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i’ll probably be deleting this blog soon but i just wanted to share that i graduate from college on thursday! which is wild considering that i started this blog as a a sophomore in high school. stevie nicks was right when she said even children get older and i’m getting older too

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Do you by any chance still have the link to the AP crams? I’ve opened a couple of your links but I can’t find the correct one. Thank you!!

sorry for the delayed response - i’m not active on this blog anymore! i’m pretty sure this is the link i had in mind when i made this: 

https://university-wannabe.tumblr.com/post/49884581380/ap-cram-packets-galore

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2:12 am // cramming for art history tomorrow but at least i have one (1) scented candle

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Are you a small/beginner studyblr?

I’m looking for you guys! Are you a small or beginning studyblr posting original content? Reblog this post! And I’ll follow a lot of you guys, don’t forget to follow each other too 😊

Tagging you guys to get the word out there;

@patriotstudies @studyelement @nerdastically @bentostudy @catstudyblr @cyclicstudies @dentalstudies @allbusybees

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you ever feel overwhelmed with work and don’t know where to start? here’s my trick for making it easy ☁️

write down EVERYTHING thats stressing you out, or been nagging at the back of your mind to get done

make four quadrants (like the one showed here) and draw two axes: urgent/not urgent, and important/not important

sort your to-do list into these categories. it helps to pick some rules to help differentiate: e.g anything due tomorrow or in the next 3 days is urgent, anything after that is not urgent. or i decided that if you could go without doing it and not have dire consequences, it’s not important

pick one category, and do the first item that feels easiest in that category. it usually makes sense to start with urgent/important. then, do what feels second easiest, etc. until you’re all done with the category!

after that, move around the categories as you wish. i usually go in this order: urgent/important, urgent/not important, not urgent/important, not urgent/not important.

there you go! remember, you can modify as needed (e.g i didn’t have anything urgent but not important, so i skipped that.) as you can see i changed my mind a few times in the process, but its ok - doesnt have to be perfect! just start somewhere ☁️✨🌱

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Hi, iInoticed your tips for low-functioning days include something about clorox wipes and dishes. Some wipes have a note on their label that they shouldn’t be used on surfaces that come into direct contact with food, and it might be a little unclear if the tips say to throw the wipes away or the dishes away when done with them. I appreciate the post and that it can be helpful to someone, but it did seem a little confusing to me at a part where clarity could be important.

hi! thanks for pointing that out to me. i did not intend the clorox wipes to be as a replacement for washing dishes prior to eating, but simply a way to remove food before it got stuck on a dish or spoiled. you should definitely wash dishes with soap and water before using them to eat again. i will update this post with clarification!

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The Full Potential Challenge

Ever wonder what your life would be like if you lived up to your full potential? Would your body be healthier? Your skin clearer? Bank account bigger? I think about these things all the time, and, judging by a previous post, you guys do too. Let’s try it out! Obviously we aren’t going to come close to perfect with this – we’re all humans with good days and bad days and in-between days. But let’s try together to see what would happen if we pushed ourselves. I don’t ever want anyone to feel pressured to stick to this every day (I sure as hell won’t), but it’s worth a shot, right? Let’s get to it!

EVERY MORNING

Stretch. First thing. Really give your body enough time to wake up. Touch your toes. Roll out your shoulders. Do not hit snooze!

Do your full skincare routine. I have mine detailed here, but do whatever works for you and your complexion. Be gentle and consistent. 

Brush your teeth and floss. I used to be a big floss-skipper too, but you’d be amazed at how dig of a difference it makes. Rinse with a whitening mouthwash. I use one by Crest, and I notice a major difference in my teeth’s overall whiteness in just a few days.

Give yourself enough time to get ready. Whether you’re a wash-and-go kind of girl, or someone who spends an hour doing a full contouring routine before class (and either one is fine!), make sure you aren’t rushing. If you need to wake up a few minutes earlier than normal, so be it. Rushing sets an awful, stressed-out tone for the rest of the day. Allow yourself to be relaxed before taking on the day.

Eat something. I’m not going to say eat a big breakfast, because some people (myself included) just can’t eat in the morning. But you should eat, or at least bring a little something with you to work or school. If you can’t eat a full breakfast, grab a fruit! You won’t be as hungry come lunch time, making you less likely to gorge yourself.

Shower. You can do this at night, in the morning, whatever. Again, this is something you should allow some time for. I don’t wash my hair every day, but I do condition it every day (from the ears down). Scrub yourself with a delicious-smelling body wash. If you shave, make yourself as smooth as a dolphin, dude. If you don’t, then don’t and don’t ever ever ever let anyone make you feel bad or weird about it. When you get out of the shower, wrap yourself in a fluffy towel and totally slather your sexy self with lotion. Top to bottom. Do it as soon as you can post-shower so it can really sink in. 

