippocampal volume in alcoholics, a correlation which intensified with age. Heavy drinking can also affect long-term memory, causing something known as alcohol-related dementia (ARD). This is similar to the dementia or cognitive decline generally associated with aging, but on a much deeper level. ARD is scarier because the effects are continuous, meaning all the symptoms will keep happening even after someone has sobered up.  People with ARD can also develop something called Marchiafava-Bignami Disease (MBD), which is pretty much one of the “big bad bosses” of alcohol disorders. MBD causes short or long-term coma in its patients (simply put, a long and dangerous nap), as well as changes in memory, personality, perception, and attention. Like the veteran study, MBD patients have a decreased white matter – the connections in the brain that allow one part of the brain to “talk” to another.  In MBD, the lack of communication is much worse because patients lose their corpus callosum, a huge bundle of fibers that connects the two halves of the brain. Without this, whatever your brain is doing on the left side can’t translate to whatever your brain does on the right side. Consider the example of Country A and Country B. Country A makes ingredients, Country B makes pies, and the only way to get from Country A to B is a huge bridge. It would be a real disaster for all the pie-lovers of the world if that bridge were severed. That’s exactly what it’s like for MBD patients. Even without MBD and the erosion of the hypothetical “bridge”, extreme alcohol intake can slowly destroy the connections in your brain, which is why it’s important to be careful with over drinking.  WRITTEN BY Allie Yuxin Lin Columbia University Allie Yuxin Lin is a senior at Columbia University in New York studying psychology and neuroscience. As an East Coast native, she is very confused about the lack of cold weather in LA (but hey, no complaints!). If she isn’t writing something up or researching the newest neuroscience discovery, she’s probably running around the streets with her Australian Shepherd, Jasper.   ... View more

It was my first week as a Macmillan intern and I was so excited to have finally landed the job that would begin my career in publishing. I nervously introduced myself to my team and met everyone I would be working with, but when I began sitting in on meetings and going through orientation resources, I realized I only understood a portion of the things I was hearing. I struggled to catch and juggle acronyms and words like “CBT,” “frontlist,” and “attrition,” and found myself fumbling with these unfamiliar phrases. My meetings with my manager would be filled with me going through my list of questions as I began to build a personal dictionary.  So, if you’ve ever been stumped by a word someone has used or felt like there was just so much you didn’t understand, know you’re not alone. Publishing, like any industry, uses a lot of field-specific jargon and no one expects you to know it all. But, my hope is that this short list of common publishing phrases might be of use to you. Know it’s not exhaustive, and I’m sure there are specific phrases that will be used with your team but no one will ever think less of you for asking them to clarify what they mean. Good luck on your publishing journey, and take comfort that we’re all in this together! I’d also like to take a moment to thank Molly Pyles, Lizette Faraji, and Caitlin O'Beirne for their contributions to this list and for just being wonderful.    Acquisition - A term used when a publisher buys the rights to a book from an author. Advance - The money an author is paid upfront when they sign a contract with a publisher. Advanced Readers Copies/Galley (ARCs) - A pre-published book given to librarians, educators, influencers, bloggers, etc. by a publisher to facilitate buzz around the book before its official release. Agent - A liaison between a writer and editor or publisher who advocates for his or her client (writer). Agents usually take a 10-15% commission from the advance and royalties. Attrition - Term that basically means lost business. Someone, who was once publishing with us, is no longer. Auction - Publishers sometimes bid for the acquisition of a book manuscript that has excellent sales prospects. The bids are for the amount of the author's advance, advertising and promotional expenses, royalty percentages, and more. Auctions are conducted by agents. Backlist - A publisher's list of its books that were not published during the current season, but that are still in print. Blurb - The short quote or paragraph on the back cover of a book that allows the reader to get an idea of what it’s about. Bound galleys - Prepublication edition of book or final galley proofs, also known as "bound proofs." Canonical Fragment Identifier (CFIs) - Links within an ebook for specific parts like sections and chapters. Comp - Comparable or competitive titles—usually included in a book proposal. Imprint - Name applied to a publisher's specific line of books. International Standard Book Number (ISBN) - The specific number given to a particular book. Foreign rights - Translation or reprint rights to be sold in other countries and territories. Frontlist - A publisher's list of books that are new to the current season. Also known as “new titles.” Jira - A project management tool used for planning, tracking, and supporting software projects. Mass market - Non-specialized books of wide appeal directed toward a large audience. Metadata - Backend information for ebooks that include their title, edition, ISBN, etc. that