I'm a fresh-out-of-college grad thats about two months into my first "real" job, and I've done a lot of reflecting lately.
I got the urge to write after scrolling through my instagram feed one day to find my school's account put out a post to all recent May 2018 graduates, asking us for any advice we'd offer to the incoming freshman class for the 2018 Fall semester. My knee-jerk thing to say was not to buy everything on the syllabus before the first day of class... A good tip but hardly the most important. So that got me thinking of what else I'd say to a freshman design student.
So here are some thoughts:
Manage. Your. Time.
Time management is absolutely the most important thing you will learn as a student in any school, in any program. It seems pretty logical and easy to do, but trust me. It is not easy. You have to hold yourself accountable at all times. This was the only way for me to make sure that I did my work to the best of my ability, and finish it before it was due.
What I'm talking about here isn't just putting your nose to the grindstone and doing the work. Although, that is definitely a big part of it. Time management is about managing your life and how it works with the work-load you have. Its not a direct answer, because everyone handles stress differently. But here's my take.
Find the balance.
Work isn't always the most important thing, right at that moment. You have to use your best judgement to determine when you need to service your other needs as a general human with self respect. Take that lunch break. Go for your afternoon workout. Get enough sleep. Take a goddamn shower.
You'll find that when you dedicate portions of your day to work, sleep, play, etc, you will be generally better off as a student.
All-nighters are overrated.
All nighters suck. Anyone that brags about pulling an all-nighter is just admitting that they're terrible at managing their time. For me, rushed and well-rested work always turned out better than slow, tired, and half-assed work from the all-nighter I pulled the day before the class where work was due. You'll learn that all-nighters are almost always born out of over-procrastination to the point of insanity. I learned that lesson pretty early on, so I never really allowed myself to be in that position again. Hence time management. If you properly manage your time and do the work in advance, you'll never have to pull the all-nighter.
Don't get me wrong, I've definitely crammed an essay or two. But I'm talking about the more involved creative work for the most part. Not really speaking to the small stuff that can be done with a laptop in bed.
Ruthless Pragmatism.
Be realistic about your work and yourself. You are but one person, and there are only so many hours in a day. Making time for everything is usually not that realistic of a goal. Use common sense. You probably shouldn't go on a weekend ski trip during finals... So prioritize and go from there. You'll learn very quickly in art school that some classes and/or assignments are more worthy of your time than others. I've skipped class to go do work for another (more important) class. You get two unexcused absences per semester at CCS. Put them to use. You paid for it so don't feel bad.
Everyone handles the stress differently.
Everyone is indeed different. This means that you will not handle your work-load the same way that your 28 year old Korean dorm-roomie does. For example, one of my roommates would completely alter his daily schedule during the month leading up to finals. 24 hours up, and 12 hours down. He claims that it allowed him to get more done in single sessions of work up in the clay studio and cut out some of the back and forth of constantly coming and going. I have no idea why this worked for him but it did. I on the other hand, always kept a regular 7-hour minimum night's sleep policy, because I don't work well tired or fatigued. So I kept my work early in the day, in short bursts.
Nose to the grindstone.
I'm writing this as a note to students starting their first year of design school. So I empathize with your fear and apprehension that you may have about going down this path. And don't worry, that fear and apprehension is definitely warranted. How can anyone possibly justify this kind of education costing so much money? With the stakes being a high as they are, you have all the more reason to hedge your own bet.
No one in our line of skills gets to be successful without first putting in the work. So prepare to work hard, and make that degree mean something.
Hopefully someone finds this useful. I wish any new students the best of luck.
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