Put leave-in condition throughout your damp hair and comb it through.

Put on an outfit that makes you feel good! So important!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Take a look at your daily to-do list. Knock out the most pressing stuff first. Take pride when you cross things off your list.

Make your bed! Oh my god, make your bed. Do it. Do it. Do it. 

EVERY AFTERNOON 

Follow the “touch it once” approach. This is a truly life-changing thing. When a task is in front of you, no matter how big or small, just do it right then and there. How many times have you gotten a work email or homework assignment and thought, “Eh, I’ll do it later”? And then later never comes? Once something pops up, do it once. Squash it and be done. Cross things off your list and feel like a badass.

Try to go for a walk at lunch. Even one little lap around the block or campus will reenergize you like nobody’s business. 

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Be present. This is so hard for me too, but you have to make a major effort to be present in whatever you’re doing. Be engaged and plugged-in and just exist in the moment. Give 100 percent.

Be friendly to friends and strangers. A smile goes a long way.

Eat something. Eat what you packed for lunch (see below) and take a break from working while you do it. You need “you time”!

EVERY EVENING

Take your makeup off as soon as you’re in for the night. Wash your face with your full routine and let your skin have a break. 

Workout. You can also do this in the morning. Whatever works for you. Make a great playlist and go hard af. Get your cardio in. Get your strength training in. Earn every freaking sweat bead forming on your forehead. Earn your shower!

Knock out your homework. Life is infinitely better you don’t have anything hanging over your head. Half the time, the energy and emotion you spent dreading/putting off your work is ten times worse than the work itself.

Make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow. It’ll set you up for success the next day, and you won’t forget anything!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. This will save you SO MUCH TIME in the morning omg I can’t even tell you how important this is.

Eat something great. And once you’ve decided to be done eating for the night, be done. Brush your teeth so you can’t eat again.

After brushing, do a whitening treatment. Whether it’s classic baking soda, a Crest white strip, or a laser. Do something. And floss! Retainers in too, ladies 0:)

Relax! Take a few hours to do what YOU want to do. Scroll through Tumblr, binge on some Netflix, FaceTime gossip with your friends, anything. Do whatever makes you happiest. 

Shut the electronics off an hour before you want to go to bed. Put your phone on sleep mode. If you stare at the screen, it will keep you awake and alert and you won’t be able to fall asleep. A good night’s sleep is crucial for weightless and general happiness lol

Do a quick sweep of your room and see if there’s anything you can put away real quick. A clean space is a happy space.

Crawl into your bed (aren’t you happy you took the time to make it?!) and read a book by lamplight for a while. When you start to feel sleepy, go to sleep. Don’t push it. You kicked ass today and you deserve rest. 

EVERY WEEKEND

Do something with your friends. It just has to be one thing. Even if you’re just hanging out at the coffee shop, spending time with your squad will make you a better, happier person.

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Do something just for you. Set your laptop up in the bathroom and watch a Netflix marathon while you take a bubble bath. Buy an old school bottle of Mr. Bubbles ($3 at Target!) and really just soak. Relax. Light a candle.

Do something creative. You can read a book, write, blog, draw, code, anything. It just has to be something that speaks to your passion.

Track your progress. Just do this once a week so it doesn’t become all-consuming. And remember that non-scale victories are just as important as shedding pounds.

Take the time to be grateful. Tell your friend how much you admire her taste in music. Mention to your mom how much you love her cooking and how happy you are that she takes care of you. Thank your teacher after an especially interesting lecture. When you do something awesome, take a moment to admire YOURSELF. Be grateful for even the little things.

Anything I missed? Reblog + add yours! Don’t forget to tag your progress!

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reminder that having free time is healthy, normal, and important. your day should not be filled with only working or studying. leaving time in your schedule to read, watch tv, see friends, or work on a hobby is important and necessary.

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It’s okay not to have a set goal. It’s okay to not have it all figured out. You’re not worth any less, and you’re not any less brilliant for not knowing what you want to study, or even what you want to do tomorrow. You’ll achieve just as much as the ones who’ve known their future career path for their entire lives. You’re allowed to just enjoy life and see where it takes you, making the most of it.