works as an id used to create/define connections between versions or other resources. If there is a new version added to an ebook, it could change the metadata and thus mess up connections already established using the link to the old version. Middle Grade (MG) - Genre that targets the 8 to 12 year-old age group. Narrative nonfiction - A narrative presentation of actual events. Also called creative nonfiction. POD - Print on demand. Publisher’s Weekly - An American weekly trade news source. https://www.publishersweekly.com/ Serial rights - The right for a newspaper or publication to publish sections of a manuscript. Subsidiary rights - All rights other than book publishing rights included in a book publishing contract, such as paperback rights, book club rights, movie rights, and more. Translation rights - Subsidiary rights for books to be translated and sold in another language. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - Guidelines that are a part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium – a.k.a. the main international standards organization for the Internet. https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/ Young Adult (YA) - Genre that targets any age from 12-18, but nearly half of its readers are older than this. WRITTEN BY Grace Bartel University of Delaware A Media Editorial Intern at Macmillan Learning, Grace is an English graduate student at the University of Delaware. More interestingly, she’s an avid dog mom, reader, writer, hiker, and video game lover who spends the majority of her free time willingly lost in fantastical stories.     ... View more

At that time it seemed like a good decision to dive straight into my undergraduate degree two months after moving halfway across the world, but one semester into my college experience, I realized I had not given myself enough time to prepare myself for true American college.  At that time it seemed like a good decision to dive straight into my undergraduate degree two months after moving halfway across the world, but one semester into my college experience, I realized I had not given myself enough time to prepare myself for true American college.  As someone who immigrated from Pakistan and landed straight in the heart of the American midwest, I thought I knew enough about the lives and interactions of college students here to be able to smoothly adapt to this new way of life. However, no amount of dark academia novels set in prestigious liberal arts colleges or reality shows featuring kids my age could prepare me for real American college.  If my sophomore self could ever draw up a list of cultural/social differences I was faced with (things that both shocked, or pleasantly surprised me)—to help my freshman self navigate through college easily—these four items would definitely make it to the list: 1. Conversations in America flow easier As someone who knows many foreigners, immigrants, or people living in the US who were raised in another country, one thing that always shocks all of these groups is the lack of a formal language. Now this one might be something that is brought up far more by my foreign-raised peers belonging to an Asian culture, but the lack of an entirely different set of words reserved to talk to people who are either older than you or more experienced than you (in whatever field you belong to) makes conversation difficult rather than easier for us. In a college setting, talking to your professor the same way you’d talk to your fellow classmates can make navigating through casual conversations harder, at least it did for me.  While this part of American culture/language was something I was already familiar with, I found it extremely difficult to have to use just a formal tone rather than a formal language in my classes. 2. Individualism has its pros and cons One thing I was most excited about when I started college was how people focused on themselves, and it wasn’t even frowned upon! Back home, the sense of community is so strong that every decision you make and every path you chose had to be discussed with or approved by the members of your community (be it your extended family, friends, or even your neighbors). Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this aspect of my culture. Every member of the community has strong bonds with each other and they’re always ready to support you in whatever decision you make. But to live on your own, making mistakes of your own, and having to deal with the consequences on your own seemed like a great proposition. It was, for the first four months. After those four months, I realized I was craving the very thing I thought was going to suffocate me. Suddenly, friends who had chosen to move to another country (to study or work or find themselves) coming home every chance they could, started making a lot more sense. With time, you get used to it and begin feeling exceedingly grateful for the chance to grow on your own. I would never admit it to anyone but I feel like my past self deserves to know that  finding yourself in college often means coming home and eating alone out of a styrofoam box and feeling the loneliest you’ve ever been.  3. You’re already halfway into your career as a college student I don’t blame freshman me for being too overwhelmed with the entire move from Pakistan to the US, but if I could go back and tell her to do one thing differently, it would be to use all the opportunities and support provided by my university that would be useful after graduation. Attend networking events, learn more about approaching potential employers/mentors and explore more. College back home was more about academics rather than experience so I–like many other international students/new immigrant students—wasn’t expecting anything more than four years of only writing essays or giving presentations.  4. Like most things in media, college too is romanticized As someone whose perception of college was based entirely on whatever the American movies/TV shows put out there, it shouldn’t have been shocking that college was not all about brunch with friends, parties, and spring breaks in South America.  As someone moving to a place they’d never been before, it did come as a shock when college in America was still about finals and due dates and messed-up sleep schedules. Sure, American college is different from college back home, but it still is college.  WRITTEN BY Samia Saeed University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Samia Saeed is a current Marketing and Journalism student at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. On the weekends, you’ll find her holed up in her room, either watching her comfort Ghibli film or reading her favorite immigrant-fiction book.       ... View more

Whether you have ADHD, you’re a chronic procrastinator, or you just can’t seem to focus, here are some tips that can help you survive and thrive in college. During my first year in university, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). For me, ADHD made studying, staying focused, and managing my time one-hundred times more difficult. But through trial-and-error, I found a routine that helped me survive (and thrive) in college. While I know ADHD is different for everyone, here are a few tips that helped me succeed in university.  Stay Busy Okay, I know this sounds counterintuitive. If you find it difficult to manage your time without the added stress of extracurriculars, how is staying busy supposed to help you better organize your time? The answer is simple: staying busy ensures you have a set routine and schedule. If you’re anything like me, keeping track of time is beyond difficult, and if I don’t have anything planned for the day, I don’t feel any sense of urgency to study or do anything productive.  Keeping yourself busy, however, forces you to keep track of time. Maybe you can join a club with weekly meetings, get a part-time job, or volunteer at your local nonprofit. Whatever it is, consistently having something to do helps you keep track of and manage your time more effectively. For me, I joined my student newspaper, worked and interned part-time, and volunteered at a student resource center. Having something to do nearly every day of the week (even if it was just for a few hours) instilled in me a sense of urgency and helped me realize that time was a precious, limited resource.  Plan Your Time: Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize. Here’s a scenario I often experienced as a college student (and perhaps you can relate): Finals week is quickly approaching. There’s twenty hours worth of lecture material to review, fifteen hours of assignments, a ten-page essay to write, and two finals to study for. There’s so much to do – maybe you don’t even know how to start studying. Maybe you get so overwhelmed that you just freeze and take a stress nap instead.  In times like these, it is essential you know how to effectively prioritize your assignments and plan your time accordingly. For me this process was an uphill battle, but through trial-and-error, I eventually found a method that made conquering this mountain of work seem doable. The method goes a little something like this: Take a sheet of paper. Separate it into 8 sections: 1 section for each day of the week and 1 section for miscellaneous notes. Think about what you have planned for the week (extracurricular activities, work schedule, etc.) and write those down. Make a mental list of all your assignments. Assign an amount of time you would like to spend on each one. From there, break the assignments up into smaller – more manageable – chunks of time.  Based on the assignments’ due dates, write each one down under the specific day you would like to work on them – along with the amount of time you would like to spend doing each one. Assigning a specific amount of time to spend on each assignment is essential for this technique; it ensures you don’t spend too much time on one task and not enough time on another.  Separate your assignments into “TO DO” tasks (what you must complete for the day) and “OPTIONAL” tasks (what you can do for the day, if time permits). Optional: Color code for aesthetic value and ease of reading.  I call this the Micromanaging Technique. For an example, see below: This technique might seem excessive, but I (and all of my friends who also use it) swear by it. Writing everything down ensures that nothing is forgotten, and assigning a specific amount of time to each task helps you plan and prioritize your time. Plus, it’s super satisfying to tick off the boxes once you complete each task!  Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help Finally, if you ever feel completely stressed and overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to reach out to friends and family for support. It’s important to have and maintain a strong support system in college, especially in times of need.  Also, your college’s mental health counseling and disability services are there to help you. Almost all colleges offer disability services and accommodations for students with disabilities (including students with ADHD). If you feel that ADHD hinders your ability to study and complete schoolwork, go to your college’s disability services office or website, and see how they can help. WRITTEN BY Lindsay Ito University of California, Los Angeles Lindsay Ito graduated in Spring 2022 with a BA in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Born and raised in Los Angeles and Orange County, Lindsay’s life has been uniquely shaped by her Southern Californian upbringing: she’s worked as a Jungle Cruise Skipper at Disneyland, loves the beach on a sunny day, and (embarrassingly) cannot drive in the rain. In her free time, Lindsay enjoys reading a good horror story, cuddling with her cat, and rewatching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.   ... View more