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do u have advice for learning code when your professor/lecture isn't great and or seems to be catered more to students with experience rather than beginners (even tho the prof claims the class is designed for beginners)? (direct shade @ my professor & also ik this is oddly specific but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ a little desperate here) also in relation to this question do u have any online resources u can elaborate about that have been helpful for u in grasping concepts?? lastly what languages have u learned?

this sounds like a really tough situation so good on you for reaching out! to answer your questions: 

first off have you tried reaching out to your professor and letting him know that you’re feeling a bit lost in the class? sometimes profs do suck but most of the time they’re pretty willing to work w/ you and give you some of their own learning resources, so try that out if you haven’t already. 

if you still need more ways to supplement what you’re taught in lecture, i think the best way to go about it is to go to lecture, try to determine the main concepts/ideas the professor is trying to cover each day, and essentially re-learn or review those concepts on your own outside the classroom (first by going over the theory, then by practicing yourself) if you let me know what language you’re working on, i can give you more tips, but in my experience most intro programming classes are in java (maybe python), so i’ll give you some resources for those: 

tutorialspoint is literally my favorite site because it provides really clear explanations of concepts in an order that makes sense. geeksforgeeks is also really good for concepts. 

online textbooks: this is a good place to get more in depth explanations of concepts + little details you might be confused on, plus helpful examples. the textbook i used for my java course was dean’s introduction to programming in java - i can’t legally link the pdf here but it is available with a little bit of google searching. if you’re learning another language, just look up the name of the textbook you want (you can ask your professor for recommendations if one isn’t assigned) + pdf.

online courses: online courses are useful, but you have to be careful because university courses sometimes involve a lot of theoretical distinctions that online courses intended for professionals don’t include. so the best way to go about it is to find a course on a website like edX or coursera that is taught by a university, or usually big universities will post their course content online

practice problems: practice is the best way to build ur skills outside of the classroom! here are some beginnner java practice problems from uw, and here are some from codingbat (v helpful, even if you’re using a different language u can try to solve these in ur own language). just going through these and trying to figure out each one was how i prepped for my intro java midterm + final

other things i recommend: form a study group w other beginner students (i guarantee there are more people feeling confused) and go over the lecture topics/work through practice problems together! if your uni has a cs club or society, go to that and ask upperclassmen who’ve taken the class if they have any tips/resources for you! if you can afford it, try and find a tutor who can help go over concepts! try a whole bunch of different study tactics and see what sticks

i hope this helps u out! sorry all of my links are to java resources, most of these sites offer resources for other languages as well or you can always ask me for more language-specific ones! and to answer your last question: i’ve learned java, c/c++, and r (from my college classes), and taught myself html, css, and javascript! always open 2 questions on any of those or the learning process :) good luck, i believe in you!

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computer science can seem like an intimidating field to get started in, but with hard work and a few key study strategies it’s definitely possible for anyone to succeed and do well! here are a few of the strategies that i’ve found help me succeed in my computer science classes: 

in class: 

go to lecture: this is key! cs classes are usually fast-paced and notes usually don’t cover everything in detail. 

focus on concepts: when taking notes, try not to get too bogged down with writing down syntax or specific pieces of code that your professor writes. instead, focus on why the code works the way it does. why is the professor choosing to us this method for this problem? how can this be applied to your own problems?

hand-write notes, type code: a lot of the “theory” in cs is covered through diagrams or hand-written pseudocode. it’s usually best to keep a paper notebook for these types of notes. you can type up/run your actual code for lecture on a laptop -- i like to make little notes of which file/line of code corresponds to my written notes so i can look it over later. 

ask questions! these are complex concepts and it’s okay to be confused. if you have a question, i guarantee someone else in the classroom has the same one. 

doing homework/projects: 

start early! cs assignments/projects can take up huge amounts of time. leaving it until the last minute will cause nothing but suffering and will make it harder for you to write good code!

know the concepts behind your code! make sure you know why you’re using a specific approach, and how it works, before actually trying to implement your solution. remember, homework is designed to solidify concepts in your head. make sure you’re at least familiar with the necessary concepts before trying to start

outline first: before you even touch your laptop, get a pencil and paper and plan out how you’re going to tackle the problem. you can draw pictures, write pseudocode, whatever: just don’t start coding until you have a good idea of what to expect!

use online resources appropriately: cs stuff has a huge amount of online resources, and googling almost any problem is sure to come up with a result. sites like stackoverflow can be helpful with syntax and to help clarify concepts, but make sure you understand why code works before implementing it!

take breaks: sometimes, the best thing you can do if you’re frustrated on a homework is to step away and give it time. not only is self-care important, time off might actually help you make a connection or think of a solution that had been bugging you before.

write clean code: this means comment your code! it also means: keep your files neatly named, organized, and updated; backup your work to the cloud or using git, minimize code re-use, and name your variables and files appropriately. what might take a second in the short term will help you save hours in the long run. 

develop incrementally: write bits and pieces of your code, and test each piece before writing the next one. this will help you avoid ten million errors when trying to run your program for the first time, and is also good practice for real life. 