It seems like a picture taken right out of a movie. Loud cheers from college students in matching shirts and holding signs greet the flock of cars that have lined up at the entrance of my university. A new start. A new journey. These were the first thoughts I had as I entered my freshman year 4 years ago. Photo credit: SDI Productions/Getty Images It seems like a picture taken right out of a movie. Loud cheers from college students in matching shirts and holding signs greet the flock of cars that have lined up at the entrance of my university. A new start. A new journey. These were the first thoughts I had as I entered my freshman year 4 years ago.  What had initially been a wonderful opportunity to meet new people outside of my high school community became a new challenge as I navigated freshman orientation on my own. As the kind of introvert that struggles with introducing myself or striking up a conversation with anyone, that first week of college felt neverending. Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be a new group of freshmen who found a solid group of friends who seemed to be what all the shows I watched growing up depicted: people in cool clothes, laughing at one another’s jokes, and genuinely enjoying one another’s presence (or so I thought).  For a while, I found myself dreading my introvertedness as it seemed like a hindrance to finding friendships. There were many instances where I subconsciously changed the way I spoke, feigned interest in what others brought up, and it quickly dawned on me that playing a part was exhausting and lonely.  Still determined to meet new people, I wanted to be truly intentional with my next steps. Despite my fears, I decided to take a risk and get involved with some student groups, even taking on some leadership positions through on-campus jobs. Through these jobs and opportunities, I met my favorite co-workers, staff, faculty, and even the best people to sing with.  If you find yourself wanting to take that leap, these were some helpful tools I found in finding community: Walking through Involvement/Club Fairs! - These can seem scary, especially talking to new people, but I found that searching up some existing clubs on campus through the university website and social media before going to these fairs gave me an idea of what I might be interested in. On-Campus Jobs - Not only did I get to meet peers across different majors, but it also helped me to understand the overall university culture at my school, helping me to feel more at home on campus.  Campus Events - Whether it’s free food, a panel, or even getting to learn a dance with fellow students, these events are a great way to meet new people, or even ask about opportunities both on-campus and beyond! These events gave me a break in the midst of heavy study sessions too. As someone who is still very much an introvert (most of my friends are fellow introverts as well!), I can say that finding community in college took some time and care, and I cherish the friends who reciprocated intentionality as well. While we certainly aren’t the kind of friends you see portrayed in movies, we all get to carry a story of our own, celebrating our highs and lows, battling loneliness, and what it truly means to be a friend.  WRITTEN BY Bernadine Landicho Bernardine Landicho is a new grad, recently earning her BA in Psychology. Rekindling her love for her hometown, you can find her boba-shop hopping around the Bay Area. These days, she’s jumped back to old hobbies like writing songs and dancing, especially if any ATEEZ or Seventeen songs are playing.     ... View more

Being a college student is all about learning to live on your own for the first time, and finding a new community away from home. Balance is the name of the game in college, and there’s no better way to find it than using an organization system that will keep you on the right path. Here are three steps incoming and returning college students alike can use to have it all in college. 1. Identifying Your Priorities Whether you’re an incoming or returning student, you probably don’t have your whole plan figured out–and that’s totally normal! Even having an outline for what kind of classes you plan to take and what type of internships you want to pursue is a great starting point; a beacon you can return to if you ever feel lost or confused. Identifying your goals will help you make a plan for joining extracurriculars and applying for jobs and internships. 2. Choosing Extracurricular Activities and Jobs Wisely Your college likely has a list of every extracurricular organization on your campus. It’s a great idea to check this list before you go to the club fair and commit to joining a group. The rule of thumb is different for everyone, but my recommendation is to join one social, philanthropic, or cultural extracurricular, and one career related extracurricular. Joining two extracurriculars in addition to a job/work-study/internship you may have is a great option that should provide balance. The important thing to remember is that you can always drop an extracurricular if you’re overwhelmed, or add one if you’re bored. The purpose of extracurriculars should be for community or career building! 3. Utilizing a planner Once you have your classes and combination of extracurricular activities and jobs all figured out, you should use some form of planner to keep track of all of your obligations. A planner can be the free sticky notes app on your laptop, the free calendar service attached to your email account, a more in-depth free desktop app like Notion, or a physical journal planner–I personally utilize all of the above! The best way to remember all of your upcoming events, both social and academic, is to write them down in multiple places. If your digital calendar gives you a reminder for an event and you have the details of that event written on a digital sticky note, you’re a lot less likely to forget it! But physical planners never go out of style, and if they’re what keep you motivated, they’re always a great option. The most important thing is to use the planner that actually works for YOU.   Finding which activities and classes will point you towards your career and life goals will help you feel like you’re making the most of your college experience. But don’t forget to leave some space in your planner for fun with friends and relaxation! At the end of the day, everyone’s college experience is different–but we are all hoping to graduate feeling like we made the most of every aspect of college, and that includes having fun. W RITTEN BY Gabi Jonikas Emerson College Gabi Jonikas is a Subsidiary Rights Intern for MCPG. She is a senior and graduate student at Emerson College studying publishing–her main passion in addition to organization and teaching herself Japanese.   ... View more

How do you romanticize your life for $1? Let’s take a minute to reflect… What does a realistic day in your college life look like? I’ll start first. I wake up, pray, scroll on TikTok for an endless amount of time, get dressed for class, and I may eat breakfast if I remember because we’re so busy right? Then I meet up with my friends sometimes, go to work, study, and then I proceed to get ready for bed to start the same cycle over the next day. From the outside looking in, it may seem like I have a productive life, but even though I’m doing these things to set up a successful future, we sometimes forget to take time for ourselves in the present. I’ve started this new thing called “Self Care Sundays” and it means exactly what it says. I choose Sundays because it provides me with the relief and relaxation I deserve from the long week I’ve endured and it allows me to have a fresh start to take on the new week. Listed below are some budget-friendly things I like to do to treat myself. All items can be found at The Dollar Tree which is a store that sells everything for only $1. Mani/Pedi The feeling of freshly painted nails, a new set of acrylics, the intense massages from pedicure chairs, or the hot towels wrapped around your legs after a pedicure is the vibe we all may want, but as college students, we may not be able to afford it. So, here is a list of  budget-friendly items to pick from the Dollar Tree for a DIY mani/pedi in your dorm or apartment: Press on nails Manicure Set Dove hand cream Nail polish remover Cotton balls Facial Staying up late to study comes with both good and bad consequences. The good consequence is that you may ace your exam, but on the other hand, you may experience sleep deprivation which can lead to puffy eyes or dull skin. Here are the items that you can get for a DIY facial:  Eye and lip mask  Freeman face mask  Bubble Bath/Foot Soak Maybe your feet hurt from walking around campus or maybe your body is just drained from always being on the go. A bubble bath or a foot soak for those who live in dorms and don’t have access to a tub is something that I enjoy. I would suggest picking up these items: Lavender bubble bath Foot Epsom Salt Candle I challenge you to continue to work hard and set yourself up for the future, but I would also encourage you to not forget to take care of yourself in the present and incorporate self-care days into your routine.  WRITTEN BY Ayanna Williams Troy University Ayanna Williams is a former BLACC extern for Macmillan Learning and a student at Troy University who enjoys traveling and analyzing R&B music videos from the late '90s and early 2000s. She is also ambidextrous and she thinks that is the greatest asset to her love of writing.   ... View more

Living with others for the first time? No problem! I remember back when I was a student first leaving the nest and moving out on their own for the first time. I was so overjoyed at the opportunity to express myself in a new space. I’d binged cute apartment and dorm tour videos for weeks. I dreamed of my perfect trendy boho blush pink comforter and pillow combo. I hoped for a roommate I could “click with” and a fun dorm environment. I knew that things wouldn't be perfect, but I had hoped that I would be able to keep the peace and get by. Soon, I discovered that I needed something to hold on to. When I actually started to live my life as a college student, I was feeling lost, hurt, and bothered by my roommates.  