don’t be afraid to ask for help: professors and TAs are all there to help you, and they will be glad to assist you if you have questions about the best way to take your project further, or if you just have a confusing error you can’t make heads or tails of. 

studying: 

practice code writing: if your exam will require you to write code with pencil and paper, then don’t practice on the laptop! instead, go through your old hw problems/class examples and try to write them out with pencil and paper. if your exam will be short on time, try to time yourself as well. 

ask yourself hard questions: multiple choice questions are often based around small, difficult distinctions: what’s the difference between a double and an integer? how does each one behave if divided? try to anticipate these issues and make sure you have them clarified before the exam. 

look for practice test: many universities will post old exams and practice problems that you can use to practice off of. even if it’s not for your school, going through the content is always a good method to practice. 

self-learning:

luckily, there are a lot of great resources for learning comp sci! here are just a few: 

CS50 from harvard

codeacademy

edX

coursera

tutorialspoint

stackoverflow

hackerrank

...and many more! just message me/inbox me if you have any questions or want specific resources for a class

computer science is an incredibly cool field, and everyone has the potential to succeed in it! hopefully, these tips will get you off to a great start and perhaps a future career in comp sci! happy coding <3

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how to feel good about yourself when school is kicking your ass.

School’s tough, and when you’re getting hours of study and homework dumped on you every class, it’s easy to feel swamped, and it’s even worse when you feel like you’re not making progress anywhere else either. These things have seriously helped me with my mental and physical well-being, hopefully they can help you too!

1. Get the Forest App.  It’s $3 on the app-store, and trust me its $3 well spent. i use this app pretty much whenever I shouldn’t be using my phone. in class, studying, working out, not only does it make sure i stay off my phone, it feels really good to look back on all the time I’ve spent focused throughout the week. 

2. If you’re gonna waste time, do it properly.  Limit the time you spend scrolling social media to 10 minutes. I can’t count how many times I’ve been on Instagram explore page and suddenly an hour has gone past. This makes you feel crap. If you’re gonna waste time, do it in a way that can be measured. watch a tv show, ted talk, or youtube. make a social media post. It’ll make you feel like you’re spending your time doing something and that’s good in it’s own way.

3. Clean your room.  Feeling ridiculously overwhelmed? Clean your room. I don’t care how much work you need to do, or how soon it’s due. If you’re stressed you wont get anything worthwhile done. So clean your room, make your bed, vacuum the floor. It’ll calm you down and make you feel better about yourself. I promise.

4. Leave the junk food to the weekends. I know, everybody says it. But if you’re eating crap 24/7, it’s going to drag you down. I hate the idea of diets, they’re designed for failure and then you feel even worse, but trying to avoid junk from monday to friday helps a lot with your general perception of yourself. 

5. Work out. Another cliche! But they’re cliche’s because they work. I don’t care how often you work out or how much you do, just make sure you do it regularly and do enough to feel tired but good about yourself after woulds. it makes a difference. trust me.

6. Do a skin care routine & use face masks If you dont have a skin care routine, you need one. Not a fancy one by any means (some of us are uni students, I know) just a cetaphill cleanser and moisturiser day and night (with any creams / other products you may use) does the trick. It helps maintain routine and feel refreshed. Facemasks will help you feel like a self care goddess, even if they’re $2.

7. Burn candles & paint your nails Get a few cheap candels (just make sure they wont give you a headache) and burn them whilst you listen to music and paint your nails, its incredibly relaxing and makes you feel like you’re really taking care of yourself.

8. Have a hobby Last one! Learn something completely outside of school. Cooking, art, writing, photography, even if you suck, find something you enjoy and do it, you need a break from everything around you. 

These things have honestly helped turn my esteem and habits around these past years, it wont happen over night but just remembering to do these things every now and then will help you feel better, I promise. 

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reminder: whatever you’re worried about, it’s not too late. take a deep breath and let yourself relax. it will come in time, i promise. 

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5:44 pm // figuring out a hectic week. i’m getting faster at my weekly spreads - this one only took me 10 min, which i’m proud of. 🔮💜

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02.09.2018 // Still trying even though I rly don’t like English literature. Oh, well.

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A small reminder: having downturns in your productivity is fine, you don’t have to be at your best 24/7. And it’s definitely not a good reason to hate yourself while comparing to others’ success. We all hide our worst parts.

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i’m trying to challenge my depression in simpler ways.

- instead of taking a nap, ill watch some netflix and have some coffee.

- instead of skipping a meal, i’ll take extra time to prepare myself something nice.

- instead of staring at nothing, i will deliberately try to occupy myself with something i usually enjoy.

- instead of ignoring how i feel, i will say it loudly, and without guilt. 

- instead of telling myself how my emotions are confusing, i will go where i am understood.