Healthy confrontation skills were something that I lacked before I moved out. I didn't know that it could be practiced in a measured, compassionate way. I came from a low-income household and school district. Violence and anger were things that I conflated with conflict and I did my best to not care or involve myself. But even the most people-pleasing person (like myself) could get annoyed. There is a limit to how much anyone can take. That being said, here are 3 things I keep in mind when I find myself at odds with my roommates.  Assume the best intent Remember, your roommates are human too. They are also flawed and make mistakes. Try to see the situation from their perspective. When I found myself in need of practicing this, I would also remind myself to never attribute to malice what can be attributed to ignorance. This helped me ease the tightness in my heart and let go of my initial anger. A lot of what made me so hurt or bothered at first was my knee-jerk assumption of “they tried to hurt/bother me on purpose.” Once I could let that go, I found it easier to try and see the situation from their point of view.  You deserve to be happy I said it. As long as you haven't tried to take it from someone else, you absolutely deserve your chances at being happy. I have learned that to achieve this, it is important to verbalize my needs. I was worried that I would be seen as selfish, but after years of not ever expressing my needs, I felt unworthy and neglected. Then, I heard the words of John Ortberg, and they really struck a chord with me: "you are only able to live in a way that really helps others when your soul feels its worth." It is not a selfish act to express your needs, it is a compassionate one. When you avoid resentment by facing issues with your roommate, you make life better for yourself and for those around you. You may need to take into account the time and place, but don’t skip a chance to respectfully express to your roommate how you feel. Be honest with your feelings and learn when to let go There was a time I didn’t really know how to express my feelings neutrally. I would accuse my roommate of “You never wash the dishes when it’s your turn, I’ve had to do it!” or “You didn’t take the trash out like you said you would!” Usually, when I did this, it was the 2nd or 3rd time my roommate had done this and I felt targeted and ignored. They of course felt attacked and returned my energy in kind. These confrontations never ended well and had lasting effects on the roommate dynamic. I realized I had a hard time being vulnerable and didn’t take any time to define my feelings to myself. I didn’t think before I spoke and it hurt others even when they didn’t deserve it. To let yourself be vulnerable to a new person, a roommate who you may not even be friends yet is terrifying. I found this especially hard because I wanted to be a good person, but I kept reading so far into what my roommates did that I would work myself up and be inconsolable. Then I heard the phrase, “speak to how you feel about what actually happened, not what you think happened.” Instead of thinking,“I’m so mad, she’s just leaving all the work to me, does she think I’m going to be her mom?!” I would instead think, “I’m mad she left this here, but she probably forgot to take care of it. I’ll remind her, and find out how she feels about it.”  After thinking about these three elements I now work up the courage to speak to my roommate. I recognize that the goal is not to be the better person for the sake of getting to say that I was the better person; the goal is to address the conflict. I remind myself that people may have learned different ways of dealing with conflict and may need to take some time to cool down or take care of something before talking. I start off by being clear about what I need from them and listening to them and their situation.  Sometimes, I have faced people who don't take kindly to any kind of confrontation and push with hostility against my boundaries. In those cases, having a friend, community, or mentor to affirm and support me helped so much in standing firm.  College is so hectic, and you deserve a peaceful space after class. Delving further into conflict resolution skills has helped me so much in making friends with roommates that I had initially not gotten along with. College is a time to express yourself, and your needs and boundaries should be included in that too! WRITTEN BY Lesley Ramirez University of North Texas Armed with coffee and a clicky keyboard, Lesley is completing her BS in Business Computer Information Systems. She is Texas-born and raised and you can generally find her online enjoying cute parrot videos, pursuing creative narrative projects, or thinking up new gamer set-up themes for her workspace all while jamming out to synthwave!   ... View more

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your classmates. So you’re a week into a group assignment, and things aren’t going as smoothly as you’d like. Maybe some group members are MIA, or others are scatterbrained. It happens to everyone. Despite following all the right preventative measures (staying organized, using a group chat, etc), you’re still running into issues. Now what? Whether your group members are lagging behind, there’s miscommunication, or something else, here are some possible solutions that just might save your grade.   Create Detailed Structure Sometimes, going beyond just your teacher’s recommended timelines and deadlines is needed to keep your group on a steady pace towards the finish line. Take charge of the situation and create a list of self-imposed “mini” deadlines to keep everyone on track. (Hint: This is a great way to begin establishing yourself as a student leader!). For instance, two days to create a rough outline, five days after that for a complete draft, three days later showing a full draft to your professor, etc. Make sure you cultivate a dynamic in which people are comfortable communicating any issues they encounter as well, so you know ahead of time if they’re struggling (and not the day before it’s due). Oftentimes it’s easy to squander time one way or another, so set clear expectations and roles on Day 1.  Hold Others Accountable Even with all the structure and planning in the world, some people still miss the mark on getting their pieces of a project done on time. But how do you bring this up without causing hurt feelings? Be sure to keep the conversation clear but compassionate. Hold them accountable to the deadlines you all agreed upon by first talking it over calmly in private. Sometimes it’s just an honest mistake, but be cautious going forward. If it happens again, mention the issue to your professor to keep them in the loop. If the project turns out less than stellar, your professor might give you some leeway grade-wise if you inform them of the issues you’ve encountered ahead of time.  Get it Done Early for Revisions Nothing is worse than finishing an assignment the day of, then noticing a litany of small mistakes that you have no time to fix. Prevent this by doing everything you can to finish the assignment a few days before the real due date, and review everyone’s work with a fine-tooth comb. Your professor will not only thank you, but reward you with a better grade!  With all these tips in mind, you’ll be able to overcome the problems associated with a not-so-fantastic group, and get a decent grade once it’s all said and done!  WRITTEN BY Brianna DiGeronimo The College of New Jersey Brianna is a rising senior at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) studying English, with minors in Communications and Marketing. She loves playing video games and the kalimba (albeit badly). She is currently an intern at Macmillan Learning (BFW Publishing) in the Marketing department. ... View more

Shop Smart! Many students entering college often are surprised about the other side of independence. Often students think about not having a curfew or bedtime and they don’t think about the important things like food.  Most colleges and universities have meal plans that offer students a certain amount of meals a week. This sounds like a sweet deal until students realize that their dining units are only open from 9am-7pm. Many students do not budget or realize that they have to budget for extra meals and groceries. Shopping for groceries has always been a learned skill because it is an unknown variable. Many people do not know how the isles work or even what makes “good” groceries (groceries that will last a long time or have multiple uses). This list below will serve as a guide to help students along with their solo grocery adventures. Groceries Rice: Rice can be mixed with nearly anything and is very filling, meaning it can be stretched for a long time. Noodles: I think we have all had that one pot of pasta that lasted a week and a half. Noodles are a great carb for any meal. Chicken: Baked, fried, smothered, grilled, or seared; chicken is probably the most versatile meat you can ever experience. It is hard to get bored with it.  Cauliflower: This is a vegetable that does not go bad easily, often this is good as a meat substitute as well. Frozen vegetables: These are pretty key as they will not waste your money because they can be thawed and frozen multiple times without going bad. This is much more efficient and cost-effective than fresh vegetables Water Filters: This may seem like an expensive purchase at first, but it actually saves money on water bottles, specifically in areas that may have poor water quality.  Shopping Tips Write a list: Write a list and check it twice. Follow your list and it will cut down on impulse and unnecessary purchases. Don’t go hungry: It sounds like an old wives’ tale, but it is the truth. If you are shopping on an empty stomach, you are more likely to buy things you honestly don’t need Clip Coupons: You don’t have to be on the level of reality shows on TLC to get great savings with coupons. Most stores offer them online or have small magazines that are in the front lobby that contain coupons for you to get the best savings. WRITTEN BY Aubre Thomas Central Michigan University I am the epitome of a personality that is way bigger than my size. I come from Detroit, MI and I am a proud student at Central Michigan University. I am the co-owner of a start-up clothing brand XonIT.   ... View more

$$$$ Budget: the buzzword of every conversation around becoming an independent individual. Many people think a budget is just a list of numbers that pertains to the amount of money that you are required to spend on bills. In truth, a budget is a promise and accountability to yourself and your bank account. Many people want to find new and effective ways to budget but there is no “right” way to do it.  The first thing that comes in any budget though, is collecting all your receipts for about a month (past receipts count) and figuring out where you spend the most money. After figuring out where most of your money is going and where you feel you can cut spending, move on to one of these tools. The Binder Method This method is pretty labor-intensive. When using the binder method, the individual needs to have a 3” binder, a lot of ziplock bags or those little pencil pouches that clip into binders, and cash. With this method, the user would write different budget portions onto separate bags (for example: bills, health care, gas, etc). The cash would then be separated by the amounts that must or can be spent that month. This is where that tracking of receipts comes in handy. Apps  There is an app for everything of course. There are many apps for budgeting of course. I personally use the app Mint by Intuit. These apps track how much you spend by linking to your bank accounts as well as allow you to add any bills that you may owe. This is definitely the more hands-off version of budgeting because all the leg work is done for you and notifications help keep you on track.  Calendars Calendars are a more old-school method of budgeting, but they often are very trusty. First, you need to write down all the dates your bills are due and the amounts that they cost. Next, you would want to write down the days you get paid and the amount that corresponds with that day. Afterward, you would plan out your day-to-day spending between checks and bills (pull out those receipts again). This will help because if you know you often go out every second Friday, you will always plan for how much money that you will spend that day. The big key to this is to USE CASH. Every week, pull out the amount of cash that you need for the week. Leave your cards at home if you can and only take what you know you can spend. WRITTEN BY Aubre Thomas Central Michigan University I am the epitome of a personality that is way bigger than my size. I come from Detroit, MI and I am a proud student at Central Michigan University. I am the co-owner of a start-up clothing brand XonIT. ... View more

Budgeting doesn't have to be scary! You’ve signed the papers. The leasing manager gave you your keys. You’re in your off-campus apartment’s living room surrounded by cardboard boxes and you think to yourself, “Wow, I’m actually an adult.” Then the bills start to come. Moving on your own means paying your own bills, and a common mistake for new adults is overspending: going out for drinks with friends, late-night DoorDash meals while cramming for finals, or that new college sweatshirt to rep your collegiate pride. Creating a budget as soon as you start out on your own allows you to stay on top of all your bills while still having a little spending money for the fun moments in college. Determine just how much money you make in a month The first step in creating a budget is figuring out what your income is. This starts at your job: what is your salary?  If you are an hourly employee, it may help to estimate how many hours you work within a pay period (weekly, biweekly, etc.). Always do a low estimate and a high estimate; this can give you a range of money you expect to take in. Here’s an example, based on national averages for college-age part-time employees: Hourly rate: $15 per hour Low hours: 15 hours a week OR 60 hours a month High hours: 20 hours a week OR 80 hours a month Income range: $900 - $1200 a month before taxes For salaried employees, just take your total salary and divide it by 12. That’s how much you bring in a month, before taxes. Determine how much money you spend on bills This is the fun part (but, not really). Add up all your bills by category to get a total amount of expenses in a given month. It may help to put the due dates for these expenses as well. It’s important to be very thorough on this step. You don’t want to miss a bill and end up in debt or worse. I also recommend having an emergency fund — a set amount of money set aside each month for emergencies. Life doesn’t usually work on strict agendas, so it’s better to be safe or sorry if you find yourself in a jam. Here’s an example of an expenses list, based on my personal experience. I lived in a three-bedroom apartment with two roommates, so your costs may vary: Rent: $400 Utilities: $50 Netflix: $8.99 Groceries: $50 Gas: $35 Emergency fund: $50 Total: 593.99 Finally, subtract this amount from your low range income to see how much you have leftover: Income: $840 - Expenses: $593.99 $246.01 leftover This is your extra spending change! Cha-Ching! Test your budget Remember that your budget is just arbitrary numbers if you don’t put it to work. During your first month, test the budget you created and adjust as necessary. Some things to look for are if you end up spending more on groceries or gas, you end up getting another streaming service (since you can’t watch all the episodes of iCarly without Paramount+), your utilities cost more than expected, or you end up taking a large income cut at work. All of these changes can affect your budget, so you should look for them in your first month or so. Continue to monitor your budget and make changes And there you go! You’ve created a decent budget to make sure all your bills are paid and you still have some dollars left in your account.  Now, it’s important to monitor your budget to make sure you are adhering to it. Remember, without discipline, a budget is just an arbitrary list of numbers that mean nothing! Also, remember that life doesn’t always adhere to your budget. Try not to beat yourself up if you have to spend extra on a broken laptop, a forgotten oil change, or even a spontaneous lunch with friends. Just remember to try not to overdo it and get back on track as soon as possible! Happy budgeting! WRITTEN BY SaMya Overall SaMya Overall is a junior at Michigan State University studying English, French, and Women and Gender Studies. She’s currently a production editorial intern at Macmillan and the copy chief at The State News. She loves romance YA books with minority characters. ... View more